ISDA’s analysis of credit default swap (CDS) market size and structure reveals that market risk transfer activity (MRTA) in single-name CDS has been steady since 2016. The analysis also shows that the universe of single-name CDS with MRTA remains large. Over 500 names generated MRTA in each quarter over the past five and a half years. At the same time, MRTA is rather concentrated – 27 names account for about 45% of total single-name CDS MRTA. Meanwhile, MRTA in index CDS leveled off in 2016, and has been on an upward trend since the beginning of 2017.
This analysis explores credit derivatives market size from the start of 2014 until the middle of 2019, using data from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation Trade Information Warehouse.
Documents (1) for Global Credit Default Swaps Market Study
Latest
The CPI Quandary
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ISDA Response to HMT, BoE on UK CCPs
On November 18, ISDA submitted its responses to the Bank of England (BoE) consultation on ensuring the resilience of central counterparties (CCPs) and the UK Treasury’s (HMT) two draft CCP statutory instruments (SIs). These consultations form part of the update...
Doubling Down on Appropriate Trading Book Capital
Throughout ISDA’s 40th anniversary year, we’ve been reflecting on the quest for greater consistency and efficiency that underpins everything we’ve achieved since 1985. It was at the heart of the original efforts to bring greater standardization to the nascent derivatives...
Determining Initial Reference Index for New Trades
On November 25, 2025, ISDA published a Market Practice Note (MPN) to recommend a specific methodology that market participants could elect to use for the purposes of determining the Initial Reference Index for certain new inflation derivative transactions given that...