Marketaxess Holdings Inc (MKTX) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the MarketAxess Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded on January 31, 2024.

女士們先生們，謝謝你們的支持。歡迎參加 MarketAxess 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）謹此提醒，本次電話會議的錄音時間為 2024 年 1 月 31 日。

I would now like to turn the call over to Steve Davidson, Head of Investor Relations at MarketAxess. Please go ahead, sir.

我現在想將電話轉給 MarketAxess 投資者關係主管 Steve Davidson。請繼續，先生。

Good morning, and welcome to the MarketAxess Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. For the call, Chris Concannon, Chief Executive Officer, will provide you with a strategic update on the company. Rich Schiffman, Global Head of Trading Solutions, will update you on how we executed this quarter and then I will review the financial results for the quarter.

早上好，歡迎參加 MarketAxess 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。在電話會議中，執行長 Chris Concannon 將為您提供公司的最新策略資訊。交易解決方案全球主管 Rich Schiffman 將向您介紹我們本季的執行情況，然後我將回顧本季的財務表現。

Before I turn the call over to Chris Concannon, let me remind you that today's call may include forward-looking statements. These statements represent the company's belief regarding future events that, by their nature, are uncertain. The company's actual results and financial condition may differ materially from what is indicated in those forward-looking statements.

在我將電話轉給克里斯康坎農之前，請允許我提醒您，今天的電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述。這些陳述代表了公司對未來事件的信念，這些事件本質上是不確定的。本公司的實際業績和財務狀況可能與這些前瞻性陳述中的內容有重大差異。

For a discussion of some of the risks and factors that could affect the company's future results, please see the description of risk factors in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022. I would also direct you to read the forward-looking statement disclaimer in our quarterly earnings release, which was issued earlier this morning and is now available on our website.

有關可能影響公司未來業績的一些風險和因素的討論，請參閱我們截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日止年度的 10-K 表格年度報告中的風險因素描述。我還建議您閱讀我們的季度收益報告中的前瞻性聲明免責聲明已於今天早上早些時候發布，現已在我們的網站上發布。

Now let me turn the call over to Chris Concannon.

現在讓我把電話轉給克里斯康坎農。

Good morning and thank you for joining us to review our fourth quarter and full year results. Our underlying revenue growth trends improved during the fourth quarter as we continue to execute our growth strategy. We delivered 11% revenue growth, including the benefit of our Pragma acquisition. Earnings per share was $1.84, an increase of 16%. U.S. high-grade transaction revenue increased 14%, emerging markets increased 8% and Eurobonds increased by 7%. With these improved results in the quarter, we delivered our 15th straight year of record annual revenue.

早安，感謝您與我們一起回顧我們的第四季和全年業績。隨著我們繼續執行成長策略，我們的基本收入成長趨勢在第四季度有所改善。我們實現了 11% 的營收成長，其中包括收購 Pragma 帶來的好處。每股收益為 1.84 美元，成長 16%。美國高級交易收入成長 14%，新興市場成長 8%，歐洲債券成長 7%。憑藉本季業績的改善，我們的年收入連續第 15 年創下歷史新高。

Turning to my strategic update on Slide 3. First, we are delivering innovation with the launch of our new trading platform, X-Pro, designed to address our U.S. credit market share challenges by retooling the delivery of our trading offering. We are pleased to see our portfolio trading clients increasingly leveraging our unique pre-trade analytics, like Tradability, which are only available through X-Pro. 30% of our portfolio trades were executed on X-Pro in the fourth quarter, up from 18% in the third quarter.

轉向我在幻燈片 3 上的策略更新。首先，我們透過推出新的交易平台 X-Pro 來實現創新，該平台旨在透過重組我們的交易產品交付來解決我們的美國信貸市場份額挑戰。我們很高興看到我們的投資組合交易客戶越來越多地利用我們獨特的交易前分析，例如可交易性，這些分析只能透過 X-Pro 獲得。第四季我們 30% 的投資組合交易是在 X-Pro 上執行的，高於第三季的 18%。

Next, we are enhancing our suite of automation tools with the addition of Pragma. We delivered new records across our automation suite of products in the quarter. Our automation products crossed a record $300 billion in volume for the full year in the fourth quarter. Adaptive Auto-X, our new client algo solution moved out of the pilot phase during the quarter with a total of 13 clients, including 6 of the largest. Early results show promising transaction cost savings in U.S. high-grade. And last, in terms of execution, our client franchise has never been stronger with a record 2,100 active firms.

接下來，我們將透過添加 Pragma 來增強我們的自動化工具套件。本季我們的自動化產品套件創造了新紀錄。第四季度，我們的自動化產品全年銷售突破了創紀錄的 3000 億美元。我們的新客戶端演算法解決方案 Adaptive Auto-X 在本季結束了試點階段，共有 13 個客戶，其中包括 6 個最大的客戶。早期結果顯示美國高品位交易成本可望節省。最後，在執行方面，我們的客戶群從未如此強大，活躍的公司達到創紀錄的 2,100 家。

We delivered strong growth in our international businesses, portfolio trading and municipals. We also generated record revenue in both our market data and post-trade businesses as our investments to broaden our geographic and product footprint continue to pay off.

我們的國際業務、投資組合交易和市政業務實現了強勁成長。隨著我們擴大地理和產品足蹟的投資不斷獲得回報，我們的市場數據和交易後業務也創造了創紀錄的收入。

Slide 4 summarizes how powerful data and content on our platform is helping traders achieve better trading outcomes. We want to capture the full spectrum of order flow in the market by helping traders manage their portfolio composition, protocol selection and counterparty optimization. Our data is at the core of these new initiatives we are delivering through X-Pro.

投影片 4 總結了我們平台上強大的數據和內容如何幫助交易者實現更好的交易結果。我們希望透過幫助交易者管理其投資組合構成、協議選擇和交易對手優化來捕捉市場上的全方位訂單流。我們的數據是我們透過 X-Pro 提供的這些新舉措的核心。

From growing portfolio trading market share to increasing our share of larger-sized trades, our proprietary data is what differentiates us from other market solutions. In 2023, we had a record [390 million] price responses from liquidity providers across our platform which is growing at a 3-year CAGR of 11%. This unique data set and the magnitude of this price information is what powers our proprietary data and insights that we generate for clients on X-Pro.

從不斷增長的投資組合交易市場份額到增加我們在大型交易中的份額，我們的專有數據使我們有別於其他市場解決方案。 2023 年，我們平台上的流動性提供者提供了創紀錄的 [3.9 億] 價格反應，該數字的 3 年複合年增長率為 11%。這種獨特的數據集和價格資訊的量級為我們在 X-Pro 上為客戶產生的專有數據和見解提供了動力。

Slide 5 highlights our action plan for stronger market share growth in corporate bonds in 2024. Using U.S. high grade as a case study, we've done a very good job of electronifying small-sized tickets which has been the key value proposition of MarketAxess since our founding. While the history of electronification would indicate that the largest, most complicated block trades would be the last to adopt electronic solutions. Our market has jumped right to the largest and most complicated trades, the portfolio trade. What is left in the middle is trade sizes $5 million or greater, which is the target market for the rollout of X-Pro.

投影片5 重點介紹了我們在2024 年公司債市場佔有率實現更強勁成長的行動計畫。以美國高等級債券為案例研究，我們在小額票據電子化方面做得非常好，這一直是MarketAxess 的關鍵價值主張我們的成立。雖然電子化的歷史表明，最大、最複雜的大宗交易將是最後採用電子解決方案的交易。我們的市場已經直接跳到最大、最複雜的交易，即投資組合交易。中間剩下的是 500 萬美元或以上的交易規模，這是推出 X-Pro 的目標市場。

We've heard from our clients that they need better data and workflow solutions to manage this part of the market. In this environment, hiring more traders is not the answer. To help our clients manage protocol and counterparty selection for larger-sized trades, we have launched Tradability and AI Dealer Select. Tradability helps determine depth of market while AI Dealer Select helps clients determine the right dealers to engage. With Adaptive Auto-X, we are also helping clients manage larger-sized trades by leveraging our different trading protocols, including Open Trading. Helping clients manage small and large-sized trades with pre-trade data and analytics, growing our share of portfolio trading and enhancing our dealer-centric trading protocols like dealer RFQ are key objectives for 2024.

我們從客戶那裡得知，他們需要更好的數據和工作流程解決方案來管理這部分市場。在這種環境下，僱用更多交易員並不是答案。為了幫助我們的客戶管理大型交易的協議和交易對手選擇，我們推出了可交易性和人工智慧交易商選擇。可交易性有助於確定市場深度，而 AI Dealer Select 則可協助客戶確定合適的經銷商。透過 Adaptive Auto-X，我們還可以利用我們不同的交易協議（包括開放性交易）來幫助客戶管理較大規模的交易。透過交易前數據和分析幫助客戶管理小型和大型交易、增加我們在投資組合交易中的份額以及增強我們以經銷商為中心的交易協議（例如經銷商詢價）是 2024 年的主要目標。

Slide 6 provides an update on market conditions. In the fourth quarter, ETF market maker ADV on our platform was up 68% from the third quarter as market conditions improved but was still down 19% from the prior year. Since the Fed's pivot in early December, we have seen a pickup in duration, which has had a positive impact on our U.S. high-grade fee capture.

幻燈片 6 提供了市場狀況的最新情況。第四季度，隨著市場狀況改善，我們平台上的 ETF 做市商 ADV 較第三季上漲 68%，但仍較去年同期下降 19%。自 12 月初聯準會轉向以來，我們看到久期有所回升，這對我們的美國高等級費用捕獲產生了積極影響。

Before I turn the call over to Rich Schiffman, I wanted to provide an update on January activity with one final important trading day remaining in the month. January trends show solid low double-digit growth in U.S. high-grade ADV year-over-year with estimated market ADV up approximately 15%, indicating lower estimated market share. January is historically a lower market share month given seasonally strong new issuance in January. Over $190 billion has been issued to date in January, making it the highest January on record.

在我將電話轉給里奇·希夫曼之前，我想提供一月份活動的最新情況，以及該月剩下的最後一個重要交易日。 1 月趨勢顯示，美國高階 ADV 年比實現穩定的低兩位數成長，預計市場 ADV 成長約 15%，顯示預計市場佔有率較低。鑑於 1 月新股發行季節性強勁，一月歷來是市佔率較低的月份。迄今為止，1 月已發行超過 1,900 億美元，創下紀錄以來最高的 1 月發行量。

As a result, trading in newly issued bonds represented approximately 15% of the market, up from an average of 8%. The U.S. high-yield ADV is down approximately 30% from elevated levels in the prior year. The decline is driven by lower ETF market maker activity and increased focus on distressed names that do not lend themselves to electronic platforms and an increased focus on a strong new issue calendar by our long-only accounts. Estimated market ADV is down approximately 9%, indicating significantly lower estimated market share. Portfolio trading is on track to be a record month with ADV of approximately $800 million, up approximately 160% from the prior year.

因此，新發行債券的交易量約佔市場的 15%，高於平均 8%。美國高收益 ADV 較前一年的高水準下降了約 30%。下跌的原因是 ETF 做市商活動減少、對不適合電子平台的不良名稱的關注增加以及我們的多頭帳戶對強勁的新發行日曆的關注增加。預計市場 ADV 下降約 9%，顯示預計市場佔有率大幅下降。投資組合交易預計將創下單月日均交易約 8 億美元的紀錄，比前一年增長約 160%。

Now let me turn the call over to Rich to provide you with an update on our market.

現在讓我將電話轉接給 Rich，為您提供我們市場的最新情況。

Thanks, Chris. We made significant progress this quarter advancing our trading business. Slide 8 highlights the strong expansion of our client network. We had a record 2,108 active client firms trading on our platforms in the fourth quarter, which included a record 1,638 client firms active in U.S. credit. Trading volume from hedge fund and private bank clients increased 37% year-over-year and represented 17% of total credit volume in the quarter, up from 14% in the prior year.

