Australian Block Market Share report – March 2025
With the expertise of our Quantitative Analytics team, we compile a monthly report on Australian block market share – to give consistent and transparent data to share key insight in the Australian market.
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ASX200 fell -7.79% in March, marking a sharp reversal from February's gains amid a dramatic escalation in geopolitical tensions. The ASX200 VIX average daily value surged to 16.3 from 12.1 in February, reflecting market uncertainty stemming from the Iran conflict and its knock‑on effects across global energy markets. While the war dominated, earnings digestion was at play, as was transition activity. Nevertheless, the phenomenon of block activity dropping during (extended) volatility events was again evident. As ever, futures expiry and quarterly rebalance were events in March that saw elevated overall turnover.
Block trading was more subdued in March, particularly as a share of total market turnover:
Average daily block turnover of $766m, broadly in line with the 12‑month average of $758m.
198 blocks executed, versus a 12‑month average of 187.
Blocks accounted for just 6.4% of total market notional, below the 12‑month average of 7.9%, reflecting the significant uplift in overall market turnover.
Average daily notional traded surged to $11.9bn, well above the 12‑month average of $9.6bn.
Only two >$1bn trading days were recorded in March, compared with nine in February.
Morgan Stanley momentum continued with a very strong month in Mega Caps to finish in the number one spot (14.4% market share vs 12mth average of 9.8%), closely followed by BJ (strong in large through to small caps). Blocks were concentrated in the top two which saw a fatter tail. The top five shuffled amongst themselves (vs the 12 month average) as did the top ten. By block count (ASIC definition), Liquidnet finished in number one with 511, closely followed by BJ (494). With their dominance in Mega Caps, MS finished first in terms of average block size ($8.3m) closely followed by Jefferies ($7.17m). Overall 12mth average block size across the market is $4.05m. Finally, agency venues delivered another standout month, executing $1.41bn, or 8.4% of total block turnover—the second‑strongest result on record, following February.
Methodology
We have used ASIC definitions of a block (according to Tiers) instead of an arbitrary dollar value, and then cleaned the data by only incorporating blocks between 10:00 - 16:11. Any blocks done at PDC or open prices are also excluded. ETF trades are excluded.
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