iTraxx (Bloomberg code 'ITRX') is the brand name for the family of credit default swap index products covering regions of Europe, Australia, Japan and non-Japan Asia. They form a large sector of the overall credit derivative market. The indices are constructed on a set of rules with the overriding criterion being that of liquidity of the underlying Credit Default Swaps (CDS). The iTraxx suite of indices are owned, managed, compiled and published by International Index Company (IIC), who also license market makers.
Credit Default Swap indices allow an investor to transfer credit risk in a more efficient manner than using groups of single CDSs. They are standardised contracts and reference a fixed number of obligors with shared characteristics. Investors can be long or short the index which is equivalent to being protection sellers or buyers.
The most widely traded of the indices is the iTraxx Europe index composed of the most liquid 125 CDS referencing European investment grade credits, subject to certain sector rules as determined by the IIC and also as determined by the SEC. There is also significant volume, in nominal values, of trading in the HiVol and Crossover (also referred to as Xover) indices. HiVol is a subset of the main Europe index consisting of what are seen as the most risky 30 constituents at the time the index is constructed. Crossover is constructed in a similar way but is composed of 40 sub-investment grade credits. Also traded are iTraxx Sector indices: NonFin (non-financials), SenFin (senior-financials) and SubFin (sub-financials).
The constituents of the indices are changed every six months, a process known as "rolling" the index. The roll dates are March 20 and September 20 each year. For example, Series 13 was launched on March 20, 2010, with a maturity of June 20, 2015 for the 5 year contract. Other maturities for Europe, HiVol and Crossover are 3 year, 7 year and the 10 year, whilst the NonFin, SenFin and SubFin only trade at maturities of 5 and 10 years.
These indices are tradable instruments in their own right, with pre-determined fixed rates, and the prices set by market demand. Official pricing is collected on-behalf of IIC by Markit Group Limited on a daily basis by polling the trading desks at banks that are licensed market makers. The most liquid indices also have a weekly Tradable Fixing calculated in a similar fashion to the Libor fixings process. The tradable fixing is often used as a reference price for calculating payments of other structured credit instruments.
At present trading in iTraxx CDS contracts is limited to the over-the-counter (OTC) market. Eurex the futures exchange launched exchange-traded futures (not CDS) contracts based upon the iTraxx Europe Main, HiVol and Crossover 5 year indices in 2007, but these products achieved minimal volume at launch and do not currently trade.
NYSE Euronext made iTraxx CDS contracts available for processing and clearing on its Bclear platform on 22 December 2008.