謝謝，克里斯。本季我們的貿易業務取得了重大進展。投影片 8 強調了我們客戶網路的強勁擴張。第四季度，我們的平台上有創紀錄的 2,108 家活躍客戶公司進行交易，其中包括創紀錄的 1,638 家活躍於美國信貸領域的客戶公司。來自對沖基金和私人銀行客戶的交易量年增 37%，佔本季信貸總額的 17%，高於去年同期的 14%。

On Slide 9, we highlight the expansion of our trading business across geographies and products. Fourth quarter growth in international average daily trade volume and trade count was 17% and 19%, respectively. This was driven by strong Eurobond trading volume, up 13% and strong emerging local markets trading volume up 26%. Local currency ADV is growing at a 3-year CAGR of 21% and trade sizes, $5 million and larger represent 60% of our trading volumes.

在投影片 9 上，我們強調了我們跨地域和產品的貿易業務的擴展。第四季國際日均貿易量和貿易數量分別成長17%和19%。這是由強勁的歐洲債券交易量成長 13% 和強勁的新興本地市場交易量成長 26% 所推動的。當地貨幣 ADV 的 3 年複合年增長率為 21%，500 萬美元及以上的交易規模占我們交易量的 60%。

Axess IQ, our front end for private banking clients generated record ADV of $141 million, an increase of 67% compared to the prior year. We are also seeing strong product diversification in municipal bonds with record ADV of $539 million. These strong results were driven by record tax-exempt trading volume, up 14%. We had a record 369 active firms on our municipal bond platform, and we are continuing to integrate MuniBrokers with Open Trading to expand sources of liquidity for investors and dealers.

我們的私人銀行客戶前端 Axess IQ 創造了創紀錄的日均交易量 1.41 億美元，比前一年增長了 67%。我們也看到市政債券的產品多元化程度很高，日均交易量達到創紀錄的 5.39 億美元。這些強勁的業績得益於創紀錄的免稅交易量（成長 14%）。我們的市政債券平台上有創紀錄的 369 家活躍公司，我們正在繼續將 MuniBrokers 與 Open Trading 整合，以擴大投資者和交易商的流動性來源。

Adoption of our automation suite of products continues to grow, as shown on Slide 10. We experienced record automation trade volume and count in the quarter with 3-year CAGRs of 39% and 49%, respectively, and a record 185 active automation client firms. Automation trade volume now represents 11% of our total credit volume and a record 25% of our total credit trades. There were a record 10 million algo responses from dealers an increase of 40% year-over-year.

我們的自動化產品套件的採用率持續成長，如投影片10 所示。本季我們的自動化交易量和數量創歷史新高，3 年複合年增長率分別為39% 和49%，活躍自動化客戶公司達到創紀錄的185 家。自動化交易量目前占我們信貸總量的 11%，佔信貸交易總量的 25%，創歷史新高。經銷商的演算法響應達到創紀錄的 1000 萬條，年增 40%。

To share an example of client penetration, our largest automation client executes twice the automation volume of the next largest fund complex. The firm has made a significant investment in automation. We believe this is due in part to an increasing need to manage large inflows and smaller-sized tickets. There were a record 2.2 million trades of $100,000 or greater in U.S. credit on TRACE in the fourth quarter, up 15% from the prior year and nearly doubled fourth quarter '21 levels.

舉一個客戶滲透率的例子，我們最大的自動化客戶執行的自動化量是第二大基金綜合體的兩倍。該公司在自動化方面進行了大量投資。我們認為，這部分是由於管理大額資金流入和小額票據的需求日益增加。第四季度，TRACE 上的美國信貸交易達到創紀錄的 220 萬筆 10 萬美元或以上，比去年同期成長 15%，幾乎是 21 年第四季水準的兩倍。

Slide 11 provides an update on Open Trading, our market-leading all-to-all liquidity pool. Open Trading ADV was $4 billion and share of total credit volume was 36%, down from 38% in the prior year, but up from 34% in the third quarter of '23. A record 202 hedge funds provided liquidity through Open Trading in the quarter, a 9% increase from the prior year. Open Trading is consistently the largest single source of secondary liquidity in the U.S. credit markets. We delivered approximately $702 million in price improvement to our clients in 2023 on lower levels of credit spread volatility during the year.

投影片 11 提供了 Open Trading（我們市場領先的全方位流動性池）的最新情況。開放交易 ADV 為 40 億美元，佔信貸總量的份額為 36%，低於前一年的 38%，但高於 2023 年第三季的 34%。本季有 202 家對沖基金透過公開交易提供流動性，數量創歷史新高，較前一年增加 9%。開放交易一直是美國信貸市場二級流動性的最大單一來源。 2023 年，由於信用利差波動性較低，我們在 2023 年為客戶提供了約 7.02 億美元的價格改善。

Lower volatility in high yield in mid-2023 had a negative impact on ETF market maker activity as shown in the chart on the lower right. As activity decreased, Open Trading share of high yields moved from 50-plus percent at the end of 2022 to approximately 47% in the current quarter. Our launch of Open Trading in select local markets including Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and South Africa is off to a strong start. We were pleased to see the uptick in EM market volumes in the fourth quarter given the lower levels of growth over the last 2 years. Emerging markets continues to be a very attractive growth opportunity for the company.

2023 年中期高收益波動性降低對 ETF 做市商活動產生了負面影響，如右下圖所示。隨著活動減少，開放交易在高收益債券的份額從 2022 年底的 50% 以上上升到本季的約 47%。我們在波蘭、捷克共和國、匈牙利和南非等選定的當地市場推出開放交易，這是一個好的開始。鑑於過去兩年成長水準較低，我們很高興看到第四季度新興市場市場交易量上升。新興市場仍然是該公司非常有吸引力的成長機會。

Now let me turn the call over to Steve Davidson to review our financial performance.

現在讓我把電話轉給史蒂夫戴維森，回顧一下我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Rich. On Slide 13, we provide a summary of our fourth quarter financials. We delivered revenue of $197 million, up 11% from the prior year. These results include $8 million from the Pragma acquisition, of which $6 million is in commission revenues and $2 million is in the technology services revenue line. Foreign currency was a $2 million benefit in the quarter. Record information services revenue of $12 million was up 15%, including a $400,000 benefit from currency fluctuations. This strong performance was driven by new contracts as we continue to experience strong adoption across our data product suite, especially CP+.

謝謝你，里奇。在投影片 13 中，我們提供了第四季度財務狀況的摘要。我們營收 1.97 億美元，比上年成長 11%。這些業績包括來自 Pragma 收購的 800 萬美元，其中 600 萬美元來自佣金收入，200 萬美元來自技術服務收入線。本季外匯收益為 200 萬美元。創紀錄的資訊服務收入為 1,200 萬美元，成長了 15%，其中包括匯率波動帶來的 40 萬美元收益。這種強勁的業績是由新合約推動的，因為我們的數據產品套件（尤其是 CP+）繼續被廣泛採用。

Record post-trade services revenue of $11 million was up 24%, including a $600,000 benefit from currency fluctuations. The favorable interest rate environment contributed $6 million of interest income, up from $3 million. The effective tax rate was 16.9%, and we reported diluted EPS of $1.84 per share, up 16%. Earnings per share benefited from a lower effective tax rate driven by return-to-provision adjustments and the purchase of transferable tax credits by the company.

創紀錄的交易後服務收入達到 1,100 萬美元，成長了 24%，其中包括匯率波動帶來的 60 萬美元收益。有利的利率環境貢獻了 600 萬美元的利息收入，高於 300 萬美元。有效稅率為 16.9%，稀釋後每股收益為 1.84 美元，成長 16%。每股收益受益於撥備回報調整和公司購買可轉讓稅收抵免推動的有效稅率降低。

On Slide 14, we provide more detail on our commission revenue and our fee capture. Total commission revenue increased $13 million or 8% in the quarter. The increase in credit commission revenue was due to stronger estimated market volume and higher fixed distribution fees, partially offset by lower estimated market share and lower average fee per million. The VIX at 15 in the quarter was a key driver of a decrease in ETF market maker activity, which negatively impacted our U.S. high yield market share. The reduction in total credit fee capture from the prior year was driven principally by product mix with lower high-yield volume and protocol mix, driven by an increase in portfolio trading.

在幻燈片 14 上，我們提供了有關佣金收入和費用獲取的更多詳細資訊。本季佣金總收入增加了 1,300 萬美元，即 8%。信貸佣金收入的增加是由於估計市場容量增加和固定分銷費用增加，但部分被估計市場份額下降和​​每百萬人平均費用下降所抵消。本季 VIX 為 15，是 ETF 做市商活動減少的關鍵驅動因素，這對我們的美國高收益債券市佔率產生了負面影響。信貸費用總額較前一年減少的主要原因是高收益交易量和協議組合較低的產品組合，以及投資組合交易的增加。

On Slide 15, we provide a summary of our operating expenses. Fourth quarter operating expenses of $120 million included $9 million for Pragma, $2 million in acquisition-related expenses and costs associated with efficiency initiatives, and a $2 million negative impact from foreign currency fluctuations.

在投影片 15 上，我們提供了營運費用摘要。第四季營運費用為 1.2 億美元，其中包括 900 萬美元的 Pragma 費用、200 萬美元的收購相關費用和與效率舉措相關的成本，以及外匯波動造成的 200 萬美元的負面影響。

On Slide 16, we provide an update on our balance sheet, cash flow and capital management. Our balance sheet continues to be solid with cash and investments totaling $586 million as of December 31, and we had no outstanding borrowings under the credit facilities. During the past 12 months, we paid out approximately $109 million in quarterly dividends to our shareholders. Our Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.74 per share, an increase from $0.72 per share based on the financial performance of the company.

在投影片 16 中，我們提供了資產負債表、現金流量和資本管理的最新資訊。截至 12 月 31 日，我們的資產負債表依然穩健，現金和投資總額達 5.86 億美元，且我們在信貸安排下沒有未償還的借款。在過去 12 個月中，我們向股東支付了約 1.09 億美元的季度股息。根據該公司的財務業績，我們的董事會宣布定期季度現金股利為每股 0.74 美元，高於每股 0.72 美元。

On Slide 17, we provide you with our full year 2024 guidance. Revenue from Pragma is expected to grow in the mid-single digits. Pragma's revenue was $8 million in 4Q '23. We expect total expenses to be in the range of $480 million to $500 million off a base of $438 million in 2023. This would imply a growth rate of 12% to the midpoint of the 2024 range. This includes the impact of Pragma, approximately $10 million in efficiency savings in 2024 from the actions taken in 2023, and $4 million in acquisition-related expenses and costs related to the efficiency initiatives included in the 2023 base.

在投影片 17 中，我們為您提供 2024 年全年指引。 Pragma 的收入預計將實現中個位數成長。 Pragma 23 年第四季的營收為 800 萬美元。我們預計 2023 年總支出將在 4.8 億美元至 5 億美元之間，基數為 4.38 億美元。這意味著到 2024 年範圍中點的成長率為 12%。這包括 Pragma 的影響、2023 年採取的行動在 2024 年節省約 1000 萬美元的效率節省，以及與 2023 年基數中包含的效率舉措相關的 400 萬美元的收購相關費用和成本。

We expect the effective tax rate will be in the range of 24% to 25%. Capital expenditures are expected in the range of $60 million to $65 million, of which roughly 80% relates to capitalized software development costs for the investments we are making in new protocols and trading platform enhancements.

我們預計有效稅率將在24%至25%之間。資本支出預計在 6,000 萬至 6,500 萬美元之間，其中約 80% 與我們在新協議和交易平台增強方面進行投資的資本化軟體開發成本有關。

Now let me turn the call back to Chris for his closing comments.

現在讓我把電話轉回給克里斯，聽聽他的結束語。

Thanks, Steve. In summary, on Slide 18, we continue to execute very well against our growth strategy in the fourth quarter. The market backdrop improved through the fourth quarter, supported by a potential pivot from the Federal Reserve in December. Our focus in 2024 is on growing corporate bond market share by leveraging X-Pro to retool the delivery of our full suite of products and services.

