A representative share of bidding group members voluntarily reports their trading activities in Federal securities (Bubill, Schatz, Bobl, Bund, green securities, and inflation-linked federal securities), categorized by Federal security type, region, and trading counterparty type.
The secondary market analysis framework has been revised to provide the following enhancements starting Q1 2026:
- Quarterly rather than semi-annual publication
- Analysis by more relevant residual maturity segments instead of original maturities of traditional Federal securities
- Consolidation of less meaningful categories and counterparty categories with similar investment objectives
- Evolution of net trading statistics into holdings statistics, enabling integrated trade and holdings analysis from a unified data source
Gross trading volume is derived from the sum of reported sales and purchase volumes by members of the auction group.
Net trading volume represents their balance of sales minus purchases. This allows for the derivation of counterparties' net positions. For instance, a net position of € -22 bn against central banks indicates that auction group members' purchases from central banks exceed their sales to central banks by € 22 bn.
Comparison of Trading Volumes Q1 2026 vs. Q1 2025
| € bn | Q1 2025 | Q1 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| (Gross) Trading Volume | 1,873 | 2,190 |
| Net Trading Volume | 37 | 108 |
2026 kicks off with a record: Q1 achieved a trading volume of € 2,190 bn, marking the strongest quarter since statistics inception. This surpasses Q1 2025 by € 317 bn, equivalent to a 17 % increase. The trading surge thus significantly outpaces the effect of rising outstanding volumes (+8 %).
Quarterly Trading Volumes Last 10 Years
The regional breakdown of trading volume remains largely unchanged. Arabian and African countries are consolidated under "Other" and remain virtually negligible in aggregate. Rest of Europe continues to be the most significant trading region, achieving a volume of nearly € 1,000 bn in Q1 2026. The Euro area reaches a new record with trading volume of € 739 bn, up 24 %. American counterparties trade less than half this volume – closely linked to hedge fund activities. Quarter-on-quarter, trading with Asia shows the strongest growth, increasing by a quarter to € 107 bn.
Quarterly Trading Volumes by Region – Last 10 Years
Net Trading Volume Regions Q1 2026
Parallel to gross trading volumes, net trading volumes also marked a new record in Q1 2026 with € 108 bn. Investors from Asia had the largest share in this record: The previous record of € 34 bn in net purchases set in Q2 2025 was surpassed by another € 5 bn in Q1 2026. Since Q4 2025, investors from the Euro area have been purchasing Federal securities on a net basis at a volume of € 34 bn, the highest level since mid-2024. Net demand from Rest of Europe moved at average levels in Q1 2026: € 25 bn nonetheless represents the third-lowest sales since Q1 2023. After four quarters of net sales totaling € 9 bn, American investors returned to the buy side in Q1 2026 with a positive balance of € 9 bn.
Quarterly Net Trading Volumes by Region – Last 10 Years
Banks & brokers, previously analysed separately, are now considered together due to their primary function as intermediaries. Consolidated, they form by far the most significant counterparty group with a trading share of over € 900 bn, or approximately 40 %. Their trading volumes increased by 17 % between Q1 2025 and Q1 2026. A trading volume of more than € 550 bn makes Real Money investors the second most important actors. Asset managers, insurance companies, pension funds and others – previously analysed separately, too – are united by their function as asset managers with relatively long holding periods.
Hedge funds, which are short-term and rather speculative in orientation, trade over 50 % more Federal securities compared to the prior-year quarter. Their continuously growing trading volumes over recent years now account for almost one-fifth of all counterparties' total trading. In Q1 2026, they achieve yet another new record. Central banks, which purchase Federal securities for monetary policy reasons, and official institutions account for one-tenth of trading volumes and increased by 14 % recently. Trading volumes of the Finance Agency, reported for the first time, are relatively modest compared to other counterparty groups.
