Weekly Highlights

• April has begun as March ended, with improving market-wide trends in reduced spreads and greater post-trade quote stability. As VIX has remained closer to yearly lows than mid-March highs, volumes have retreated and we are beginning to see that decline show up in some measures of median trade size as well.

• While ETFs tend to gain market share as a security type when volatility increases, the reverse is true as markets calm. April has been no different, but the loss in ETF market share comes with a decline in the correlation of intraday returns between single stocks and their market cap index such as S&P 500 and R2000. So while overall trading frictions have declined, single stock idiosyncrasies are on the rise.

• Against this backdrop of declining volumes and greater dispersion in single stock behavior, IntelligentCross had its best week of the year for overall hit rates driven by ASPEN Fee/Fee and activity displayed on our free market data feed IQX. This is possible because our discrete matching calibrated at the single stock level allows us to balance liquidity and post-trade performance, even as we saw average order quantities at their highest of the year.

• If you're not already using our platform to optimize your trading performance, we encourage you to get in touch. Our displayed quotes are available through our market data feed, IQX, which can be accessed directly or through Exegy, MayStreet, Redline, and ACTIV.