Equity trading volume in Canada dropped sharply in the second quarter of 2018 (Q2), according to data from the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) published on Tuesday

Trading volume for all marketplaces came in at 60.2 billion shares in Q2, down by 23.2% from Q1. Moreover, total value was down 9.3% from Q1, coming in at $713.2 billion.

Despite the declines in both volume and value compared with the Q1, Q2 trading activity was much more in line with Q2 2017. Compared with Q2 2017, trading value was down by 2.6% in Q2 2018, but volume was up by 5.5%.

The number of trades increased by 1.5% compared with Q2 2017, but fell by about 14% from Q1 2018.

The statistics cover data from all of the markets regulated by IIROC, including exchanges and alternative trading systems.