Quarterly Trading Volumes by Investor Types – Last 10 Years
Net Trading Volume Investor Types Q1 2026
Central banks & official institutions acquired € 61 bn Federal securities in Q1 2026 on balance, the highest level since Q2 2022. Real Money investors achieved nearly identical net purchases of € 60 bn, setting a new record – more than a doubling compared to Q1 2025. Since Q2 2022, banks & brokers have consistently purchased Federal securities in double-digit billion volumes. € 25 bn in Q1 2026 represents an above-average figure on a ten-year perspective.
With the exception of Q2 2025, hedge funds have been net sellers of Federal securities at low levels since late 2024. Their net sales of € 7 bn continue this trend in Q1 2026. The Finance Agency traditionally acts on the seller side. Due to significantly increased issuance volumes since the Covid pandemic, its sales from own holdings also occur at elevated levels: in Q1 2026, it sells € 30 bn on a net basis to the members of the auction group in the secondary market.
Quarterly Net Trading Volumes by Investor Types – Last 10 Years
Unlike debt statistics, where it is decisive which maturity segment a Federal security was issued in, the residual maturity from the individual trading date is paramount for investors in the market. In the analysis by residual maturities, similar time periods will be depicted in future as in the former analysis with original maturities: money market up to one year (1Y-), short-, medium- and long-term, as well as ultra-long investment horizons with more than 11 years (11Y+). Since green and inflation-linked Federal securities typically appeal to different investors than conventional ones, these will continue to be analysed separately. 10-year Federal bonds, which traditionally dominate trading, now fall into the 6 to 11 years segment depending on residual maturity, whose trading volume they materially increase as newly issued benchmarks. In subsequent years, they progress through all shorter residual maturity segments.
Significant changes occurred between Q1 2025 and Q1 2026 in green Federal securities, whose trading volume increased by nearly 50 %. The primary driver is likely the syndicate of the first 15-year green Federal bond in early March 2026. This volume-increasing effect of syndicates is also evident in earlier quarters. Unlike auctions, significantly more new volume comes to the market at specific points in time, and simultaneously the issuance receives greater investor attention through the distribution support of the syndicate banks. Furthermore, the green issuance volume in 2026 is expected to be one-fifth higher than in the prior year.
Significant increases in trading of more than 30 % are also recorded in the segment with the highest residual maturities of over 11 years, where a syndicate also took place in the first quarter, as well as the "short end" between one and three years. Only trading in the inflation-linked segment shows a decline of more than one-third.
Quarterly Trading Volumes by Residual Maturity – Last 10 Years
Net Trading Volume Residual Maturities Q1 2026
Consistent with traditionally highest issuance volumes in the money market, Federal securities are also regularly sold on a net basis most frequently in the segment up to one year (1Y-) at € 29 bn. However, these net sales are surpassed by € 1 bn in Q1 2026 by the residual maturity segment of 6 to 11 years, which is the second-strongest segment on a historical average basis and which also contains the most actively traded benchmark with the new ten-year Federal bonds. € 30 bn in a single quarter has never been achieved here before and represents a tripling compared to the rather weak prior-year quarter. Net sales reach another record in residual maturities of 3 to 6 years: Whilst purchases and sales by bidding banks to other investors were nearly balanced in Q1 2025, investors purchased € 25 bn on a net basis in Q1 2026. A similar picture emerges for the 1 to 3 years residual maturity segment, where net sales on an annual basis shifted from nearly zero to net purchases of € 18 bn – the fifth-best result of the last 10 years. By contrast, net sales of € 6 bn in Federal securities with more than 11 years maturity appear comparatively modest. They actually lie only € 1 bn above the ten-year average, whilst simultaneously representing the lowest of the two most recent strong sales years.
Apart from the unremarkable green Federal securities, inflation-linked Federal securities stand out – with the highest net sales of the last 10 years by investors to the auction group
Quarterly Net Trading Volumes by Residual Maturities – Last 10 Years
The trading data published here are provisional. Data revisions by members of the auction group may lead to changes in classifications (in particular regarding institutions) and thus also to shifts compared to previous publications.