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MARKETAXESS HOLDINGS INC

MKTX
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Business Summary

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. operates leading electronic trading platforms delivering greater trading efficiency, a diversified pool of liquidity and significant cost savings to approximately 2,100 institutional investor and broker-dealer clients across the global fixed-income and other markets. The fixed-income markets the company focuses on remain significantly less electronified than other asset classes, creating significant opportunities for continued growth. According to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, as of September 30, 2025, there were approximately $11.5 trillion in principal amount of fixed-income securities outstanding in the U.S. corporate bond market, which reflects a five-year compound annual growth rate of 3.2% , and as of December 31, 2025, there were approximately $30.3 trillion in principal amount of fixed-income securities outstanding in the U.S. government bond market, which reflects a five-year compound annual growth rate of 7.6% .

The company competes with bilateral trading conducted over the telephone or electronic messaging, other multi-party electronic trading platforms such as Tradeweb, Bloomberg, Intercontinental Exchange, Trumid, and TP ICAP, as well as EMS and OMS providers and securities and futures exchanges. The company believes its scale, network effects, and product innovation uniquely position it to capture increased trading volumes as the market continues its transition from voice to electronic trading. The combined U.S. high grade and U.S. high-yield bond ADV on its platforms for the year ended December 31, 2025 was approximately $8.7 billion , representing just 17.0% of the estimated addressable market of approximately $51.2 billion .

The company derives revenue from commissions for transactions executed on its platforms, information services, post-trade services and technology services. In 2025, 86.8% of revenues were derived from commissions for transactions executed on the platforms, 6.3% from data products, 5.3% from post-trade services and 1.6% from technology services. The company's expenses consist of employee compensation and benefits, depreciation and amortization, technology and communication expenses, professional and consulting fees, occupancy, marketing and advertising, clearing costs and general and administrative expenses.

The company's credit products include U.S. high-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, and other credit products including leveraged loans. Its rates products include U.S. government bonds, agency bonds, and other government bonds including European government bonds. For the year ended December 31, 2025, the six largest product areas were U.S. high-grade with ADV of $7.2 billion , U.S. high-yield with ADV of $1.5 billion , emerging market debt with ADV of $3.9 billion , eurobonds with ADV of $2.4 billion , municipal bonds with ADV of $0.6 billion , and U.S. government bonds with ADV of $25.4 billion . The company's estimated market share of total U.S. high-grade corporate bond volume was 18.4% for 2025, and estimated market share of total U.S. high-yield corporate bond volume was 12.5% for 2025.

The company's Open Trading all-to-all marketplace generated an estimated $496.4 million of price improvement for clients in 2025, consisting of an estimated $324.9 million of liquidity taker price improvement and an estimated $171.6 million of liquidity provider price improvement. In 2025, the company completed its acquisition of a majority stake in RFQ-hub Holdings LLC, a bilateral multi-asset and multi-dealer RFQ platform designed for the ETF and derivatives markets. The company also delivered approximately 1,000 unique new business and technical features during the year ended December 31, 2025. As of December 31, 2025, the company had 868 employees. During the three months ended December 31, 2025, the company repurchased 1,388,397 shares of common stock, including 1,386,001 shares repurchased in connection with its Repurchase Programs. On December 9, 2025, the company entered into an accelerated stock repurchase agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association pursuant to which the company paid $300.0 million and received an initial delivery of 1,386,001 shares.

Total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2025 were $846.268 million , compared to $817.097 million for 2024, an increase of 3.6% . Net income for 2025 was $246.912 million , compared to $274.181 million for 2024, a decrease of 9.9% . Diluted EPS was $6.64 for 2025 versus $7.28 for the prior year. Operating income was $341.838 million for 2025 compared to $340.870 million for 2024.

Business Outlook

The company is focused on increasing penetration in fixed-income markets, noting that the combined U.S. high grade and U.S. high-yield bond ADV on its platforms for the year ended December 31, 2025 was approximately $8.7 billion , representing just 17.0% of the estimated addressable market of approximately $51.2 billion . The company continues to enhance its automated and algorithmic trading protocols, and in 2024 introduced an AI-driven trading protocol designed to make it easier for clients to execute block trades. In 2025, there were 261 client firms using the company's automated and algorithmic trading solutions, up 6.5% from 2024.

