Exchange Highlights

Volatility Boosts Exchange Share; Options Non-Penny Market Share Surges

Apr 7, 2026

Volatility Boosts Exchange Share; Options Non-Penny Market Share Surge

Highlights & Recent Developments

  • MEMX Equities performance in March:
    • Average daily notional traded grew 93% year-over-year to $21.6 billion
    • Total market share improved to 2.5% and exchange market share grew to 4.7%
    • Ranked fifth or better in time-at-NBBO quoting in 4,226 symbols
  • VIX volatility increased to 26 in March and contributed to lower off-exchange market share of 46.7%
  • Fractional shares began reporting on TRF on February 23rd. While not much volume, fractional trading offers insight into where retail is trading (e.g., VOO, NVDA, QQQ, TSLA, MSFT)
  • MEMX Options performance in March:
    • Volume increased 17% year-over-year to 2.2 million average daily contracts
    • Total market share was 3.9% and regular-electronic market share was 7.6%
    • Non-penny options market share surged to 17% in regular-electronic
    • Ranked first in quote performance in SPY, QQQ, non-penny options in regular-electronic

Equities Exchange Highlights

MEMX Equities notional traded hit a recent new high of $21.6 billion, up 93% year-over-year. MEMX market share also improved year-over-year to 2.5% of total and 4.7% of exchanges (excluding off-exchange volume).

MEMX provides consistent quote performance across a diverse set of securities. We ranked first, second, or third in time-at-NBBO quoting in 1,416 symbols and ranked fifth or better in 4,226 symbols among 17 exchanges.


Higher VIX volatility at 26 contributed to lower off-exchange market share of 46.7% in March. In volatile markets, execution certainty on lit exchanges matters more than minimizing market impact.

On February 23rd, fractional share trades began reporting on the Trade Reporting Facility (TRF) up to six decimal places. Prior to then, less than one share was rounded up to one and more than one share was rounded to the nearest whole share (to one or two).

In March, fractional trading accounted for 18 million shares ($2.8 billion) or only 0.005% of total volume. While fractional trading is not a meaningful amount of volume, it provides insight on retail trading interest. Figure 4 shows the top securities sorted by fractional notional traded in March, including VOO, NVDA, QQQ, TSLA and MSFT.

Not surprisingly, the data show higher-priced stocks tend to have more fractional order flow as more retail orders are placed in dollar amounts rather than share quantities.

Options Exchange Highlights

MEMX Options average daily equity volume increased 17% year-over-year to 2.22 million in March. Total market share was 3.9% and regular-electronic market share was 7.6%.

MEMX Options market share ranked first in quote performance among 18 exchanges in SPY and QQQ, which are the two most active underlyings and accounted for over 29% of total volume in March. MEMX also ranked first in quoting in non-penny options and had record regular-electronic market share of 17%.

MEMX non-penny options market share surged over the past year, increasing year-over-year from 8.9% in March 2025 to 17.1% in March 2026. Penny market share increased from 6.2% in March 2025 to 6.9% in March 2026.