iTraxx (Thomson Reuters Eikon code '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. Credit derivative indexes 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 group of indices was formed by the merger in 2004 of the Trac-X indices created by J.P. Morgan & Co. and Morgan Stanley and the iBoxx CDS indices created by Deutsche Bank, ABN Amro and IBoxx. History Credit default swap indices originated in 2001, as did synthetic credit indices, when J.P. Morgan launched the JECI and Hydi indices. Then Morgan Stanley's Credit desk (under Annabel Littlewood) launched Synthetic TRACERS. "The two banks subsequently merged their indices under the Trac-X name in 2003. In parallel, ABN AMRO and Deutsche Bank teamed with iBoxx to launch the iBoxx CDS indices in February 2003. These indices were the first to have an independent calculation agent in an index provider (and not an investment bank trading the underlying). In 2004, Trac-X and iBoxx merged to form CDX in North America and iTraxx in Europe and Asia." The iTraxx suite of indices are owned, managed, compiled and published by Markit, who also license market makers. Markit administered the CDX family of indices and acting as the calculation agent for the iTraxx indices. In November 2007 Markit acquired CDX and iTraxx. By 2011 Markit owned and managed "the Markit iTraxx, Markit CDX, Markit iTraxx SovX, Markit iTraxx LevX, and Markit LCDX families of CDS indices as well as the Markit iBoxx cash bond indices." By 2011 Markit iTraxx and Markit CDX index trade volumes exceeded US$70 billion a day. They had a "net notional outstanding over US$1.2 trillion." In 2011 Markit iTraxx and Markit CDX index traded almost 50% of the market in single name credit derivatives. On 25 February 2013 ICC launched iTraxx instruments for dealer-dealer and client clearing. Market Credit default swap indices allow an investor to transfer credit risk in a more efficient manner than using groups of single credit default swaps. 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 buyers or sellers. In