U.S. equity trading volume has dropped 7 percent in the first five months of the year, positioning it as the fourth year in a row of decline.
For the five months through May, U.S. equity average daily volume was 6.34 billion shares, down 7 percent from the same period in 2012, according to data from Credit Suisse’s Trading Strategy Group. Trading in exchange-traded funds dropped 9 percent, while trading in stocks fell 7 percent.
In May average daily U.S. equity trading volume was 6.36 billion shares, virtually unchanged from April’s levels but down from nearly 7 billion in May 2012.
The exchanges mostly saw volume drops, though. Here’s how the four major exchange operators fared:
BATS Global Markets reported Thursday that its average daily matched volume was 660.2 million shares in May, down from 693.5 million shares in April, or off 5 percent.
NasdaqOMX reported that its combined matched market share volume was 2.5 billion in May, down from 2.7 billion shares in April or a 7 percent drop.
NYSE Euronext reported that it traded 1.5 billion shares in May, down from 1.53 billion shares in April. That is off 1.8 percent from April, more in line with Credit Suisse’s data.
Direct Edge reported that its average daily matched volume was 837 million shares, up from the 758 million shares handled per day in April. That’s an increase of 9 percent.
Activity is expected to quiet down as the summer vacation season takes its toll on the equity markets, Credit Suisse said in its May edition of the U.S. Monthly Chartbook. The broker expects a slowdown in activity in line with historical norms.
“It turns out that there is indeed a slowdown of around 4 percent in the summer months (June, July, and especially August) compared to the rest of the year,” the broker wrote. “However, August is also prone to some pretty large (volume) swings.”
