Credit Index Swaps: Weekly Trading Volume, High Yield (CFTC)

## What this measures

Notional value of new high-yield credit index swap trades in the week, $ billions. From the CFTC's Weekly Swaps Report, which aggregates what U.S. swap data repositories hold: credit index products (CDX, iTraxx and their tranches), credit swaptions and total return swaps. Dated by the report's "as of" date, about two and a half weeks before release. Starts with the first report after the CFTC changed its methods on 9 December 2022.

## Why it matters

Credit index swaps are how investors hedge or bet on corporate credit as a whole. Rising trading and outstanding notional mean more hedging demand; investment grade against high yield shows where it is going.

## How to read it

Week-to-week trading volume is noisy and jumps around the March and September index rolls; compare four-week averages and the same weeks a year earlier.

## What it does not say

Single-name CDS are security-based swaps regulated by the SEC and are not in this report. It covers swaps reported to U.S. repositories, so it misses some non-U.S. trading, and it shows no prices or spreads.

## Source

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Weekly Swaps Report, credit tables 13–15. Public domain.