July proved to be a slower month for BATS Hotspot ECN, finishing the month at $23.5 billion ADV versus $25.7 billion in June for a 8.6% decrease MoM. The July results put the latest metric down roughly 12% from May, and down 17% from April. YoY metrics were seen slightly down from July 2014’s $23.9 billion. As noted by the headline this is a relativity very slow month as it seems the summer slowdown could be hitting volumes no matter any extra volatility. The fallback in volumes in July during the last two years makes them the slowest months in terms of volumes since December 2012 results, with this years July metric a multi-year low.
Hotspot is always our first volume indicator for the month, however, with the acquisition by BATS of the ECN from KCG Holdings earlier in the year, the business could still be experiencing transition hiccups. Case in point being volume has trended down the last few months, while the wider industry was experiencing a quarterly rise in total volumes (see chart below).
For historic Hotspot volumes, click here.