Weekly Highlights

• Last week saw a bit of divergence in execution friction. ETF and large-cap post trade quote instability (measured out to 500ms) and average spreads both trended higher, while smid-cap names remained more in line with the end of February on both measures. Nevertheless, late week averages showed some decline in both daily volumes and trade size across the market in general, likely increasing execution difficulties.

• Some notable examples include AMZN, which has seen median trade size decline by almost 30% since being included in the DOW30. More subtle, but consistent declines in trade size have been reflected in the DOW30 ETF, DIA, and also in demi and block trading of the other DOW30 names. Staying with the theme of decreased trade size, Bitcoin ETFs also saw a decline in demi and block trading last week contemporaneous with the underlying coin’s new highs, and an increase in quote instability among the ETFs.

• Meanwhile, IntelligentCross continues to deliver quality execution for its subscribers. Last week was our best week of the year for average daily match quantity, and third best week ever coming in just under 200mm shares per day, on average, single counted. This was driven by larger sized and urgently timed matches. Both the average daily match quantity of demi block and larger and IOC order types were the largest of the year, and third best ever, as well.

• If you haven't yet leveraged our platform to boost your trading outcomes, we urge you to connect with us. Our displayed ASPEN quotes are available through our market data feed, IQX, which can be accessed directly or via providers such as Exegy, MayStreet, Redline, and ACTIV.