Brian Chappatta, Columnist

The Bond-Trading Revolution Is Real This Time

Electronic fixed-income platforms made inroads during the pandemic and haven’t lost momentum.

February 9, 2021 at 11:00 AM UTC

Brian Chappatta is managing editor of Bloomberg News' leveraged finance and distressed debt teams. He was previously managing editor and team leader of its wealth group. Before that he was a Bloomberg Opinion markets and finance columnist and a bonds reporter for Bloomberg News.

The future is digital.
Photographer: Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Bond markets have for years been seemingly close to a tipping point when it comes to electronic trading, yet they could never quite break through. Yet those who closely follow technological advances and market structure were unwavering. “The slow and steady change that has occurred over the past decade will ultimately be seen for the revolution that it brought about,” Kevin McPartland, head of research in Greenwich Associates’ market structure and technology group, wrote in a January 2020 report.

That belief — that fixed-income trading wasn’t entirely impervious or antithetical to progress — has finally paid off, even if it took a global pandemic to get there. No matter how you slice it, the momentum toward automation, electronic trading and consolidation in a once-fragmented space is undeniable.