A Trillion Reasons to Watch MarketAxess in Emerging Markets

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. MKTX just revealed a major milestone: it has surpassed $1 trillion in emerging markets (EM) trading volume so far in 2025. This huge figure reflects cumulative activity across both hard currency and local currency EM bond markets on its platform.

The company now operates in 30 local currency markets and more than 100 hard currency markets, serving more than 1,500 institutional clients in about 90 global markets. Importantly, after launching a fully electronic workflow for Indian Government Bonds (IGBs) in June 2025, MarketAxess now covers the whole J.P. Morgan GBI-EM Index, a key benchmark for EM debt.

MarketAxess also reported strong underlying growth: its record average daily volume (ADV) in emerging markets trading is around $5 billion, up about 16% year over year. Both local markets and hard currency volumes contributed to this increase. Notable gains in core channels like client-initiated, portfolio trading and dealer-initiated activity are supporting numbers.

Hitting the $1 trillion mark shows that MarketAxess’ EM business has scaled tremendously in what has traditionally been a fragmented and less electronically traded segment of the debt markets. Technology enabling full index coverage and rising volumes enhances liquidity and transparency for institutional traders, positioning MarketAxess as a key infrastructure provider as emerging markets gain investor interest.

This strengthens MKTX’s broader revenue base at a time when fixed-income electronic trading is evolving rapidly. It is also expanding its dealer business and rolling out tools for sell-side traders and continues to diversify beyond core fixed-income trading.

MKTX’s Peers Are Also Expanding

CME Group CME is pushing growth on multiple fronts, including international expansion, new product rollouts, retail-focused initiatives and ongoing technology upgrades. A key step is its plan to introduce round-the-clock trading for cryptocurrency futures and options by early next year. These crypto contracts will trade continuously on the CME Globex electronic platform, extending access beyond traditional market hours.

Larger rival Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. ICE is also broadening its footprint through targeted investments, platform innovation and new service offerings. The company is sharpening its focus on sustainability, data services and emerging markets, with ICE GreenTrace expected to debut later this year.

MarketAxess’ Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Shares of MarketAxess have declined 21.8% in the past year against the industry’s growth of 38.8%.

From a valuation standpoint, MarketAxess trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 22.93X, higher than the industry average. MKTX carries a Value Score of D.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MarketAxess’ 2025 earnings implies a 1.7% increase year over year and a further 7.5% jump in 2026.

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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