謝謝，史蒂夫。總而言之，在投影片 18 上，我們在第四季繼續很好地執行了我們的成長策略。在聯準會 12 月潛在轉向的支撐下，第四季市場背景有所改善。我們 2024 年的重點是利用 X-Pro 重組我們全套產品和服務的交付，從而擴大公司債市場份額。

X-Pro will be integral to bringing all our data automation tools and protocols together to address trades of all sizes and complexity. Our client network has never been stronger with continued expansion across client segments, regions and products. As we continue to execute and deliver on our key focus areas for 2024, we believe we are well positioned to deliver higher levels of growth in the quarters ahead.

X-Pro 將把我們所有的資料自動化工具和協議整合在一起，以解決各種規模和複雜性的交易。隨著客戶群、地區和產品的不斷擴展，我們的客戶網路變得前所未有的強大。隨著我們繼續執行和實現 2024 年的關鍵重點領域，我們相信我們已做好準備，能夠在未來幾季實現更高水準的成長。

Now we would be happy to open the line for your questions.

現在我們很高興開通您的提問專線。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Chris Allen with Citigroup.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自花旗集團的 Chris Allen。

I was hoping you could help us unpack the January commentary. Market share decline in high grade, no surprise there given the issuance levels. High yield implied market share is about 13%, which is a fairly low level. So just trying to understand the share dynamics, maybe the traction you're seeing on X-Pro versus other protocols and what contributes kind of the share declines, maybe a little bit more so on the high yield and the high grade.

我希望你能幫助我們解開一月份的評論。考慮到發行水平，市場份額大幅下降並不令人意外。高收益隱含市佔率約13%，屬於相當低的水平。因此，只是想了解一下份額動態，也許您在 X-Pro 上看到的吸引力與其他協議相比，以及是什麼導致份額下降，也許在高收益和高品位方面更是如此。

Sure. Thanks, Chris. First, I want to remind everyone, we have our monthly release coming out on Monday. So you'll have all the details on Monday, but we did want to provide some level of commentary because we obviously anticipated questions on the January results. Really, first, let's take a step back and take a look at the macro market. The macro market that was unfolding in December as a result of the Fed pause has been very favorable for our market, but more importantly, the broader bond market. And we started seeing behavioral changes that were positive in December from overall market volumes.

當然。謝謝，克里斯。首先，我想提醒大家，我們的月度版本將於週一發布。因此，您將在周一獲得所有詳細信息，但我們確實想提供一定程度的評論，因為我們顯然預計會對一月份的結果提出疑問。確實，首先讓我們退後一步來看看宏觀市場。由於聯準會暫停政策，12 月的宏觀市場對我們的市場非常有利，但更重要的是，對更廣泛的債券市場也非常有利。從 12 月的整體市場交易量來看，我們開始看到行為發生了正面的變化。

Some of those same factors that we saw in December are continuing into the '24. It's an attractive rate environment. bonds are great investments again. I know people are interested in bitcoin, but bonds are much safer investments with great yield. But we're also seeing that in the numbers. If you're looking at reallocations that typically happen at the beginning of the year, we're seeing those reallocations play out into fixed income, both at the retail level but also at the institutional level.

我們在 12 月看到的一些相同因素將持續到 24 世紀。這是一個有吸引力的利率環境。債券再次成為很好的投資。我知道人們對比特幣感興趣，但債券是更安全、收益更高的投資。但我們也在數字中看到了這一點。如果您專注於通常在年初發生的重新分配，我們會看到這些重新分配會影響到固定收益，無論是在零售層面還是在機構層面。

So the overall market backdrop is quite positive. We also see a very high demand for new issue in January, and that's really reflective of that market backdrop. We're seeing really a record January new issue, closing in over $200 billion in new issue in the month of January. So that too is a positive sign that issuers are coming to market in this higher-yield environment and find it quite comfortable to be issuing debt in this overall market environment. So all of those are very positive for the bond market more broadly. And as a result, we're seeing high-grade market volumes up 20% year-over-year and up 40% from Q4 from December, actually.

所以整體市場背景是相當正面的。我們也看到一月份對新股的需求非常高，這確實反映了市場背景。我們看到 1 月新股發行量確實創歷史新高，1 月新股發行金額超過 2,000 億美元。因此，這也是一個積極的信號，表明發行人在這種高收益環境下進入市場，並發現在這種整體市場環境下發行債券相當舒適。因此，所有這些對更廣泛的債券市場都非常積極。因此，我們看到高檔市場成交量年增 20%，實際上比去年 12 月的第四季成長了 40%。

So those are all very positive signs of the overall market environment. Our market share in a big new issue month is typically challenged, but we do end up seeing -- and again, today is month end. And so we do have a very -- a large active day left in the month, and we typically do see a very strong month-end activity when we see that high new issue activity in the month. People obviously moving out of those new issues and rebalancing happening and a sizable index rebalance is also happening. So we do think today will be a very strong day left in the month. So that's why I don't want to speculate on results at this point.

因此，這些都是整個市場環境的非常積極的跡象。我們的市場份額在新發行的大月份中通常會受到挑戰，但我們最終確實看到了——今天又是月底了。因此，這個月確實還有一個非常活躍的日子，當我們看到本月新發行的活動很高時，我們通常會看到非常強勁的月末活動。人們顯然正在擺脫這些新問題並進行重新平衡，大規模的指數重新平衡也正在發生。因此，我們確實認為今天將是本月剩下的非常重要的一天。所以這就是為什麼我現在不想推測結果。

High-grade market share has been stable throughout the month. We're seeing portfolio trading activity. We're seeing our typical long-only clients being very active across the high-grade market. So a very stable market share month in high grade. High yield, as you mentioned, Chris, is certainly a different story. The high-yield market volumes are flat year-over-year. We are seeing investors not showing a big appetite for high yield. We have seen a high-yield new issue this month, which is sizable for the month. But where we see really a decline in overall market activity is across the hedge fund and ETF market maker segment. It is a broad decline across that segment so we're not seeing or feeling any competitive pressures there. When we talk to those clients, they are indicating that the overall market environment for their models and their business has declined. And so it's really a segment challenge in the high-yield market.

高檔次市佔率全月保持穩定。我們看到了投資組合交易活動。我們看到我們典型的多頭客戶在高端市場上非常活躍。所以一個月的市佔率非常穩定，處於高品位。正如你所提到的，克里斯，高收益肯定是一個不同的故事。高收益債券市場成交量較去年同期持平。我們看到投資者對高收益沒有表現出很大的興趣。本月我們看到了高收益新股，本月規模較大。但我們看到整體市場活動真正下降的是對沖基金和 ETF 做市商領域。該細分市場的整體下滑，因此我們沒有看到或感受到任何競爭壓力。當我們與這些客戶交談時，他們表示其車型和業務的整體市場環境已經下降。因此，這確實是高收益市場的一個細分挑戰。

And you see that in the high-yield ETF volumes are down 20% year-over-year. So there just continues to be a thematic challenge within that high-yield market. We saw that in the second and third quarter as well. We did see some pickup in the fourth quarter in high yield, but really that high-yield challenge continues.

您可以看到，高收益 ETF 交易量年減了 20%。因此，高收益市場中仍存在主題挑戰。我們在第二季和第三季也看到了這一點。我們確實看到第四季度高收益有所回升，但實際上高收益挑戰仍在繼續。

Other areas of our business, EM. EM had a very challenging 2023. The investment thesis was not attractive relative to where yields were at high-grade market share or even treasury market. So the EM market volumes were challenged. We're seeing a pickup -- we saw a pickup in EM volumes in Q4, and we're actually seeing a positive trend continue into January in EM with market volumes up close to 10%. And we've even seen -- we're approaching a record in our APAC volumes. So we're seeing positive activity across the international business in January. So hopefully, that's a long-winded answer, Chris, to remind everyone that we do have a market volume release coming out on Monday.

我們業務的其他領域，EM。新興市場的 2023 年非常具有挑戰性。相對於高等級市場份額甚至國債市場的收益率，投資理論並不具有吸引力。因此，新興市場的銷售量受到了挑戰。我們看到了第四季度新興市場交易量的回升，而且我們實際上看到新興市場的正面趨勢持續到 1 月份，市場交易量成長了接近 10%。我們甚至看到——我們正在接近亞太地區銷量的記錄。因此，我們在一月份看到整個國際業務的積極活動。克里斯，希望這是一個冗長的答案，提醒大家我們週一確實會發布市場成交量報告。

Our next question comes from the line of Alex Kramm with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Alex Kramm。

Yes. Just staying on market share, but zooming out a little bit, obviously -- and thanks for that chart. I think that's new. So that breaks down the TRACE volumes and by kind of size of trades and where you focus and obviously a lot of initiatives going on. But when I think about your core business today, can you just remind us what you're seeing on a competitive side there? I mean, obviously, again, market share growth comes from gains in these new areas. But just wanted to get an update on how you think you're defending your kind of home turf.

是的。只是保持市場份額，但顯然縮小了一點——感謝這張圖表。我認為這是新的。因此，這按交易規模、交易規模、關注重點以及顯然正在進行的許多舉措來細分 TRACE 交易量。但是，當我今天想到您的核心業務時，您能否提醒我們您在競爭方面看到了什麼？我的意思是，顯然，市場佔有率的成長再次來自這些新領域的收益。但我只是想了解您認為如何捍衛自己的主場的最新資訊。

And if you're seeing any sort of market participants try other platforms in your kind of home turf like what are the reasons that they are citing, why they may be looking at other platforms before they look at yours?

如果您看到任何類型的市場參與者在您的家鄉嘗試其他平台，例如他們引用的原因是什麼，為什麼他們可能會在考慮您的平台之前先考慮其他平台？

Great question, Alex. First, our core business, to remind everyone, is the institutional bond market. Our clients are global, and they are seeking liquidity across the broad spectrum of the fixed income market. It's dominated -- that market is dominated by request for quote. We happen to have one of the largest electronic request for quote.

好問題，亞歷克斯。首先提醒大家，我們的核心業務是機構債券市場。我們的客戶遍佈全球，他們正在廣泛的固定收益市場中尋求流動性。它是主導的——這個市場是由報價請求主導的。我們碰巧擁有最大的電子報價請求之一。

I remind everyone that traders are regularly requesting prices over the phone and requesting prices over chat. So the market is dominated by that request for price. The biggest part of the market is the non-electronic part, that phone and chat. So when we think about what is the real competition that we're seeking, it's that phone and chat market that we think is quite addressable and in this environment where we're seeing more trade activity, when you think about the number of tickets that our clients have to do with the attractiveness of the overall bond market from an investment perspective, our clients are telling us they are not hiring more traders. They have to do more with less.

我提醒大家，交易者常透過電話詢問價格，透過聊天詢問價格。因此，市場是由價格要求主導的。市場最大的部分是非電子部分，即電話和聊天。因此，當我們思考我們正在尋求的真正競爭是什麼時，我們認為電話和聊天市場是相當可解決的，在這種環境下，我們看到了更多的貿易活動，當你考慮到門票數量時，我們的客戶從投資的角度來看整個債券市場的吸引力，我們的客戶告訴我們他們不會僱用更多的交易員。他們必須用更少的錢做更多的事。

And so again, that demand from our traditional core client, the institutional client is quite high as we enter 2024 with the positive backdrop for the overall fixed income market. With regard to competitive pressures, we see competitive pressures across the market, particularly in the dealer-to-dealer business where dealers are taking down a large position in a bond and looking to unwind that inventory as quickly as possible. We do think that's an important part of the market and a growing part of the market because if you look at dealers' balance sheets, they are not going to be improving with the pending regulatory changes on bank balance sheets.

