Tradeweb Completes First Fully Electronic Swaption Termination

Key Terms

swaption financial

A swaption is a financial contract that gives its holder the right, but not the obligation, to start an interest-rate swap at a future date under pre-agreed terms. Think of it like buying a coupon that lets you lock in how interest payments are exchanged later; investors and companies use it to hedge against rising or falling borrowing costs or to speculate on future rate moves, which can affect debt expenses and the value of interest-sensitive assets.

swaptions financial

An option that gives its holder the right, but not the obligation, to enter into an interest rate swap at a future date under pre-set terms. Think of it like locking in the choice to exchange a variable-rate loan for a fixed one (or vice versa) later, similar to reserving the option to swap mortgage payments if rates move. Investors use swaptions to hedge or bet on interest-rate changes, manage borrowing costs, and protect the value of bond or loan positions.

swap execution facility regulatory

A Swap Execution Facility is a special online platform where people and companies can buy and sell swap agreements, which are contracts to exchange financial benefits or risks. It helps ensure these trades happen fairly and transparently, making financial markets safer and more organized—kind of like an auction site for financial contracts.

markitwire technical

A financial news distribution service that delivers corporate announcements, regulatory filings and press releases directly to market data systems, journalists and investors. It matters because it ensures important company disclosures reach the market quickly and in a standardized format—like a digital bulletin board—so investors can react to the same information at the same time, helping price accuracy and reducing the chance of information advantage.

post-trade processing technical

Post-trade processing is the set of behind-the-scenes steps that complete a securities trade after buyers and sellers agree a price: confirming details, moving money and ownership, updating records, and resolving any mismatches. It matters to investors because smooth, reliable processing reduces the chance of lost or delayed funds and securities, lowers costs and counterparty risk, and keeps markets liquid—much like finalizing paperwork and handing over keys after a house sale.

gross notional exposure financial

Gross notional exposure is the sum of the face values of all positions a portfolio holds, counting long and short positions by their full size rather than offsetting them against each other. Think of it as the total amount of money at stake before any internal netting, like adding up the dollar amounts of every bet on a game even if some bets cancel others out. Investors use it to gauge raw scale of risk, leverage and potential counterparty obligations that aren’t visible from the net position alone.

operational risk technical

Operational risk is the chance a company loses money or value because of failures in its day-to-day operations—such as broken systems, human error, fraud, supply-chain breakdowns, or regulatory and legal problems. Investors care because these events can cut profits, create unexpected costs, or damage reputation; like a kitchen fire or a cashier mistake shutting a restaurant temporarily, strong controls and backup plans show how resilient a business is.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Tradeweb Markets, a leading electronic trading platform for rates, credit, equities and money markets, today announced that it completed the industry’s first fully electronic swaption termination. The inaugural transaction took place between Citadel and Wells Fargo on Tradeweb’s Swap Execution Facility (TW SEF), with post-trade processing routed through OSTTRA’s MarkitWire platform.

The completion of this electronic transaction, an industry first, expands on Tradeweb’s current swaptions functionalities to address a long-standing industry challenge in the bilateral derivatives market; the ability to efficiently manage and reduce existing swaption positions. Unlike cleared rates products such as swaps, swaptions cannot be easily compressed, meaning positions must be terminated or novated to be fully removed from clients’ books prior to expiry.

Troy Dixon, Managing Director, Co-Head of Global Markets at Tradeweb, said: “The completion of this transaction demonstrates how electronic innovation can simplify swaptions trading, enabling clients to streamline workflows, reduce gross notional exposure and consolidate large line items. We’re excited to offer this capability to the market to help clients trade swaptions more efficiently.”

John Niccolai, Chief Operating Officer for Global Fixed Income at Citadel, said: “We’re pleased to participate in the industry’s first swaption termination, a meaningful milestone that brings greater optionality and scalability to swaptions trading. This marks a tangible step forward in the modernization of these markets, and we look forward to partnering with Tradeweb and other market participants on future innovations that simplify trading these instruments.”

As part of this enhancement, Tradeweb introduced a new capability that allows clients to input a MarkitWire ID for an existing swaption directly into the Tradeweb platform. Tradeweb then retrieves the exact trade details from MarkitWire, matching the offsetting transaction to the client’s existing position and reducing the risk of transcription or trade booking errors. After the termination is agreed, Tradeweb automatically sends notification of the termination to MarkitWire, further increasing the post-trade confirmation speed.

Michael Wilshere, Commercial Head of Rates Trade Processing at OSTTRA, said: “Tradeweb’s use of our post-trade processing capabilities further reinforces the need for automated, standardized workflows that align with clearing and settlement requirements while reducing operational risk. This is enabled by OSTTRA’s broad network reach and continuously expanding capabilities. We’re proud to partner with Tradeweb on efficient trade confirmation and support evolving industry requirements.”

Since 2005, Tradeweb has led transparency and innovation in the USD, EUR, and GBP interest rate swaps markets, helping advance the derivatives industry and improve efficiency across fixed income markets. Over that period, Tradeweb has expanded its derivatives offerings and now has 18 swaptions dealers live on the platform.

About Tradeweb Markets

Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW) is a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets. Founded in 1996, Tradeweb provides access to markets, data and analytics, electronic trading, straight-through-processing and reporting for more than 50 products to clients in the institutional, wholesale, retail and corporates markets. Advanced technologies developed by Tradeweb enhance price discovery, order execution and trade workflows while allowing for greater scale and helping to reduce risks in client trading operations. Tradeweb serves more than 3,000 clients in more than 85 countries. On average, Tradeweb facilitated more than $2.6 trillion in notional value traded per day over the past four fiscal quarters. For more information, please go to www.tradeweb.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Statements related to, among other things, our outlook and future performance, the industry and markets in which we operate, our expectations, beliefs, plans, strategies, objectives, prospects and assumptions and future events are forward-looking statements.

We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While we believe these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These and other important factors, including those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in the documents of Tradeweb Markets Inc. on file with or furnished to the SEC, may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are not guarantees of future events or performance and future events, our actual results of operations, financial condition or liquidity, and the development of the industry and markets in which we operate, may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this release. In addition, even if future events, our results of operations, financial condition or liquidity, and events in the industry and markets in which we operate, are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this release, they may not be predictive of events, results or developments in future periods.

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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260209815447/en/

Media contacts:

Daniel Noonan, Tradeweb

+1 646 767 4677

Daniel.Noonan@Tradeweb.com



Savannah Steele, Tradeweb

+1 646 767 4941

Savannah.Steele@Tradeweb.com



Investor contacts:

Ashley Serrao, Tradeweb

+1 646 430 6027

Ashley.Serrao@Tradeweb.com



Sameer Murukutla, Tradeweb

+1 646 767 4864

Sameer.Murukutla@Tradeweb.com

Source: Tradeweb Markets Inc.