Corporate Bond ETFs Are Fueling a Rise in Monster Block Trades

The boom in portfolio trading, where investors can buy or sell scores of corporate bonds with just a few clicks of a mouse, is fueling mega trades that were rare in credit markets just a few years ago.

Transactions of more than $500 million account for nearly a quarter of US corporate bond portfolio trading activity this year as of October, up from less than 1% in 2018, according to strategists at Barclays Plc. Portfolio transactions comprised about a quarter of all high-grade corporate bond trades between clients and dealers as of last month, the bank’s analysis shows.