進入 2024 年，在整個固定收益市場的積極背景下，我們的傳統核心客戶（機構客戶）的需求相當高。關於競爭壓力，我們看到整個市場都存在競爭壓力，特別是在經銷商對經銷商業務中，經銷商正在大量持有債券，並希望盡快清理庫存。我們確實認為這是市場的重要組成部分，並且是市場不斷增長的一部分，因為如果你看看經銷商的資產負債表，你會發現它們不會隨著銀行資產負債表上即將發生的監管變化而改善。

We actually think dealer inventory will be down as a result of those regulatory changes, which means the demand for dealer execution solutions is going to be high. So we do see competitive pressures across our marketplace, particularly in the dealer-to-dealer space. That space, I'll remind you, is a quite competitively-priced space because dealers can certainly move activity overnight. The other area of competitive pressure is the portfolio trading space. We obviously have seen competitors step into that space and provide solutions, and we were slow to move on those solutions. We've now reacted quite aggressively in our portfolio trading, share has picked up, and we actually had record portfolio trading in Q4.

實際上，我們認為這些監管變化會導致經銷商庫存下降，這意味著對經銷商執行解決方案的需求將會很高。因此，我們確實看到整個市場面臨競爭壓力，特別是在經銷商對經銷商領域。我要提醒您的是，這個空間的價格相當有競爭力，因為經銷商肯定可以在一夜之間轉移活動。競爭壓力的另一個領域是投資組合交易空間。顯然，我們已經看到競爭對手進入該領域並提供解決方案，而我們在這些解決方案上的進展卻很緩慢。我們現在在投資組合交易中做出了相當積極的反應，份額有所回升，實際上我們在第四季度的投資組合交易創下了紀錄。

When I look at the portfolio trading adoption, I made this reference in our opening remarks, I am super encouraged that the most complicated block trade that we see in the fixed income market is now electronic. So if you look at the portfolio market, it's dominated by request for price on a basket of bonds and it's quite a complicated trade. And these are sizable, over $100 million in terms of size. Those are now being addressed with electronic solutions, both our competitor's as well as ours.

當我看到投資組合交易的採用時，我在開場白中提到了這一點，我非常鼓舞，我們在固定收益市場上看到的最複雜的大宗交易現在是電子化的。因此，如果你看看投資組合市場，你會發現它主要是對一籃子債券的價格要求，這是一個相當複雜的交易。而且這些項目的規模相當大，超過 1 億美元。現在，我們的競爭對手和我們的電子解決方案正在解決這些問題。

And we've just rolled out our X-Pro PT solution with lots of data and pre-trade analytics. So what I'm excited about is that part of the market, the more complicated end of the market has adopted electronic trading for block trades, an area that most people question whether or not electronic adoption would play out. And then -- so those are really the two areas that we're seeing a competitive impact. I don't know, Rich, if you want to add anything to that?

我們剛剛推出了包含大量數據和交易前分析的 X-Pro PT 解決方案。因此，令我感到興奮的是，市場的一部分，即市場中更複雜的一端，已經採用電​​子交易進行大宗交易，而大多數人都質疑電子交易是否會在這個領域發揮作用。然後，這些確實是我們看到競爭影響的兩個領域。我不知道，里奇，你還想補充什麼？

Yes, Alex, it's Rich. Yes, I was just going to say building on Chris' comments, the part of the market where we're strongest, where the Open Trading has the biggest impact, the institutional client business. That's 2/3 of the market. We know we've got some work to do in the dealer business, for example, that's about 1/4 of the market. And then PT, as Chris talking about where we're also growing, that's just 7% of the breakdown. And then the last component is retail, which we're really not in, and that's about 2%. So we feel really good about our core business, the offering that we have there. And then we're investing considerably with X-Pro, with our dealer business to capture that other roughly about 1/3.

是的，亞歷克斯，我是里奇。是的，我只是要根據克里斯的評論說，我們最強大的市場部分，開放交易影響最大的部分，即機構客戶業務。那是市場的2/3。我們知道我們在經銷商業務方面還有一些工作要做，例如，大約佔市場的 1/4。然後 PT，正如 Chris 談到我們也在成長的地方，這只是細分的 7%。最後一個組成部分是零售業，我們確實不參與其中，大約是 2%。因此，我們對我們的核心業務以及我們在那裡提供的產品感到非常滿意。然後我們對 X-Pro 進行了大量投資，我們的經銷商業務佔據了其他大約 1/3 左右的份額。

Our next question comes from Dan Fannon with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自傑弗里斯的丹·範農。

I wanted to follow up a bit on that line of questioning. But thinking about it from a fee per million perspective, how does the increasing contribution from these newer protocols impact the overall fee per million? When you talked about your RFQ business, institutional being the strong backbone, but how do things like portfolio trading have an impact relative to that mix?

我想對這個問題進行一些跟進。但從每百萬人費用的角度考慮，這些新協議不斷增加的貢獻如何影響每百萬人的整體費用？當您談到詢價業務時，機構是強大的支柱，但投資組合交易等業務如何相對於這種組合產生影響？

Sure, Dan. Happy to start. And I know Rich has some thoughts on that as well. First of all, I would like to start from the larger, broader market backdrop. Obviously, in this environment, post the Fed pause we're actually seeing years to maturity -- average weighted years to maturity improve, which has an impact on our fee capture. So the market environment that we're now entering, it's more likely that average -- weighted average years to maturity will increase not decrease. So that's a very positive outcome for overall fee capture environment as we head into 2024.

當然，丹。很高興開始。我知道里奇對此也有一些想法。首先我想從更大、更廣闊的市場背景出發。顯然，在這種環境下，在聯準會暫停之後，我們實際上看到了到期年數——平均加權到期年數有所改善，這對我們的費用獲取產生了影響。因此，我們現在進入的市場環境，平均加權平均到期年數更有可能增加而不是減少。因此，隨著我們進入 2024 年，這對於整體費用收取環境來說是一個非常積極的結果。

And we certainly see opportunities for that -- those numbers to move around in a more positive direction. Certainly, the dealer-to-dealer business, as I mentioned, is a lower-priced capture rate business. Dealers are quite price sensitive and will move their business around. So I don't expect that business to be at a lower capture over time. Portfolio trading, the key to portfolio trading, I think, it is, in fact, a lower capture rate business. But the key to winning that business is really data and analytics.

我們當然看到了機會——這些數字朝著更積極的方向發展。當然，正如我所提到的，經銷商對經銷商的業務是一種價格較低的捕獲率業務。經銷商對價格非常敏感，會轉移業務。因此，我預計該業務的捕獲率不會隨著時間的推移而下降。投資組合交易，投資組合交易的關鍵，我認為，它其實是一個捕獲率較低的業務。但贏得該業務的關鍵實際上是數據和分析。

When portfolio first came on to the market, we saw clients putting up sizable line items and trying to figure out whether they should do a portfolio trade or not, now that market has evolved quite a bit, and we're seeing clients -- the size of the line items are much smaller and that optimizes price. But more importantly, they're trying to optimize price during the trade and that requires a great deal of data and analytics live in the solution that you're using. And that's why we've seen an uptake in portfolio trading on our platform. And in particular, X-Pro is loaded with new data and analytics for traders to determine how to optimize their portfolio on the fly. Rich, any other thoughts on the capture rate?

當投資組合首次進入市場時，我們看到客戶提出了相當大的訂單項，並試圖弄清楚他們是否應該進行投資組合交易，現在市場已經發展了很多，我們看到客戶 -訂單項的尺寸要小得多，從而優化了價格。但更重要的是，他們試圖在交易過程中優化價格，這需要您使用的解決方案中存在大量數據和分析。這就是為什麼我們看到我們平台上的投資組合交易增加。特別是，X-Pro 加載了新的數據和分析，供交易者確定如何動態優化其投資組合。 Rich，關於捕獲率還有其他想法嗎？

Yes, Chris. Dan, yes, just to add a little bit on it. I mean the transaction fees, I mean, they're broadly set by bid-ask spread in the market and also on the value of the service that we provide. So it kind of runs the gamut. The Open Trading is most valuable where we deliver the most value to our clients and number was, I don't know, somewhere $700 million-ish north of that in what was a relatively lower benefit delivered. That number has been -- quite a bit higher in the future.

是的，克里斯。丹，是的，只是補充一點。我的意思是交易費用，我的意思是，它們大致上是由市場的買賣價差以及我們提供的服務的價值決定的。所以它涵蓋了所有領域。開放交易是最有價值的，我們為客戶提供最大的價值，我不知道，在相對較低的收益中，這個數字大約是 7 億美元左右。這個數字在未來會更高。

So those trades go for a relatively higher fee rate. And then all the way on the other end of the spectrum is process trades where it's either de minimis or zero, and we don't count those even in our volumes. So it's really just clients using our plumbing to process the voice trades. Things like PT, it is closer, it's closer to a process trade than it is to an in-comp trade all to all and taking advantage of Open Trading. So that is going to be at a relatively lower fee rate and of course, you guys are all familiar with the duration impact in some of our fee products where that's going to have a change as interest rates are changing and maturities are changing.

因此，這些交易的費用相對較高。另一方面，流程交易要么是微量交易，要么是零，我們甚至不將其計算在我們的交易量中。因此，實際上只是客戶使用我們的管道來處理語音交易。像 PT 這樣的事情，它更接近流程貿易，而不是完全利用開放交易的公司內貿易。因此，費用率將相對較低，當然，你們都熟悉我們的一些費用產品的久期影響，隨著利率的變化和期限的變化，久期影響也會改變。

One thing about it we talk about, size is also a factor in the transaction fees that we charge and with the move towards automation and algos being used to break blocks into smaller pieces, that's going to mean smaller-sized trades, which leads to relatively higher fee per million capture. So that's a trend that will work in our favor over time. But generally, the rate card is pretty stable, and you've got these other variables in terms of product mix, duration mix that reflect themselves in the overall average fee rate that you see published each quarter.

我們談論的一件事是，規模也是我們收取的交易費用的一個因素，隨著自動化的發展和演算法被用來將區塊分解成更小的部分，這將意味著更小的交易規模，這會導致相對較小的交易規模。每百萬捕獲的費用更高。因此，隨著時間的推移，這一趨勢將對我們有利。但一般來說，價目表相當穩定，並且在產品組合、期限組合方面還有其他變量，這些變量反映在每個季度發布的總體平均費率中。

The next question comes from Ben Budish with Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的本·布迪什。

I wanted to circle back to I think it was Chris Allen's question at the beginning. And I know you're about to put out a January release, but maybe thinking about February and how the rest of the year might evolve. Could you maybe talk about the sort of impact of new issuance, clearly, there's a market share impact during that month, but how do you see that typically unfold as we go through the year? Perhaps if February is another solid new issuance month. Does that mean at some point, we see a big pickup in secondary market trading and any other macro impacts you think could start to reverse? And what do you think could start to work in the right direction as we go through the year?

我想回到我認為這是克里斯艾倫一開始的問題。我知道您即將發布 1 月的版本，但也許會考慮 2 月以及今年剩餘時間可能會如何發展。您能否談談新發行的影響，顯然，該月會對市場份額產生影響，但您如何看待這一點在我們這一年中通常會發生的情況？也許二月是另一個穩定的新發行月份。這是否意味著在某個時候，我們會看到二級市場交易大幅回升以及您認為可能開始逆轉的任何其他宏觀影響？您認為在這一年中什​​麼可以開始朝著正確的方向發揮作用？

Sure, Ben. Great question. Look, the new issue market, when we see a record market like we've seen in January, we see that as a positive sign for market volumes and we've seen that play out in terms of market volumes. It does have an impact on our market share, but we're more about growing revenue and growing volumes. And so it has a temporary impact on share, but a positive longer-term impact on the overall market and market volumes, particularly secondary market volumes.

