By: Brian Bejile, CEO, Octaura

In April, we celebrated the two-year anniversary of launching Octaura’s loan trading platform. It’s been incredible to witness the continued adoption of electronic trading in the market, as we continue to focus on addressing specific pain points and use cases. 

With over 140 buy-side participants on the platform and 25 dealers contributing to the liquidity of the market, users are turning to Octaura to navigate what’s been a volatile and challenging Leveraged Loan market so far in 2025.  

Over $1B on average is being traded weekly on Octaura 

Since the beginning of March 2025, an average of $1B is being traded each week on Octaura’s platform, placing us at about 4.6% of total trading (see chart below) in the secondary market, based on figures published by the LSTA. Year over year, our market share has grown 6x¹, driven by a variety of use cases fulfilled by the List Protocol.  

Market Lists act as major contributor to volume 

In September 2024, we launched Market Lists, a new protocol that streamlines the trading of large lists like CLO liquidations and ramps, managing fund flows and more. The protocol connects sellers or buyers of a long list of names directly to dealer and buyside communities to save time, reduce costly manual errors and create a more transparent market.  

We’re pleased to share that the market has embraced this new protocol with Market Lists representing 41% of overall trading volume in Q1 2025. Users are reaping the benefits of enhanced efficiencies including: 

> Access to pre-trade insights, such as data and analytics to help users stage and prepare lists 
> Efficient distribution capabilities, so sellers can send lists to dealers of choice and buyside clients 
> Streamlined execution, enabling users to quickly monitor responses, compare data to internal targets and trade at the best level 
> Automatic trade booking via connected Order Management Systems 
> Greater transparency with buyside participants, who will be able to view live Market Lists and work with dealers to place bids

“The time-intensive process of running a loan BWIC and OWIC is in desperate need of change. This new protocol accelerates trading workflows while reducing human error and increasing transparency well beyond today’s manual processes,” said Howard Cohen, VP, Head of Sales. “Market Lists is another example of how Octaura is revolutionizing the industry by solving client challenges. We delivered on what our users asked for and we’re thrilled at the positive feedback and growth we’ve seen so far.” 

End-to-end connectivity creates stickiness 

A key priority for Octaura over the past year has been to set up connectivity with major OMS platforms plus various proprietary buyside systems to more seamlessly enable an electronic trade workflow. Using Octaura’s order blotter function, users can directly import orders from their preferred OMS, accompanied by data and analytical tools to help decide how best to trade. Executed trades stay in sync, which means no more manual trade bookings.  

Currently, we are live with order blotter connectivity with multiple providers including Allvue, Charles River and Aladdin, plus 4 proprietary buyside systems. 

The result? More efficient trading. Buyside clients who have connected their OMS platform with Octaura tend to increase their electronic trading three times post-integration – which speaks to the increased value they see. 

We’re just getting started 

With 2025 off to a fast start, the team at Octaura couldn’t be more motivated to continue to engage with our users and build solutions that directly address key workflow challenges. Coming up next? The launch of our CLO trading platform. You’ll hear more from me about that very soon! 

¹ Based on volumes from the LSTA, Octaura saw 0.6% of overall secondary loan market trading in March 2024 vs. 4.6% in March 2025.

Data is sourced from Octaura unless otherwise footnoted. While we strive for accuracy, we do not guarantee the completeness or correctness of the information provided or for the results obtained from the use of this information. This communication is not a recommendation to buy or sell any loan product and should not be construed as such. Features are accurate as of the date presented and subject to change without notice.