• Our special year-in-review section, beginning on page 12, includes analysis of 2019's declining volatility and volumes.
• December volumes were mixed as the VIX average daily close rose 9.85% m/m (-44.87% y/y), to 13.76.
• Equity ADV slipped 0.09% m/m (-25.83% y/y), to 6.86 billion.
• Off-exchange market share climbed 60 bps m/m (+462 bps y/y), to 39.36% of equities volume, its second highest level on record, behind January 2018 (39.55%).
• Block market share fell 16 bps m/m, to 9.33% of total equities volume.
• Closing prints accounted for 8.60% of equities volume last month, up 214 bps m/m
• 34.18% of closing volume occurred off-exchange (+425 bps m/m) — the highest level in our 8-year data set (see page 6).
• ETP ADV rose 0.94% m/m (-48.99% y/y) to 1.23 bn, accounting for 17.93% of equity ADV (+18 bps m/m).
• Equity-options ADV declined 0.53% m/m (-10.27% y/y), to 17.8 million.
• In equity options, Nasdaq PHLX (+269 bps m/m) gained the most market share; Nasdaq ISE (-135 bps m/m) and Cboe (-76 bps m/m) lost the most.
• Index options ADV increased 10.78% m/m (-34.90% y/y), to 1.79 million.