當然，本。很好的問題。看，新發行市場，當我們看到像一月份那樣創紀錄的市場時，我們認為這是市場交易量的積極跡象，並且我們已經看到這在市場交易量方面發揮了作用。它確實對我們的市場份額產生了影響，但我們更關注的是收入的成長和銷售的成長。因此，它對份額有暫時的影響，但對整體市場和市場交易量，特別是二級市場交易量產生積極的長期影響。

Remember, people are moving out of product and into new issue. They are reallocating typically into that new issue. And we do see that high activity at month end, like a day like today, we'd see high activity as a result of a sizable new issue market as they reallocate those portfolios. What I think more broadly, outlook for 2024, it's quite an attractive outlook for our marketplace and then we're a key component of that overall market. So we feel very positive about 2024.

請記住，人們正在從產品轉向新的問題。他們通常會重新分配到新發行的股票。我們確實看到月末的高活動，就像今天這樣，我們會看到高活動是由於他們重新分配這些投資組合時出現了相當大的新發行市場。我認為更廣泛地說，2024 年的前景對我們的市場來說是一個相當有吸引力的前景，我們是整個市場的關鍵組成部分。所以我們對 2024 年感到非常積極。

I will tell you, our clients are exceptionally positive about the reallocation that typically happens at this point in the rate cycle, where you see people moving from stocks into bonds, and we're starting to see that. You can see it in the retail numbers on our market. Retail numbers are growing, and that's really reflective. An early indicator of how people are thinking about this more attractive rate environment, so when we talk to our clients, they are bullish about more allocations, more dollars being allocated into the fixed income market. What's interesting is they are not bullish about their overall revenues coming in as a result of AUM growing dramatically.

我會告訴你，我們的客戶對通常在利率週期的這個階段發生的重新分配非常樂觀，你會看到人們從股票轉向債券，我們已經開始看到這一點。您可以在我們市場上的零售數字中看到它。零售數量正在增長，這確實很能反映問題。這是人們如何看待這種更具吸引力的利率環境的早期指標，因此當我們與客戶交談時，他們看好更多的配置，更多的美元被分配到固定收益市場。有趣的是，他們並不看好資產管理規模大幅成長所帶來的整體收入。

A lot of that AUM will grow in lower expense ratio products. SMAs and ETFs, index-based products. So they are still watching their expenses quite carefully even as AUM is growing in this more attractive rate environment. And that's why the demand that we're hearing from clients, they're managing more AUM on the same fixed budget, and that requires them to adopt things like automation and use electronic trading, have more efficient tools like an X-Pro. It's really about doing more with less on the client side. So that is a running theme among our clients in this kind of environment and quite positive as we look out into 2024.

其中大部分資產管理規模將在費用率較低的產品中成長。 SMA 和 ETF，基於指數的產品。因此，即使資產管理規模在這個更具吸引力的利率環境中不斷增長，他們仍在非常仔細地關注自己的支出。這就是為什麼我們從客戶那裡聽到的需求，他們在相同的固定預算下管理更多的資產管理規模，這要求他們採用自動化和電子交易等技術，擁有 X-Pro 等更有效率的工具。這實際上是在客戶端用更少的資源做更多的事情。因此，在這種環境下，這是我們客戶的一個持續主題，並且在我們展望 2024 年時非常積極。

Our next question comes from Jeff Schmitt with William Blair.

我們的下一個問題來自傑夫·施密特和威廉·布萊爾。

So it sounds like you fully rolled out Adaptive Auto-X in the quarter. Where do you see client penetration of that protocol increasing to in 2024? And as you're coming out the pilot phase, just curious if anything stood out or you want to highlight that you learned during that phase.

聽起來你們在本季全面推出了 Adaptive Auto-X。您認為該協定的客戶端滲透率到 2024 年會增加到什麼程度？當您走出試點階段時，只是想知道是否有什麼突出的事情或您想強調您在該階段學到的東西。

Sure. And again, we just came out of pilot. So to be clear, we had a pilot that we ran. We now -- we kept that pilot small -- to a small list of clients because we wanted to really have a focused attention, both in terms of our development as well as our -- in terms of our overall guidance and support for that new innovative solution in the fixed income market. It's the first time an algo -- a client algo was launched in credit. So it's a pretty exciting time. We've now -- what it means to come out of pilot means we are now open opening up that offering to all clients. And so the demand is quite high. The pipeline is long. We're super excited about what it means.

當然。再說一遍，我們剛完成試點。需要明確的是，我們有一個試點計畫。現在，我們將試點規模保持在很小的範圍內，只針對一小部分客戶，因為我們希望真正得到集中關注，無論是在我們的發展方面，還是在我們對新專案的整體指導和支持方面。固定收益市場的創新解決方案。這是演算法——客戶端演算法首次以信用形式推出。所以這是一個非常令人興奮的時刻。我們現在—結束試點意味著我們現在向所有客戶開放產品。所以需求是相當高的。管道很長。我們對它的意義感到非常興奮。

The positives that we've seen are really the execution quality that clients are enjoying. Remember, this algorithm is designed to be a passive solution so you can manage orders throughout the day and take advantage of opportunities where another client or even another dealer is trying to request price from the market. The algorithm will automatically respond to those prices. So it's quite a sophisticated tool. So it takes a while for a trader to learn all the different versions, all the different algorithms that they can customize and build.

我們看到的正面因素確實是客戶所享受的執行品質。請記住，該演算法被設計為被動解決方案，因此您可以全天管理訂單並利用其他客戶甚至其他交易商試圖向市場索取價格的機會。該演算法將自動響應這些價格。所以它是一個相當複雜的工具。因此，交易者需要一段時間才能學習所有不同的版本，以及他們可以自訂和建立的所有不同演算法。

So it's an exciting time for us and an exciting time for that rollout of Adaptive Auto-X. More importantly, Adaptive Auto-X is just one feature among many within our automation suite. So we don't -- we see it as a critical piece of the path forward, but the overall adoption of automation is what we're so focused on. And that automation suite of products continues to grow. Adaptive -- think of Adaptive as the most complicated, most sophisticated piece of the automation suite. But the demand for automation is high, as I mentioned, given the expense budgets of our largest clients.

因此，這對我們來說是一個令人興奮的時刻，對於 Adaptive Auto-X 的推出也是一個令人興奮的時刻。更重要的是，Adaptive Auto-X 只是我們自動化套件眾多功能中的一個。所以我們不——我們將其視為前進道路上的關鍵部分，但自動化的整體採用才是我們所關注的重點。而且自動化產品套件還在持續成長中。自適應－將自適應視為自動化套件中最複雜、最精密的部分。但正如我所提到的，考慮到我們最大客戶的費用預算，對自動化的需求很高。

The other piece to recognize and Rich had it in his opening remarks, the disparity of use of automation is quite high in our market. And he mentioned our largest automation user is 2x the next largest client. So when you -- from an AUM perspective, we have not fully penetrated the automation suite across all our clients. So there's large disparity of use and -- but some really exciting use cases.

另一件需要承認的文章是 Rich 在他的開場白中提到的，我們市場上自動化使用的差異相當大。他提到我們最大的自動化用戶是第二大客戶的兩倍。因此，從 AUM 的角度來看，我們尚未在所有客戶中完全滲透自動化套件。因此，使用上存在很大差異——但有一些非常令人興奮的用例。

I can't talk about automation without mentioning, we just awarded the largest trader on MarketAxess that trader using -- leveraging our technology, leveraging automation had a record number of trades by an individual. 240,000 tickets were executed by this one individual. She is 26 years old and works for a very -- an important client who adopted automation. They saw technology as an opportunity, and she took that automation tool and achieved a record volume.

談到自動化，我不能不提一下，我們剛剛授予 MarketAxess 上最大的交易者獎，該交易者利用我們的技術，利用自動化創造了創紀錄的個人交易數量。此人已發出 24 萬張罰單。她今年 26 歲，為一位非常重要的客戶工作，該客戶採用了自動化技術。他們將技術視為一個機會，而她採用了該自動化工具並實現了創紀錄的產量。

So just -- it's truly astounding when you see an individual trader, who's fresh out of college trade over 240,000 tickets just leveraging the technology. That's the power of this automation suite. Adaptive Auto-X is a component of that. And the demand has never been higher for this product category.

所以，當您看到一位剛從大學畢業的個人交易者僅利用該技術就交易了超過 240,000 張門票時，這確實令人震驚。這就是這個自動化套件的強大之處。自適應 Auto-X 是其中的一個組成部分。對這一產品類別的需求從未如此之高。

And I'll also remind you that the great part about automation is it's highly dependent on data. So the data that you feed it improves its performance, we alone have that CP+ solution, and we also have a great deal of proprietary market data that we're feeding into that automation suite over 2024. So you'll just see a great deal of stickiness around that product. But just wildly successful and really exciting to see an individual trader able to trade that many tickets in a given year.

我還要提醒您，自動化的一個重要部分是它高度依賴資料。因此，您提供給它的數據可以提高其性能，我們獨自擁有CP+ 解決方案，而且我們還擁有大量專有市場數據，我們將在2024 年將這些數據輸入到該自動化套件中。所以您只會看到大量數據該產品周圍的黏性。但看到個人交易者能夠在一年內交易這麼多門票，真是太成功了，真的令人興奮。

Your next question comes from Simon Clinch with Redburn Atlantic.

您的下一個問題來自 Redburn Atlantic 的 Simon Clinch。

Just following on from the last question. I was kind of interested is -- in if -- let's put aside the market conditions for now and just think about what's in your control, and just how should we think about the speed at which X-Pro and Adaptive Auto-X can actually start to have an impact on your relative market share position in the -- assuming the current prevailing environment just continues. Are we talking about something that can last 2 years to really start to bear fruit? Can we see results this year? Just give us a sense of how the rollout can be managed.

繼續上一個問題。我感興趣的是——如果——讓我們暫時把市場條件放在一邊，想想你能控制什麼，以及我們應該如何考慮 X-Pro 和 Adaptive Auto-X 實際上可以達到的速度開始對您的相對市場份額地位產生影響－假設當前的普遍環境持續下去。我們正在談論的是可以持續兩年才能真正開始結出成果的事情嗎？今年能看到結果嗎？請讓我們了解如何管理部署。

Sure, Simon. First, when I look at what we're doing with X-Pro, we have to refresh the MarketAxess technology. We're refacing how the traders in the bond market look at MarketAxess. So it is a technology change that we must make. It also helps our refresh of the entire tech stack underneath MarketAxess. So it's a key element, a key strategic technology change that we're making. The good news, as we make it, we can actually change the workflow for our clients and deliver better solutions and better data to our clients through the rollout of X-Pro. This has been in the works for a number of years. So we're excited that it's now live and being rolled out across our clients.

當然，西蒙。首先，當我審視我們在 X-Pro 上所做的事情時，我們必須更新 MarketAxess 技術。我們正在重新審視債券市場交易者對 MarketAxess 的看法。因此，這是我們必須做出的技術變革。它還有助於我們更新 MarketAxess 下的整個技術堆疊。因此，這是我們正在做出的關鍵要素、一項關鍵的策略技術變化。好消息是，透過 X-Pro 的推出，我們實際上可以改變客戶的工作流程，並為客戶提供更好的解決方案和更好的數據。這項工作已經進行了很多年。因此，我們很高興它現已上線並在我們的客戶中推廣。

The very positive news on just the basic X-Pro features, we are seeing at the trader level improvements in trade efficiency for the traders on X-Pro. It's been fairly consistent as we roll out X-Pro that the trader volume, that volume of that -- that trader handles goes up by about 20% given the workflow and efficiency of X-Pro, the trades that they execute on average go up 30%. So it's a highly useful tool to manage the growing tickets that our traders are seeing on their desktop. We also are embedding unique data features into X-Pro and building what we call a high-touch and low-touch solution.

