More than six months have passed since I last looked at the most active names in CDS and TRS, so high time to take a look at recent data from US SEC Securities Based Data Repositorys (SBSDRs).
CDS on Sovereigns
Using SBSDRView, we can find the most active sovereigns for CDS trades in April 2024.
- Showing the name, gross notional in millions of usd, trade count and rank in April (with change from prior month).
- We could rank by notional but for CDS we prefer to use trade count, because with $5million as the maximum disclosed notional for a single trade, we know from the data that this total gross notional is significantly understated, particularly for Sovereigns and less so for Corporates.
- South Africa the most active name with 498 trades and also top in the prior month
- Brazil the second most active name with 489 trades (it was top in Aug 2023 with 336 trades)
- Mexico, Columbia and Turkey make up the top five
- The largest gainers in rank from the prior month are Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, a busy period for the Middle East
- The largest fallers in rank are Korea and Italy
The above list was a selection for USD trades, the standard currency for CDS Sovereigns.
Changing to EUR, we see the following:
- 61 trades on Italy, so close to the 68 we saw in USD, though less than half the notional
- 7 trades on the United States, all capped at $5m each
- 2 on Spain and 1 Greece
As I have noted before, the USA is the best credit in Capital markets, so it is surprising to see trades each month, even if small numbers; 4 in March, 3 in February, 2 in January.
CDS on US Corporates
Next the top 25 most active US corporates by trade count for April 2024.
- Boeing, the top name, as it was in the prior month, far higher than it’s usual rank, as safety concerns and financial outlook continue to weigh on the company
- American Airlines in second, up 7 places
- Verizon, Goodyear and Paramount make up the top 5
- Goodyear up 69 places from the prior month
- Ford, usually the top name, down in 14th position
- General Motors, down 15 places
- Notable risers include United Airlines, Royal Carribean, Transocean, Avis
CDS on EU Corporates
Next let’s look at the most active EU Corporates.
- Altice France in top place with 181 trades, up 5 places
- Intrum AB, the Swedish Credit Management Company, in second, up 3 places
- Deutsche Bank and Intesa Sanpaolo next
- Stellantis (formerly Fiat) the largets riser, up 88 places, in seventh
- Other notable risers, Generali, BNP Paribas, Renault and Next
- Glencore the largest faller, in 13 places
A change in rank, signifying more trading, which could be due to many reasons. e.g. a change in investor perception of the credit worthiness of a name, a recent debt issue, financial news for the name or sector, …
CDS on JP Corporates
Next let’s look at the most active JP Corporates.
- Rakuten in top place with 57 trades
- Softbank next with 13
- Six names with CDS trades in the month
While looking at March 2024, we see eight names, with the top 3 the same as April.
In Summary
- There is a lot of data available from the US SEC SBSDRs.
- SBSDRView provides new transparency on OTC Derivatives in Credit & Equity
- Our Most Active view highlights the names that trade most frequently each day/week/month
- From which you can drill down to trade details.
- Providing new information and insights
- Please contact us, if you are interested in using SBSDRView.