Equity ADV, option contracts, and odd lot trades all up year-over-year
Mar 10, 2025
Another Active Month in Equities and Options; Increasing Odd Lot Trades
Highlights & Recent Developments
- Equity consolidated average daily volume was 15.6 billion in February 2025, up 33% year-over-year
- The percentage of odd-lot trades increased year-over-year due to rising stock prices and higher retail participation
- In stocks priced over $250, odd lots accounted for 83.4% of trades in February 2025, up from 80.7% in February 2024
- As U.S. equity trading hours are extended, MEMX recommends the SIPs disseminate a “single source of truth” for symbol information that updates the stocks that market participants can trade, including corporate actions
- MEMX options average daily equity contracts increased to 1.85 million in February 2025, up 165% year-over-year
- In the most active options underlyings, MEMX ranked first, second, or third among 18 exchanges in quoting at the NBBO
Equities Exchange Highlights
Industry equity volume has been strong this year, up over 30% year-over-year over the past two months. Contributors to the growth include increased volatility and high retail participation, including active trading in sub-$1 stocks.
The Security Information Processors (SIPs) are planning to add odd-lot quote information to the consolidated tape in May 2026. This includes two enhancements. First, the round-lot definition for stocks priced over $250 will change from 100 shares to 40 shares, which will help to narrow the protected quote on the SIP data feed. Second, new odd-lot quote information will be available across all securities.
Figure 2 shows that the percentage of odd-lot trades has increased over the past year due to rising stock prices and higher retail participation. Overall, the percentage of odd-lot trades increased to 64.4% in February 2025 from 60.6% in February 2024. The percentage of odd-lot trades tends to be higher in higher priced stocks. For example, in stocks priced over $250, odd lots accounted for 83.4% of trades in February 2025, up from 80.7% in February 2024. In sub-$1 stocks, only 29.0% of trades were odd lots in February 2025.
24-hour trading has become a hot topic in the U.S. equities market. One important microstructure issue that has not gotten enough attention involves the processing of corporate actions within a shrinking maintenance period. MEMX recently submitted change requests to the SIPs that would require them to disseminate a “single source of truth” for U.S. equities symbol information at the start of each trading day.
Options Exchange Highlights
MEMX average daily contracts increased 166% year-over-year to 1.85 million in February 2025.
MEMX’s growth is largely attributed to strong quote performance. Figure 4 shows MEMX trading and quoting data in the most active options contracts on the last day of the month. For example, in SPY on February 28th, MEMX options regular electronic market share was 6.5%, and we ranked second among 18 exchanges in quote performance. MEMX quoted 72.2% of the time at the best bid or ask when an options regular electronic trade occurred in SPY. In the most active underlyings, MEMX ranked first, second, or third among all exchanges.
1 Regular electronic market share includes continuous trading in single-leg options (excludes auctions, floor, and complex trades).
2 Quote performance is calculated based on the percent of time an exchange was quoting at the best bid or ask when an options regular electronic trade occurred. The higher the percentage, the greater an exchange’s quote performance.
3 Rank among 18 options exchanges.