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Let's turn to the IPO market. Mountain and Hinge how making strong trading debuts on the NICE last week, both pricing at the top of their ranges and seeing strong demand despite ongoing uncertainty around tariffs and consumer health. Joining us now, the President of the New York Stock Exchange, Lynn Martin. Lynn is going to see you.
Great to be here.
Before we get to these trading debuts and maybe some IPOs coming through, I just want to talk to you about the amount of volume that's come through your business through the year so far. Just walk us through it.
Yeah. If I look back on this year, it's been a year unlike any other, both from the demands on our system and the liquidity in our system manifesting itself in trading volumes. Now, if you look at that period between Liberation Day and the pause, we saw records in terms of messaging traffic hitting around one point two trillion incoming order messages that we processed with thirty microseconds median
response time on two of those days. And then if you look at the amount of transactions that occurred on our platform and the equity markets as a whole, I mean, in average days around sixteen billion trades, and now during that period we have thirty billion. It's just unprecedented. It's more than two times the amount of volume both from execution, from actual trades as well as from messaging then we saw during COVID. Now you remember how active COVID was.
There's been a variety of reasons why we've seen that. I think, do.
You think it's something we take for grants it the infrastructure hold again and the way it has done.
I think it's something that we at the NYS spend a tremendous amount of time thinking about and planning for. We hope you take it for granted because that means we're doing our job. Our job is to ensure that the markets are open and efficient so you can manage risk, particularly during those incredibly uncertain times like we saw in April.
We saw an incredible amount of volume on the second markets of existing companies that have existing shares. This was supposed to be the year of IPOs, of deals, of all sorts of capital markets activity. Where are we in that. Are we seeing a revival of that as people get a little bit more confidence around trade or is it still really kind of being iced.
Yeah, So initially this year when I was with you both in Davos, I was incredibly excited. You know, I still am really excited about the IPO markets. I think Mountain and Hinge last week going and doing so incredibly well, both pricing at the high end of the range, both up significantly over their IPO prices just in their first two days of trading. Are the sign of what I was talking about with you both in Davos, and that there's a tremendous amount of demand for new issuance in
the market. Portfolio managers I talk to long only funds I talk to, they want new issues in the market. So I think you're starting to see these companies now come to market now that the vis has come back to earth, come back to that twenty ish level, and you're not seeing as much of the intra day swings as a result.
Can you you talked about Davos, I'm just wondering the enthusiasm you have, then, can you give a sense of how much lower the volume.
Of IPOs or deals you expect.
To be for the remainder of this year now, then say in January, based on the uncertainty and based on what hasn't gotten done over the first half the year.
I'm actually still optimistic that the same amount of IPOs will go. It's just shifted out. If I look in the case of Mountain and Hinge, they were targeting early April. You've seen StubHub flip You've seen clarin a flip circle when on the road this morning, which is an IPO we're incredibly excited about happening just next week. So I think you're starting to see that group of companies that was public market ready get out of the gates. So
I'm optimistic. I'm optimistic that the second half of this year is going to be when you start to see these bigger names come to market.
Do we need clarity on the policies in Washington first? And how disruptive has that been for your business? I remember the President on the stock exchange floor alongside you. This is not what we all expected. This has been chaotic for a lot of people. Do we need some clarity on those issues to see the Canada plant and the way that you expect.
So I think there's just been some uncertainty in the market. You can't you can't argue that if you're a good company. Though, if you're a company that has made the plans to go public, which many have their public company ready, I think they can go in any market, particularly when you look at certain sectors. Crypto is certainly a sector where
there's a lot of optimism. Still, some companies are still trying to weigh the benefits or the issues associated with tariffs, and that's going to be a movable feast throughout the course of the year.
Everyone around this table is incredibly pro America. You and I run a panel together. You mentioned DeVos, and we've been talking about American exceptionalism, and then all of a sudden people are talking about peak American exceptionalism and the rest of the world. Can we have a final word from you on that the future of America and American exceptionalism.
There's nothing that beats our capital markets. There's no substitute for our capital markets. They're the deepest, most liquid in the world. They continue to be the envy of a world. The geopolitical situation, though, is a conversation. I think that's where I'll leave it.
That's a diplomatic way of putting bit good to see you, good to see you being Carelyn Martin There, the president of the New York Stock Exchange,