The company is continuing to expand and diversify its business internationally. Revenues from international clients have grown from 29.1% of total revenues in 2021 to 32.8% of total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2025. The ADV in the EMEA, Latin America and APAC regions on the MarketAxess platforms has grown from $3.3 billion in 2021 to $5.6 billion in 2025. As of December 31, 2025, institutional investor and broker-dealer clients are based in approximately 90 countries with over 1,000 total active international client firms and approximately 6,000 total active international traders. In 2025, the company launched the first fully electronic trading solution for Indian government bonds.

The company's data strategy is centered on using its data offerings to support trading activity through its diverse trading protocols and growing revenues from its commercial data offerings. In 2024, the company expanded CP+, its real-time pricing engine, to include municipal bonds. In 2024, the company partnered with S&P Global Market Intelligence to integrate S&P Global Bond Reference Data into its suite of data products and include CP+ real-time pricing in S&P Global's Evaluated Bond Pricing. In 2025, the company partnered with FactSet to provide CP+ real-time data within the FactSet Workstation platform and datafeeds.

The company continues to invest in technology innovation. Its next-generation trading platform, MarketAxess X-Pro, provides access to multiple trading protocols and workflow tools and integrates its suite of proprietary pre- and post-trade data and analytics tools, powered by its AI-driven pricing engine, CP+. The company's technology team consists of approximately 370 full-time technology professionals. During the year ended December 31, 2025, the company delivered approximately 1,000 unique new business and technical features to its clients.

In January 2022, the Board authorized a share repurchase program for up to $150.0 million . In August 2024, the Board authorized a share repurchase program for up to an additional $200.0 million . In December 2025, the Board authorized a share repurchase program for an additional $400.0 million . As of December 31, 2025, the company had $205.0 million of remaining capacity under the Repurchase Programs. In January 2026, the Board approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.78 per share payable on March 4, 2026.

The company faces headwinds from potential decreases in trading volumes in fixed-income markets generally or on its platforms, which would harm its business and profitability. The company also faces risks from the increased demand for portfolio trading workflows, which has resulted in heightened competition among trading platforms and can drive significant swings in trading volumes and estimated market share. Portfolio trading is generally provided under a lower-fee structure than other protocols and the growth of portfolio trading on the platform will likely have a negative impact on the average credit variable transaction fee per million.

The company faces risks from the ongoing divergence of the U.K. from the E.U. following Brexit in relation to the future development of MiFID II and MiFIR and other rules and regulations within the financial markets, which may further increase the complexity, operational costs and compliance requirements of its business in the U.K. and E.U. The SEC adopted final rules regarding the central clearing of certain secondary market transactions involving U.S. Treasury securities, which are currently set to become effective for certain cash market transactions on December 31, 2026 .

Risk Factors

The company faces substantial competition from bilateral trading, other multi-party electronic trading platforms, EMS and OMS providers, and securities and futures exchanges, many of which are more established and have substantially greater financial resources. A decline in overall market volumes or trading volumes on the company's platforms for any reason would negatively affect commission revenue. The company is exposed to credit and performance risks in its role as matched principal trading counterparty, including the risk that counterparties that owe money or securities will not perform their obligations. The company's business is subject to extensive regulation in the U.S. and internationally, and the cost and complexity of complying with diverging U.K. and E.U. financial regulations has increased. The company depends on third-party suppliers for key products and services, including bond reference databases, clearing and settlement services, and cloud infrastructure, and disruptions in these services could have a material adverse effect.

Management Priorities

Management's message emphasizes the company's differentiated market position built through an integrated approach to electronic trading, combining diverse trading protocols, automated and algorithmic execution solutions, intelligent data products and analytics and comprehensive post-trade and technology services. The key strategic priorities emphasized are increasing penetration in fixed-income markets, expanding trading protocols and leveraging the Open Trading network, continuing to invest in and grow the business through geographic diversification, expanding data and analytical tools, and pursuing select acquisitions and strategic alliances. The filing states that the company believes its scale, network effects, and product innovation uniquely position it to capture increased trading volumes as the market continues its transition from voice to electronic trading.