關於基本 X-Pro 功能的非常積極的消息是，我們在交易者層面看到 X-Pro 交易者交易效率的提高。當我們推出 X-Pro 時，考慮到 X-Pro 的工作流程和效率，交易者處理的交易量上升了約 20%，他們平均執行的交易量上升了約 20%，這是相當一致的。30 %。因此，它是一個非常有用的工具，可以管理我們的交易者在桌面上看到的不斷增長的票據。我們還將獨特的數據功能嵌入 X-Pro 中，並建立​​我們所謂的高接觸和低接觸解決方案。

So traditional MarketAxess was very focused with all-to-all on, call it, $3 million-and-under trades. We actually do much larger trade sizes than that. But the way traders manage their workflow, they were very focused on what they could send to all-to-all, and that would be sent to MarketAxess. As you think about X-Pro and its rollout, we're targeting that larger trade size, that high-touch trade, the $3 million and above. I think of it as the $3 million to $10 million is the sweet spot. Those are a long list of trades sitting on desks that both the dealer and the client would like a more efficient outcome for those trades. And so X-Pro allows a trader to adopt whatever protocol they want.

因此，傳統的 MarketAxess 非常專注於 300 萬美元及以下的全方位交易。實際上我們的交易規模比這大得多。但交易者管理工作流程的方式非常注重可以發送給所有人的內容，並將這些內容傳送給 MarketAxess。當您考慮 X-Pro 及其推出時，我們的目標是更大的交易規模、高接觸度的交易、300 萬美元及以上。我認為 300 萬到 1000 萬美元是最佳選擇。這些是放在辦公桌上的一長串交易，交易商和客戶都希望這些交易得到更有效的結果。因此，X-Pro 允許交易者採用他們想要的任何協議。

They can load it on X-Pro and do a phone trade, they can load it on X-Pro and go to one dealer, they can go to three dealers or they can go to all to all. All the pre-trade analytics is designed to guide that trader on what protocol they want to use and even what counterparty they want to select from. So it's key ingredients that I think our clients haven't ever seen before, and it's a unique offering within X-Pro.

他們可以將其加載到 X-Pro 上並進行電話交易，他們可以將其加載到 X-Pro 上並前往一個經銷商，他們可以前往三個經銷商，或者他們可以前往所有經銷商。所有交易前分析旨在指導交易者選擇他們想要使用的協議，甚至是他們想要選擇的交易對手。因此，我認為我們的客戶以前從未見過它的關鍵成分，而且它是 X-Pro 中的獨特產品。

Yes, Simon, I would just add to that. You can think of X-Pro, it's the tool that makes a trader's manual activity more productive, and that's definitely around the larger trades, more complex or handling large list and things, and that's why we have it focused on PTs. The automation, that's going to transform the way people do the large number of flow tickets that they have to bang through and Chris just gave that one example of a trader with hundreds of thousands of trades that they need to work.

是的，西蒙，我想補充一點。你可以想到X-Pro，它是一個使交易者的手動活動更有效率的工具，這絕對是圍繞更大的交易、更複雜的或處理大型列表和事物的，這就是為什麼我們把它集中在PT 上。自動化將改變人們處理大量流程票據的方式，克里斯剛剛舉了一個交易者需要處理數十萬筆交易的例子。

I can see as the automation matures, gets more widely adopted. If you think about it compared to a portfolio trade, which is also a convenience service, right, when a trader -- buy-side trader has hundreds, if not thousands of line items that they have to get done, and they're basically offloading that activity to a dealer to handle the role in one shot. So the automation can actually, I think, eat into that type of activity as people get comfortable with using that and then they can focus their time on the relatively small number of line items in a very large basket that need the trader's attention. So it will be interesting over the coming years to see how those two kind of vie for some of that activity.

我可以看到隨著自動化的成熟，得到更廣泛的採用。如果您將其與投資組合交易相比，這也是一種便利服務，對吧，當交易者——買方交易者有數百甚至數千個必須完成的訂單項時，它們基本上是將這一活動轉移給經銷商來一次處理該角色。因此，我認為，隨著人們習慣使用自動化，自動化實際上可以侵蝕此類活動，然後他們可以將時間集中在一個非常大的籃子中需要交易者註意的相對較少的訂單項目上。因此，未來幾年看看這兩者如何爭奪某些活動將會很有趣。

Your next question comes from Alex Blostein with Goldman Sachs.

您的下一個問題來自高盛的 Alex Blostein。

Just another one around X-Pro. And if I were to kind of tease out maybe the message that you guys are trying to ultimately articulate is you're defending your turf in what's been established in high-grade and you're going after larger size in the market with various new tools.

這只是 X-Pro 周圍的另一件事。如果我要梳理一下，也許你們最終想要表達的訊息是，你們正在捍衛自己在高端市場上已經建立的地盤，而你們正在利用各種新工具在市場上追求更大的規模。

So as you're rolling this out, how big of an uplift, I guess, is that for the client? So does that require any incremental technology spend on their behalf or it's as easy as you roll it out and then it's just a matter of them getting to know the protocol and using it?

因此，當您推出此功能時，我想這對客戶來說有多大的提升？那麼，這是否需要代表他們增加任何技術支出，或者就像您推出它一樣簡單，然後他們只需要了解協議並使用它？

And then I guess, ultimately, when you look at your high-grade market share, what is the goal, right? You guys have been kind of in the range. So if all of these protocols are successful, what kind of market share do you think you can get in the high-grade space?

然後我想，最終，當你看看你的高端市場份額時，目標是什麼，對嗎？你們已經在這個範圍內了。那麼，如果所有這些協議都成功，您認為您可以在高端領域獲得多少市場份額？

Alex, it's Rich. And on the first part of the question about X-Pro, I mean it's definitely our objective to make it as painless as possible for the end users. So there's nothing new they have to do. It's really just coming into our workstation as they always do and selecting the new option for using this interface and the ability to get their orders in is also exactly the same as they've been doing in the past.

亞歷克斯，我是里奇。關於 X-Pro 問題的第一部分，我的意思是，我們的目標絕對是讓最終用戶盡可能輕鬆地使用它。所以他們不需要做任何新的事情。它實際上只是像往常一樣進入我們的工作站，並選擇使用此介面的新選項，並且獲取訂單的能力也與他們過去所做的完全相同。

The big challenge for us, and this will take some time. Our objective is to get all of the orders from the buy-side traders and even whether they're going to trade it electronically or not, we believe they will benefit from all of the data and analytics that we have in the X-Pro platform, and then that will lead to a greater amount of those trades taking place electronically. And to Chris' point earlier, a lot of that is going to continue to be the in comp and taking advantage of Open Trading, but there might be some trades or some orders in there that they may just want to work with a small number of dealers, and they'll be able to very effectively do that from X-Pro as well.

對我們來說這是一個巨大的挑戰，這需要一些時間。我們的目標是獲得買方交易者的所有訂單，即使他們是否打算以電子方式進行交易，我們相信他們將從我們在 X-Pro 平台中擁有的所有數據和分析中受益，然後這將導致更多的此類交易以電子方式進行。對於克里斯早些時候的觀點，其中許多將繼續是內部補償並利用開放交易，但其中可能有一些交易或一些訂單，他們可能只想與少數人合作經銷商，他們也可以透過X-Pro 非常有效地做到這一點。

So it's a tool to try to capture all of this activity in terms of share goals, I mean, certainly, we're after the whole market here. But we also recognize that not every order that comes in from a buy-side firm is necessarily going to be out in comp in the traditional way that we've served the market historically. So we're after all of that activity, it's going to come in a variety of ways. Whether it's PTs, whether it's bilateral trades, whether it's fully in comp, whether it's matching, whether it's RFQ. X-Pro is that cockpit for the trader to manage all that different way -- all those different ways that they may want to interact with the market.

因此，它是一個嘗試捕獲所有這些活動的份額目標的工具，我的意思是，當然，我們在這裡追求整個市場。但我們也意​​識到，並非來自買方公司的每個訂單都一定會以我們歷史上為市場提供服務的傳統方式進行補償。所以我們追求所有這些活動，它會以多種方式出現。無論是PT，無論是雙邊貿易，是否完全互補，是否匹配，是否RFQ。 X-Pro 是交易者管理所有不同方式的駕駛艙 - 他們可能希望與市場互動的所有不同方式。

And Alex, I'll just add what's interesting, and it's really the -- I mentioned earlier about portfolio trading. We did launch X-Pro for portfolio trading. That was the first piece of the X-Pro platform that we launched, and we saw very positive feedback and very positive results around portfolio trading. Portfolio trading will continue to be a big part of our market. It is certainly an efficient way to get exposure for the buy side.

亞歷克斯，我只想添加一些有趣的內容，這確實是我之前提到的有關投資組合交易的內容。我們確實推出了用於投資組合交易的 X-Pro。這是我們推出的 X-Pro 平台的第一部分，我們在投資組合交易方面看到了非常正面的回饋和非常正面的結果。投資組合交易將繼續成為我們市場的重要組成部分。這無疑是買方獲得曝光的有效方法。

But as we move more of the market to electronic trading, those efficiencies should spread across other areas of the market. The way I think about it is what X-Pro is doing is just replicating what the trader is doing over chat or phone. And so it's an easier conversion to an electronic solution when you're replicating exactly what the trader is doing elsewhere because you're not really changing the outcome of the trade. You're just making it that much more efficient to manage that many more line items.

但隨著我們將更多的市場轉向電子交易，這些效率應該會擴展到市場的其他領域。我的想法是 X-Pro 所做的只是複製交易者透過聊天或電話所做的事情。因此，當您完全複製交易者在其他地方所做的事情時，轉換為電子解決方案會更容易，因為您並沒有真正改變交易結果。您只是提高了管理更多訂單項目的效率。

So what's attractive about X-Pro is it allows the trader to have pre-trade analytics and then decide what protocol they want to use. And the important part of the X-Pro solution is that high-touch solution, whether you're putting it in a basket and trading it as a portfolio or you're trading the individual line items, you're literally replicating what you were doing on the desk, over the phone and in chat. And that's the key ingredient to the offering.

因此，X-Pro 的吸引力在於它允許交易者進行交易前分析，然後決定他們想要使用什麼協議。 X-Pro 解決方案的重要部分是高接觸性解決方案，無論您是將其放入籃子中並將其作為投資組合進行交易，還是交易單一行項目，您實際上都是在複製原來的內容在辦公桌上、透過電話和聊天時做的事情。這是該產品的關鍵要素。

Okay. Looks like we'll go to our next question here, Brian Bedell with Deutsche Bank.

好的。看起來我們將在這裡討論下一個問題，德意志銀行的 Brian Bedell。

Great. Chris, maybe just going back to a question that you answered a few questions ago on the segment challenges in the high-yield market broadly. Maybe just -- how are you viewing that playing out? Do you see those challenges being overcome and seeing more of a rebound in that market in the sort of near term? Or do you think it's a little bit more structural? And then to what extent would that be a potential headwind on fee per million, just from the mix favoring high grade?

偉大的。克里斯，也許只是回到您之前回答過的關於高收益市場廣泛的細分挑戰的問題。也許只是──你如何看待這件事的進展？您是否認為這些挑戰會被克服，並在短期內看到該市場出現更多反彈？還是你認為它更具結構性？那麼，僅僅因為有利於高品味的組合，這在多大程度上會對每百萬人的收費產生潛在的不利影響呢？

Sure. First, I do view it as we've seen these loans in the high-yield market in the past. That market segment is obviously a powerful part of the market. But when I look at ETFs -- high-yield ETF volumes down 20%, it makes a lot of sense for me. And we've talked to those clients, and they explain how their models work and why they're not working in this current environment. We also see the demand for high grade at a high level from the institutional market. So we understand the disparity in product that we're seeing.

當然。首先，我確實像我們過去在高收益市場上看到的這些貸款一樣看待它。該細分市場顯然是市場的重要組成部分。但當我觀察 ETF 時——高收益 ETF 交易量下降了 20%，這對我來說很有意義。我們已經與這些客戶進行了交談，他們解釋了他們的模型如何運作以及為什麼他們在當前環境中不起作用。我們也看到機構市場對高等級的需求。所以我們理解我們所看到的產品差異。

We've also seen this month a number of distressed bonds move into the distressed category. And those tend not to trade actively on electronic solutions. But the bigger impact is really the segment impact -- the client segment impact in high yield. Again, I do think it's temporary, and we'd expect that market -- that high-yield market volumes to be up in a more positive market backdrop that we're seeing in '24, and so I do think it's temporarily the market environment that's delivering those high-yield challenges, both to the market -- our market segment and then our market share.

