Monthly Securities Finance Market Review: October 2026
Equilend’s Head of Trading Solutions, Mike Norwood, shares his October securities finance market review highlighting strong trading activity, evolving regional market trends, and continued revenue growth driven by higher loan balances. The following data has been measured and derived from Equilend NGT.
NGT processed 4,341,596 trades against $5.12 trillion of notional in October, with counts up 3.1% on September and 15.8% on October 2025 while notional fell 1.2% on the month and rose 24.7% on the year. The count was the second-highest on record; 1,280 trades short of July. The gap between the two measures was almost entirely price: the average equity ticket fell 3.7% to $1.28 million, so the same activity was struck against cheaper collateral.
Where ticket value rose instead of fell, activity was being added in size rather than maintained. It rose in Japan and Korea and fell in Hong Kong and the United States.
Equities: Same Direction, Opposite Signatures
Equity trades reached 3.15 million, up 1.4% on September and 17.8% on last year. The United States carried 2,218,004 of them, up 1.2% and 19.1% year-over-year, on a 4.0% decline in average ticket to $1.39 million, with notional still up 26.4% on the year. EMEA slipped 5.9% and Canada added 0.6% against a STOXX 600 month that was its best since June, which is what a drift higher on low realized volatility does to a long book.
Japan printed 244,662 trades, up 22.9%, with notional up 41.6% and the average ticket up 15.2% to $791,000. The Nikkei pushed through 70,000 early in the month on AI and semiconductor strength, then sold off sharply on October 15th as Bank of Japan tightening expectations and AI funding doubts hit the same chip names, finishing the month down 5.2%. Paying up for larger clips through both legs of that round trip is a two-way book built in a handful of large caps rather than across the index.
Korea is the month’s most informative print. The KOSPI fell 17% through mid-October and 39% from its June peak. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix accounted for 44% of the index in May and were down roughly 22% and 35%, respectively, from their highs. Foreign investors were net sellers of around 199 trillion won by mid-October. Counts rose only 6.1% while notional rose 21.3% and the average ticket climbed 14.3% to $1.80 million. With the index down 17% over the same period, the average clip in shares grew by more than a third. Counterparties were adding larger positions into a falling market, not leaving it.
Hong Kong went the other way. Counts fell 14.8% and notional 17.8% with the Hang Seng down 5.4% on the month, and ticket size held near $949,000. The flow points to long liquidation rather than covering. Southbound investors bought a net HK$60.8 billion of Hong Kong shares in September, then sold roughly HK$28 billion in October, the largest monthly outflow since 2021 on Bloomberg’s tally, and a financed long that gets sold hands back the borrowed shares and closes the loan. Two Asian markets, both down, opposite signatures: Korea added size into weakness, Hong Kong removed positions into it.
Fixed Income: Duration Drove It, Not Credit
Fixed income delivered 1.20 million trades and $1.08 trillion of notional, 27.5% of platform volume, with counts up in all five regions, led by APAC at 17.9% and EMEA at 11.4%. Year-over-year, counts rose 11.0% and notional 15.8%, with corporate bonds up 7.8% and sovereigns 9.7%. The 10-year touched 5.36% in the opening days, a 24-year high, then finished at 4.93% with the 2-year at 4.59%, while the Fed held at 3.75% to 4.00% on October 28th with two dissents for a hike. The spike pulled financing and collateral upgrade, the rally into month-end pulled hedging and Treasury-for-cash substitution. Eighty-five percent of U.S. fixed income trades printed inside 20 basis points, so this was repositioning on the curve rather than spread conviction.
Specials: Revenue Came From Balances, Not Fees
Non-GC trades above 50 basis points reached 1,058,304, up 2.7%, on $313 billions of notional, down 2.0%. Broker-to-broker added 3.2% to 804,148 trades. The industry data points the same way on price. Global revenue was $1.73 billion, up 20% on last year but down 4% from September’s $1.81 billion, on average loan balances of $3.87 trillion that rose 20% year-on-year and fell 3% on the month. Global equity lender revenue rose 23% on balances up 25% with fees little changed, and North American fees fell 31% year-on-year. The growth came from the size of the book rather than the price of it, with one exception: APAC equity revenue rose 82% on fees up 28%, led by Taiwan at $165 million, Hong Kong at $163 million, then Japan at $93 million, and Korea at $78 million. Pop Mart was the top earning security globally for a fourth consecutive month.
On NGT the busiest lines by count were Kimberly-Clark at 2,406 trades, CoreWeave at 1,982, Applied Optoelectronics at 1,934, CenterPoint at 1,902, and SoFi at 1,888. Count leaders and revenue leaders are different lists, and the gap is the useful part. The industry’s top five by revenue were Pop Mart, Pershing Square, Medtronic, Wiwynn, and Bending Spoons, together a 7.7% share. High count is breadth of demand; high revenue is scarcity of supply, and October had more of the first than the second.
Into Year-End
Four items sit on the calendar: a December FOMC where futures price a hike, a year-end balance sheet dealers are defensive into after a 43 basis point move in the 10-year, Treasury clearing with cash compliance due December 31st, and energy, with Brent up 13.6% near $118. Global securities lending revenue was $1.73 billion in October, up 20% on last year, keeping the fourth quarter on the trajectory set by the record third.
Stay tuned for the latest securities finance trends, trading analysis, and commentary with Equilend’s Monthly Trading Commentary.