View Source Annual Report on SEC.gov ↗

References

  1. [1] Item 1, Business — Overview
  2. [2] Item 1, Business — The Fixed-Income Products Available on our Platforms
  3. [3] Item 1, Business — The Fixed-Income Products Available on our Platforms
  4. [4] Item 1, Business — The Fixed-Income Products Available on our Platforms
  5. [5] Item 1, Business — The Fixed-Income Products Available on our Platforms
  6. [6] Item 1, Business — Our Strategy
  7. [7] Item 1, Business — Our Strategy
  8. [8] Item 1, Business — Our Strategy
  9. [9] Item 1, Business — Our End-to-End Trading Solutions
  10. [10] Item 1, Business — Our End-to-End Trading Solutions
  11. [11] Item 1, Business — Our End-to-End Trading Solutions
  12. [12] Item 1, Business — Our End-to-End Trading Solutions
  13. [13] Item 1, Business — The Fixed-Income Products Available on our Platforms
  14. [14] Item 1, Business — The Fixed-Income Products Available on our Platforms
  15. [15] Item 1, Business — The Fixed-Income Products Available on our Platforms
  16. [16] Item 1, Business — The Fixed-Income Products Available on our Platforms
  17. [17] Item 1, Business — The Fixed-Income Products Available on our Platforms
  18. [18] Item 1, Business — The Fixed-Income Products Available on our Platforms
  19. [19] Item 1, Business — The Fixed-Income Products Available on our Platforms
  20. [20] Item 1, Business — The Fixed-Income Products Available on our Platforms
  21. [21] Item 1, Business — Our Competitive Strengths
  22. [22] Item 1, Business — Our Competitive Strengths
  23. [23] Item 1, Business — Our Competitive Strengths
  24. [24] Item 1, Business — Our Technology
  25. [25] Item 1, Business — Human Capital Resources
  26. [26] Item 5, Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
  27. [27] Item 5, Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
  28. [28] Item 5, Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
  29. [29] Item 5, Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
  30. [30] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  31. [31] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  32. [32] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  33. [33] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  34. [34] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  35. [35] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  36. [36] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  37. [37] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  38. [38] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  39. [39] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  40. [40] Item 1, Business — Our Strategy
  41. [41] Item 1, Business — Our Strategy
  42. [42] Item 1, Business — Our Strategy
  43. [43] Item 1, Business — Our End-to-End Trading Solutions
  44. [44] Item 1, Business — Our End-to-End Trading Solutions
  45. [45] Item 1, Business — Our Strategy
  46. [46] Item 1, Business — Our Strategy
  47. [47] Item 1, Business — Our Strategy
  48. [48] Item 1, Business — Our Strategy
  49. [49] Item 1, Business — Our Strategy
  50. [50] Item 1, Business — Our Strategy
  51. [51] Item 1, Business — Our Strategy
  52. [52] Item 1, Business — Our Technology
  53. [53] Item 1, Business — Our Technology
  54. [54] Item 5, Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
  55. [55] Item 5, Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
  56. [56] Item 5, Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
  57. [57] Item 5, Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
  58. [58] Item 7, MD&A — Other Factors Influencing Liquidity and Capital Resources
  59. [59] Item 1, Business — Government Regulation
  60. [60] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  61. [61] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  62. [62] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  63. [63] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  64. [64] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  65. [65] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  66. [66] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  67. [67] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  68. [68] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  69. [69] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  70. [70] Item 7, MD&A — Cash Flows
  71. [71] Item 7, MD&A — Cash Flows
  72. [72] Item 8, Financial Statements — Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition
  73. [73] Item 8, Financial Statements — Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition
  74. [74] Item 8, Financial Statements — Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition
  75. [75] Item 7, MD&A — Non-GAAP Financial Measures
  76. [76] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  77. [77] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations
  78. [78] Item 7, MD&A — Results of Operations

Analysis on 6/22/2026