Securitized credit markets have seen the highest volume ever of so-called Bids Wanted in Competition, or BWICs, for sale in the secondary market over the last two weeks, according to data from Empirasign Strategies. "We're seeing that the volumes are so high that a sizable portion of these BWICs are not even receiving bids," said Adam Murphy, founder and president of Empirasign, a firm that tracks capital markets trading. "There just seems to be a universal race for cash." This includes BWICs across ABS, CLOs, CMBS, and RMBS, Murphy told Bloomberg News. Last week saw 1,018 structured-finance BWICs up for sale, the highest number ever, according to Empirasign. Each BWIC is a bid list containing many different bonds, often from the same asset class. This week has already seen 711 BWICs attempting to trade in the secondary, "and it may be on pace to be the new No. 1," Murphy said.

According to Empirasign, bid lists containing $4.5 billion of asset- and mortgage-backed bonds hit the market during the March 9-12 span, up from $455 million the previous week.

From March 9-11, $2.1 billion of bid lists went out for offers, up from 1.5 billion for the entire preceding week and $728.5 million the week before that, according to Empirasign.

Bids on nearly $77 million of equity from five CLOs flowed in on Dec. 18 and 19, according to Empirasign.

According to Empirasign, an average of 95 bid lists totaling $1.3 billion circulated in each of the last three full weeks (excluding Thanksgiving week), with nearly 95% of those bonds changing hands.

A handful of CLO equity tranches were offered in the secondary last week, according to data from Empirasign Strategies, including a control equity piece on a 2015 vintage CLO.

CLO paper appeared on formal bid lists 131 times in the first half of the year, up from 123 times in the second half of last year and just 86 times in the 2018's first half, according to data provider Empirasign.

According to data collected by Empirasign, trading in the CLOs has been light since the REIT started having problems in late 2017.

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In all, 4.7 billion of credit-card bonds traded on the secondary market from May 13 to June 21, according to Empirasign.

Investors offered $2.6 billion of CLO paper on the secondary market during the first eight business days of the month, spreading the supply across 79 bid lists encompassing 490 positions, according to Empirasign.

According to Empirasign, the weekly average supply of formal bid lists in the sector totaled $802.7 million from Jan. 1 to Feb. 15 — versus $525.9 million for all of 2018.

One $5 million 2015 vintage BB tranche on Thursday did exchange hands in the high 80s, while two small 2018 vintage BB tranches on Friday covered in the low 88 and 89 area, but most others have traded a few points higher or failed to trade all together, according to data from Empirasign Strategies.

One $2.5 million BB tranche on a 2015 vintage CLO covered with a 90 handle on a Wednesday BWIC after it had last traded in July with talk in the 98 area, according to data from Empirasign Strategies.

Lower in the capital stack, a number of 2013-2015 vintage BB tranches that exchanged hands were covered between 675-715 bps, according to data from Empirasign Strategies.

Data from Empirasign shows that the rated notes appear on ABS BWICs relatively rarely, with only two appearances from the A1 notes in the last year.

More investors look to be selling their junior mezz tranches this week as one money manager has put out a $22.6 million BWIC of CLO BBs this afternoon on a number of 2014-2016 vintage CLOs, while one private equity investor has also put out an $87.6 million BWIC of CLO BBs that feature more recent 2017 and 2018 vintages, according to trading sources and data from Empirasign Strategies.

Class 'X' and class 'Z' bonds in this deal appeared on a BWIC on September 26, according to Empirasign data, with a "did not trade" recorded on the class 'Z' and a cover at 512bp discount margin for the class 'X'.

The whole bottom of the rated capital structure in Rochester No. 2, a UK RMBS originally structured from Deutsche Bank's non-core book, was out for sale in a BWIC on Wednesday afternoon, according to data from Empirasign.