A representative part of the members of the Bund Issues Auction Group voluntarily report their trades in Federal securities (Bubills, Schaetze, Bobls, Bunds, Green Federal securities and inflation-linked Federal securities) - categorized by type of Federal security traded, by region and by institutional form of the trading partner. Based on trading volumes and net positions, this allows the Finance Agency to identify rough structures of the secondary market trading.

For example, a net position of € -22 bn vis-à-vis brokers corresponds to a € 22 bn higher volume of purchases by auction group members from brokers than sales to brokers. The trading data published here are provisional, as later subsequent submissions may lead to corrections.

Annual Comparison of Trading Volumes 2023 vs. 2022

At € 6,616 bn, the trading volume reported for 2023 almost reached the previous year's above-average level of € 6,636 bn. At the same time, the volume of tradable Federal securities (excluding the federal government's own holdings) rose by almost 9 % to € 1,635 bn over the course of the year. The turnover rate, which indicates how often a Federal security changes hands on average, fell from 4.4 in the previous year to 4.0 in 2023.

The sixth increase and the fourth consecutive record volume in Treasury discount paper trading are evidence of the high level of investor interest in the money market segment. A yield of 3.3 % on average for 2023 and the second-highest volume outstanding since 2005 are likely to be key drivers here. The trend in trading green Federal securities is also continuing steadily upwards. However, it only increased by 8 % from last year's peak, while the outstanding volume rose by almost 50 %. Federal notes achieved the highest percentage growth in trading at 15 %. As in every year to date, they were the second most traded Federal securities in 2023. Despite a 10% increase, Federal Treasury notes traditionally only achieved the third-highest trading volume of all Federal securities. They and Federal notes each saw the second-highest turnover since statistics began in 2005.
Turnover in 10-year Federal bonds fell by 9 % in 2023, but still accounted for around twice as much as trading in Federal notes. 30-year Federal bonds were traded 6 % less, but still with the third-highest volume in the statistics. Only trading in inflation-linked Federal securities saw a clear double-digit decline of 30 %. They were the only Federal securities whose trading volume in 2023 was below the average of the last three years and whose volume in circulation was below the previous year's level.

When broken down by institution, banks increased their trading activities the most at 19 %. Pension funds have already been increasing their turnover in Federal securities for 5 years - by 9 % in 2023. Turnover via brokers remained at the previous year's level. Asset managers and hedge funds, the two turnover drivers of the last three years, recorded marginal declines in trading volumes in 2023 - but both at their second-highest level since statistics began. The turnover of insurance companies and central banks fell by 24 % and 20 % respectively and was more than 10 % below the three-year average, while asset managers, banks and hedge funds clearly exceeded this average by more than 30 %, 40 % and 50 % respectively.

2023 is the year of record net sales: 4 of the 8 counterparty types bought at record levels. In line with gross trading activity, asset managers dominate with net purchases totalling € 125 bn. For the first time since 2005, they succeeded in replacing the central banks as the most important buyers. On balance, the latter acquired a rather average € 116 bn by their standards, around half of the previous year's volume. Banks set a new record of € 82 bn, with purchases 45 % higher than in the previous year. Hedge funds increased their net purchases from the previous year sixfold to € 63 bn and pension funds also achieved their highest net purchases of € 20 bn with steady growth since 2019. For insurance companies, net purchases of almost € 6 bn represented the third-highest level since statistics began, while other investors made net purchases of Federal securities with a nominal value of around € 10 bn.