Market Metrics That Matter: U.S. Cash Equities July Volume Briefing

July 2026 Highlights

Total U.S. equities market Average Daily Volume (ADV) fell 25.43% month-over-month (down 3.41% year-over-year) to 17.42 billion shares traded in July. Off-exchange volume expanded to 50.1%, up 126 basis points month-over-month. Despite the broader market ADV contraction, Cboe BZX Equities Exchange (BZX) grew its market share to 3.7%, up 38 basis points month-over-month. Cboe BYX Equities Exchange (BYX) also posted a minor gain.

On Cboe EDGX Equities Exchange (EDGX), overall retail participation decreased to 23.0% of venue activity; however, Retail Priority activity rose to 10.0%.

Despite dominant Trade Reporting Facility expansion across price groups, gaining momentum from high-priced stocks down to lower groups, Cboe stood out as the only exchange gaining in the $1–$5 category¹.

EDGX Retail Price Improvement (RPI)

• Cboe EDGX Retail Price Improvement Program launched on April 10, 2026, allowing market participants to offer price improvement in increments of $0.001 exclusively to incoming retail-attested order flow.
• Five member firms are actively adding EDGX RPI orders daily, executing in 513 unique stocks.
• Retail attested orders seeking liquidity entered across more than 9,000 symbols, across corporate and Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) securities.
• 97% of EDGX RPI executions capture most of the spread, trading between the near touch and at the midpoint of National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO).
• EDGX RPI performance remains strong compared to EDGX non-displayed trading mid-to-mid notionally weighted.

Key Notices and Announcements

• Comment letters continue to be submitted to the SEC public register, expressing both support and concern regarding the proposed rescission of Regulation National Market System (NMS) Rules 611 and 610(e).
• Cboe EDGX Equities Expands Trading Hours
• Cboe Equities Exchanges to Introduce Non-Displayed Day ISO Orders and Multiple Price Sliding for Non-Displayed Orders
• Cboe Equities Updates to 605 Reports and New Summary Report
• Reminder - Cboe Equities to Update Trading Halt Rules

U.S. Listings

In July, Cboe listed 101 ETFs on BZX on behalf of 19 different issuers.

^{1 Based on Internal Analysis of SIP Data}

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