本月我們也看到許多不良債券進入不良類別。這些人往往不會積極進行電子解決方案的交易。但更大的影響實際上是細分市場的影響——高收益客戶細分市場的影響。再說一遍，我確實認為這只是暫時的，我們預計市場——高收益市場的交易量會在 24 年看到的更積極的市場背景下上升，所以我確實認為這只是暫時的市場這種環境給市場帶來了這些高收益的挑戰——我們的細分市場，然後是我們的市場份額。

Our next question comes from Patrick Moley with Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題來自派崔克·莫利和派珀·桑德勒。

So I just wanted to go back to Slide 5 and the corporate bond market share opportunity. As we look at these five buckets here, I was just hoping maybe you could walk us through each bucket like what your market share is today? And then given that you've identified it as a major focus area for this year, maybe you could share like in each bucket, like what sort of share gains you would expect in 2024? And then maybe longer term, where do you see your market share growing to in each of these buckets?

所以我只想回到幻燈片 5 和公司債市場佔有率機會。當我們在這裡查看這五個桶時，我只是希望您能帶領我們了解每個桶，就像您今天的市場份額一樣？鑑於您已將其確定為今年的主要關注領域，也許您可以在每個方面進行分享，例如您預計 2024 年會獲得什麼樣的份額收益？然後，也許從長遠來看，您認為您在這些領域的市場份額會成長到什麼程度？

Thanks. And I wish I could be precise on market share growth across a very complicated set of buckets. But I will walk you through kind of how we're thinking about our attack plan for that market, particularly in 2024. As we launch 2024 and think about our strategy across that market landscape. Again, the overall market environment is positive. So the market that we're staring at, particularly the high-grade market, we think turnover will continue to increase.

謝謝。我希望我能夠準確地了解一組非常複雜的市場份額的成長情況。但我將向您介紹我們如何考慮針對該市場的攻擊計劃，特別是 2024 年。當我們啟動 2024 年時，我們會考慮我們在該市場格局中的策略。再次，整體市場環境向好。所以我們關注的市場，特別是高檔市場，我們認為成交量會繼續增加。

So the market backdrop is quite positive. I'll do it in size buckets to help the largest size being the portfolio trade -- it's the largest block trade we see on the market. It's the most complicated trade. Baskets within the portfolio trade are actually growing. So we see baskets over 1,000 line items and I think they'll continue to grow. The reason why our portfolio trade -- I would expect that portfolio trading market to continue in '24. As AUM grows at a large investment fund complex, they will use portfolio trading to get that immediate exposure. So sometimes it's just easier given the inflows and outflows of capital to use a portfolio trade, but we also have the ability to move that portfolio trade to a line-item trade and have it trade as a list.

所以市場背景是相當正面的。我將按規模進行操作，以幫助最大規模的投資組合交易——這是我們在市場上看到的最大的大宗交易。這是最複雜的貿易。投資組合交易中的籃子實際上正在成長。因此，我們看到籃子裡有超過 1,000 個訂單項，我認為它們會繼續增長。我們進行投資組合交易的原因——我預計投資組合交易市場將在 24 年繼續下去。隨著大型投資基金綜合體的資產管理規模不斷增長，他們將利用投資組合交易來獲得即時敞口。因此，有時考慮到資本的流入和流出，使用投資組合交易會更容易，但我們也有能力將該投資組合交易轉移到行項目交易並將其作為清單進行交易。

But our offering in X-Pro is designed to target that market, and we're leveraging both the power of X-Pro, meaning the number of line items that it can handle, but also the trading and data analytics that are available for the trader to manage those line items, we'll be able to pull line items in and out, exchange line items. So we are targeting that 7% of the overall market quite aggressively, largely because not that it's a big part of the market, but more importantly, that same trader trades the next bucket, which is large-sized trades. And so being on the desktop of the trader using our X-Pro for portfolio trading is a key ingredient to the next largest size of the market.

但我們的 X-Pro 產品旨在針對該市場，我們正在利用 X-Pro 的強大功能（即它可以處理的訂單項數量），以及可用於該市場的交易和數據分析。交易者來管理這些訂單項，我們將能夠拉入和拉出訂單項，交換訂單項。因此，我們非常積極地瞄準整個市場的 7%，主要是因為這不是市場的很大一部分，但更重要的是，同一個交易者會進行下一個交易，即大額交易。因此，在交易者的桌面上使用我們的 X-Pro 進行投資組合交易是下一個最大市場規模的關鍵因素。

Typically, traders that are trading portfolio trades are the high-touch traders, so they're managing all the block trades. So we'll be able to arm that same trader with an X-Pro solution, a high-touch X-Pro solution that gives them, again, pre-trade analytics, for each line item, each large block. It can indicate the depth of the market, things like Tradability will indicate what is the true depth of the market, what can the market swallow given the size of the block that you want to trade.

通常，進行投資組合交易的交易者是高接觸交易者，因此他們管理所有大宗交易。因此，我們將能夠為同一交易者提供 X-Pro 解決方案，這是一種高接觸性的 X-Pro 解決方案，再次為他們提供每個行項目、每個大塊的交易前分析。它可以表明市場的深度，像可交易性這樣的東西將表明市場的真實深度是什麼，考慮到你想要交易的區塊的大小，市場可以吞掉什麼。

And then the second key ingredient, we're already hearing feedback from clients on this one is, typically, traders know the dealer they want to select they don't always know the second or third dealer in that bond. So AI Dealer Select is a key ingredient for the traders as they think about their -- trading to larger block size workflow.

然後第二個關鍵因素，我們已經聽到客戶對此的回饋，通常情況下，交易者知道他們想要選擇的交易商，他們並不總是知道該債券的第二個或第三個交易商。因此，人工智慧交易商選擇對於交易者來說是一個關鍵因素，因為他們考慮他們的交易到更大的區塊大小的工作流程。

What's interesting about this segment of the market, call it, the $3 million to $10 million or greater than $5 million. Dealers have told us that they've fully automated their pricing algorithms so they can price bonds across a broad set of CUSIPs and ISINs. Now that they have that pricing power, they'd like to receive trades in electronic form that they can trade electronically. That's efficient for both the dealer and the client. So there's kind of a sweet spot around that $3 million to $10 million size block trade in our market where both -- dealer and clients both are looking for a better solution, a more automated electronic solution and so that's the size that we're attacking.

這部分市場的有趣之處在於，我們可以稱之為 300 萬美元至 1,000 萬美元或超過 500 萬美元的市場。交易商告訴我們，他們已經完全自動化了定價演算法，這樣他們就可以透過廣泛的 CUSIP 和 ISIN 來對債券進行定價。既然他們擁有了定價權，他們希望以電子形式接收交易，以便進行電子交易。這對於經銷商和客戶來說都是高效率的。因此，在我們的市場上，圍繞300 萬至1000 萬美元規模的大宗交易存在一種最佳點，交易商和客戶都在尋找更好的解決方案、更自動化的電子解決方案，這就是我們正在攻擊的規模。 。

And then the other large piece, we obviously are quite sizable in the under $5 million that's where all-to-all is a key ingredient. The size of the trade is small enough that you don't worry about market impact or market information leakage, and so you can get the full benefits of all-to-all. It's also the fastest-growing part of the market, as we mentioned, ticket sizes, ticket numbers have doubled over the last 2 years and ticket sizes have declined. So managing small tickets -- a long list of small tickets is a key attribute of the X-Pro solution because it's attached to our automation suite of products, so you can certainly manage more tickets.

然後是另一大塊，我們顯然在 500 萬美元以下的規模相當大，這就是全能是關鍵要素的地方。交易規模足夠小，您無需擔心市場影響或市場資訊洩露，因此您可以充分享受多對多的好處。正如我們所提到的，這也是市場成長最快的部分，過去兩年門票尺寸和門票數量增加了一倍，但門票尺寸有所下降。因此，管理小票證——一長串小票證是 X-Pro 解決方案的關鍵屬性，因為它附加到我們的自動化產品套件中，因此您當然可以管理更多票證。

And then the last piece, the dealer-to-dealer market is a market that we've been serving for quite some time, like things like dealer RFQ is a key ingredient to that market. I would argue that's an underserved market. The dealers' growing demand for exiting inventory is high and continues to get higher as bank capital rules come into play. So we do think our investment in the dealer segment with things like dealer RFQ, our Mid-X, mid-market session offering. Those are all at price points that are quite attractive to a dealer.

最後一點，經銷商對經銷商市場是我們已經服務相當長一段時間的市場，像經銷商詢價這樣的東西是該市場的關鍵要素。我認為這是一個服務不足的市場。經銷商對現有庫存的需求不斷增長，並且隨著銀行資本規則的發揮作用，這種需求將繼續增加。因此，我們確實認為我們對經銷商細分市場的投資包括經銷商詢價、我們的 Mid-X、中端市場會議產品等。這些價格點對經銷商來說都很有吸引力。

The other piece of the puzzle is we're seeing dealers come in and adopt our automation suite. So the automation suite that we built out for clients are now being used by dealers for that dealer-to-dealer business. So we're really attacking each one of those buckets and they're largely interrelated buckets as we look at it. Rich, any other thoughts?

另一個難題是我們看到經銷商進來並採用我們的自動化套件。因此，我們為客戶建構的自動化套件現在被經銷商用於經銷商對經銷商的業務。因此，我們實際上是在攻擊這些桶中的每一個，並且在我們看來，它們在很大程度上是相互關聯的。瑞奇，還有其他想法嗎？

Yes. I guess I'd just add to that. I mean, if you look at the slices here, call it, 2/3 there. I don't know -- say 20%, 20% if we're using investment grade as an example in terms of market share. You've got -- obviously, the way we come to that number is not across all the different sizes and ways we trade, right? There's going to be relatively lower share in the blocks. And then we have very high penetration in some of the what we call kind of our sweet spot, anything kind of north of $100,000 and up to -- going up to about $5 million and things. So that segment of the market, though, and I don't have the overall electronic total for it, but it's likely it's going to be a very high percentage of electronic trading.

是的。我想我只是補充一下。我的意思是，如果你看這裡的切片，就稱那裡為 2/3。我不知道——比如說 20%，如果我們使用投資等級作為市場份額的例子，那就是 20%。顯然，我們得出這個數字的方式並不涉及我們所有不同規模和交易方式，對吧？區塊中的份額將會相對較低。然後，我們在一些所謂的最佳點有非常高的滲透率，任何超過 10 萬美元甚至高達 500 萬美元之類的東西。因此，儘管我沒有掌握該市場的整體電子交易總額，但電子交易的比例可能會非常高。

And then it's -- this larger segment here, the over $5 million let's call it, in investment grade that has relatively lower penetration right now. It's going to be real work to get traders to be thinking more electronic in that size. And that's all the work that Chris has been describing on the other questions here with X-Pro and things.

然後是——這個更大的細分市場，我們稱之為超過 500 萬美元的投資級別，目前滲透率相對較低。在這種規模下，讓交易者更電子化思考將是一項真正的工作。這就是 Chris 在 X-Pro 和其他問題上所描述的所有工作。

So it's a battle there. It's going to be different types of protocols newly-issued bonds, for example, is one that's right now very much tied to going back to dealers and maybe being done more on the phone or via instant messaging and things. So we believe we've got all the tools in the 2/3 of the market, and we're investing in the new capabilities now to capture that top end.

所以這是一場戰鬥。這將是不同類型的協議，例如新發行的債券，目前與經銷商密切相關，並且可能更多地透過電話或即時訊息等方式完成。因此，我們相信我們已經擁有 2/3 市場的所有工具，我們現在正在投資新功能以佔領高端市場。

Our next question comes from Toby (sic) [Kyle] Voigt with KBW.

我們的下一個問題來自 KBW 的 Toby（原文如此）[Kyle] Voigt。

It's Kyle Voigt. Just wanted to ask a two-part question on expenses. Chris, you've been messaging for some time now that expense growth was likely to shift a little bit lower versus where you've been over the past 5 years or so. And we saw that in the 2024 expense guide of 6% organic. When I think about the operating environment, still very competitive. There's still a very large runway ahead to capture market share.

我是凱爾·沃伊特。只是想問一個關於費用的兩部分問題。克里斯，一段時間以來您一直在傳達這樣的訊息：與過去 5 年左右的情況相比，費用成長可能會略有下降。我們在 2024 年的支出指南中看到了 6% 的有機支出。當我想到營運環境時，競爭仍然非常激烈。要奪取市場份額，還有很長的路要走。

So I guess the question is in context of the operating environment, can you walk through how you balance pulling back a bit on the expense growth rate in '24 versus maintaining or even accelerating that expense growth for protocol development or new initiatives? And then also wondering if you could just provide kind of an update to medium-term outlook for expense growth and how we should think about that.

因此，我想問題是在營運環境的背景下，您能否介紹一下如何在 24 年稍微降低費用增長率與維持甚至加速協議開發或新舉措的費用增長之間取得平衡？然後還想知道您是否可以提供費用成長中期前景的更新以及我們應該如何考慮這一點。

Sure. So as we mentioned in our opening remarks, we've given the guidance on '24. We're guiding an expense target around $480 million to $500 million with the Pragma expenses added in there. And as you mentioned, that's a single-digit growth rate down from historical growth -- expense growth rate of double digits. We looked at the investments we've made over the past number of years.

當然。正如我們在開場白中提到的，我們已經給出了 24 小時的指導。我們指導的支出目標約為 4.8 億至 5 億美元，其中還包括 Pragma 支出。正如您所提到的，與歷史成長率相比，成長率為個位數——兩位數的支出成長率。我們回顧了過去幾年所做的投資。

The firm has grown substantially. Our tech team has grown substantially and that was all because, one, we're managing the current platform, a sizable platform. As Rich mentioned, we're 20% of the U.S. credit market. So there's a great deal of maintenance in the current platform. And at the same time, we're investing in new platforms and an entirely new tech stack. So it tends to ramp up your investment in both people, software and hardware and development and that's what you're seeing in those numbers.

該公司已大幅成長。我們的技術團隊大幅成長，這一切都是因為，第一，我們正在管理目前的平台，一個相當大的平台。正如 Rich 所提到的，我們占美國信貸市場 20% 的份額。所以當前平台需要大量的維護工作。同時，我們正在投資新平台和全新的技術堆疊。因此，它往往會增加您對人員、軟體、硬體以及開發的投資，而這就是您在這些數字中看到的。

We looked at how we allocate those expenses and how we allocate those resources across the broader MarketAxess, and we've made some allocation adjustments. So really, what you're seeing in this lower single-digit guidance is really us being mindful of not only the opportunity we have ahead of us, but mindful of where we think our focused investment should be. And so that's -- when you think about our tech plant, the X-Pro solution is a global solution. So it's not a high grade or high-yield only. It really is rolling out across the entire globe. We're targeting Europe in the second quarter, and we're targeting global portfolio trading in the second quarter on X-Pro.

我們研究瞭如何分配這些費用以及如何在更廣泛的 MarketAxess 中分配這些資源，並且我們做了一些分配調整。因此，實際上，您在這個較低的個位數指導中看到的實際上是我們不僅注意到我們面前的機會，而且注意到我們認為我們的重點投資應該在哪裡。所以，當您想到我們的技術工廠時，X-Pro 解決方案是一個全球解決方案。所以它不僅僅是高品位或高產量。它確實正在全球範圍內推廣。我們的目標是第二季在歐洲進行交易，我們的目標是第二季在 X-Pro 上進行全球投資組合交易。

So it's a global solution addressing all of our products. We think that's a worthwhile investment because it obviously brings benefits to each of our products, including things like EM. We're seeing portfolio trading in EM that we want to address. So we're excited about the investments we made.

因此，這是一個針對我們所有產品的全球解決方案。我們認為這是一項值得的投資，因為它顯然為我們的每種產品帶來了好處，包括 EM 等產品。我們看到了新興市場的投資組合交易問題，這是我們想要解決的問題。因此，我們對我們所做的投資感到興奮。

We're not saying we've stopped investing. We will, in fact, continue to invest in technology and continue to invest in people in 2024. So embedded in that guidance is a continued investment in the overall talent in our market. But we certainly feel comfortable about the years of investments that we have made, and obviously, a sizable investment with the acquisition of Pragma with all of their tech team coming into the MarketAxess fold.

我們並不是說我們已經停止投資。事實上，到 2024 年，我們將繼續投資於技術並繼續投資於人才。因此，該指導方針的核心內容是對我們市場整體人才的持續投資。但我們當然對我們多年來所做的投資感到滿意，而且顯然，收購 Pragma 是一項相當大的投資，他們的所有技術團隊都進入了 MarketAxess 旗下。

As we start to unwind and see the benefits of Pragma in our overall tech stack it's really -- we're starting to see the future opportunities for the Pragma technology moving throughout the MarketAxess offering. So one, Pragma is a key ingredient to our automation offering as we look at the end of the pilot of Adaptive Auto-X and the continued rollout of Adaptive Auto-X, they will be a key ingredient to our overall automation solution. So when we think about low touch trading, Pragma will be a key API or X-Pro solution embedded in X-Pro, and so that's part of our tech investment is embedded in that Pragma acquisition as well.

當我們開始放鬆並看到 Pragma 在我們整體技術堆疊中的好處時，我們確實開始看到 Pragma 技術在整個 MarketAxess 產品中的未來機會。因此，當我們看到 Adaptive Auto-X 試點結束以及 Adaptive Auto-X 的持續推出時，Pragma 是我們自動化產品的關鍵要素，它們將成為我們整體自動化解決方案的關鍵要素。因此，當我們考慮低接觸交易時，Pragma 將成為嵌入 X-Pro 的關鍵 API 或 X-Pro 解決方案，因此我們技術投資的一部分也嵌入到 Pragma 收購中。

So we feel very comfortable about the massive investments we've made and we're looking at moving slightly down to a single-digit expense growth rate. I will remind you, though, that 18% of our expenses are variable. So those do move as our top line will move around. So as volumes go up, our clearing costs will go up as well as a result of that overall volume number clearing through our platform. So right now, we're very comfortable with where we are in terms of the guidance for 2024. We think that's a new expense level that we're comfortable with going forward as well.

因此，我們對我們所做的大規模投資感到非常滿意，我們正在考慮將費用成長率略微降低到個位數。不過，我要提醒您的是，我們 18% 的開支是可變的。因此，當我們的頂線移動時，這些確實會移動。因此，隨著交易量的增加，我們的清算成本將會上升，同時透過我們平台清算的總交易量也會增加。因此，目前我們對 2024 年的指導方針感到非常滿意。我們認為這是一個新的費用水平，我們也對未來的發展感到滿意。

Our final question comes from Michael Cyprys with Morgan Stanley.

我們的最後一個問題來自摩根士丹利的邁克爾·賽普里斯 (Michael Cyprys)。

Just a question on the automation set of tools that you have. I was just curious where you're seeing the most traction across the suite of tools so far as well as from customer set, and what's the potential for generative AI to help turbocharge the offering over time?

只是關於您擁有的自動化工具集的問題。我只是很好奇，到目前為止，您在整個工具套件以及客戶群中看到了最大的吸引力，以及生成式人工智慧隨著時間的推移幫助增強產品的潛力有多大？

Great question, Michael. And obviously, I love to talk about automation, obviously, because the growth rates there are sizable. Just in terms of what we saw in the fourth quarter, our automation grew close to 39% year-over-year. So the demand is high. And as I mentioned on a prior question, seeing a woman of -- 26 years old, be the #1 trader on MarketAxess is reflective of the power of this automation tool. It's powered by unique data. It allows someone who's new to the market, mind you, be able to trade over 240,000 trades in a single year.

好問題，麥可。顯然，我喜歡談論自動化，因為那裡的成長率相當大。光是我們在第四季看到的情況來看，我們的自動化比去年同期成長了近 39%。所以要求很高。正如我在之前的問題中提到的，看到一位 26 歲的女性成為 MarketAxess 上排名第一的交易員，這反映了這種自動化工具的強大功能。它由獨特的數據提供支援。請注意，它允許市場新手在一年內進行超過 240,000 筆交易。

There is AI indirectly in our automation suite, so our CP+ and the data products that we're rolling out, things like Tradability, AI Dealer Select, those are all driven off of our AI tools as we produce data. Adaptive Auto-X has components of AI in it as it looks at and behaves throughout the day.

我們的自動化套件中間接包含人工智慧，因此我們的 CP+ 和我們正在推出的資料產品，例如 Tradability、AI Dealer Select，這些都是在我們產生資料時從我們的人工智慧工具中驅動的。 Adaptive Auto-X 具有人工智慧的成分，因為它整天都會觀察和表現。

So I do think there's greater opportunities foreseeing AI development across the automation suite. But I also think we're seeing low penetration of automation in some key clients. And certainly, when they hear about the successes that some of their peers are making in automation. And obviously, when they hear about the success of a 26-year-old being the #1 trader on MarketAxess, they're going to be interested in that automation suite of products.

因此，我確實認為在整個自動化套件中預見人工智慧的發展有更大的機會。但我也認為我們在一些關鍵客戶中看到自動化滲透率較低。當然，當他們聽到一些同行在自動化領域的成功。顯然，當他們聽到一位 26 歲的交易員成功成為 MarketAxess 上排名第一的交易員時，他們會對這套自動化產品感興趣。

So we think there's huge demand in '24 for the automation suite and pretty optimistic about what clients can do with it. And as you were asking, the AI solution is indirectly embedded in our automation suite, but we think there's more to do and a huge opportunity around AI.

因此，我們認為 24 年對自動化套件的需求巨大，並且對客戶可以用它做什麼非常樂觀。正如您所問，人工智慧解決方案間接嵌入到我們的自動化套件中，但我們認為人工智慧還有更多工作要做，並且蘊藏著巨大的機會。

Yes, Michael, I would just throw in on the AI piece. I think the most interesting area where it's going to have an impact is helping to find the other side of the trade, who out of the over 2,000 clients might be interested in what somebody is trading right now because today, everybody has to express their interest either by submitting orders or creating watch lists and things. It's a pretty manual process. But if you go on to Amazon, it always seems to know what you might be interested in buying at any given time. I could see AI having an impact that way and being able to notify people when there are things that they could be interested in that they could act on and be on the other side and capture that bid-ask spread. So things we're looking at pretty closely.

是的，邁克爾，我只想談談人工智慧的部分。我認為它將產生影響的最有趣的領域是幫助找到交易的另一方，在 2,000 多名客戶中，誰可能對某人現在正在交易的內容感興趣，因為今天，每個人都必須表達他們的興趣透過提交訂單或建立觀察清單等方式。這是一個非常手動的過程。但如果你繼續訪問亞馬遜，它似乎總是知道你在任何特定時間可能有興趣購買什麼。我可以看到人工智慧以這種方式產生影響，並且能夠在人們可能感興趣的事情發生時通知他們，他們可以採取行動並站在另一方並捕捉買賣價差。所以我們正在密切關注這些事情。

All right. I will now turn the call back over to Chris Concannon for his closing remarks.

好的。現在，我將把電話轉回給克里斯康坎農 (Chris Concannon)，讓其結束語。

Thanks, and thank you all for your questions. We look forward to a great 2024. We have lots of innovation, as you heard on the call coming out over the course of the year. We look forward to talking to you in the next quarter. So thank you.

謝謝，也謝謝大家的提問。我們期待著美好的 2024 年。正如您在這一年的電話會議上聽到的那樣，我們有很多創新。我們期待在下個季度與您交談。所以謝謝。

Thank you. That concludes today's call. Thanks for joining. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。