Market fragility and liquidity have never been worse The average daily executed value in US equities has doubled since 2023, from $511 billion to $1.041 trillion, while S&P top-of-book liquidity - the dollar value of bids and offers sitting at the best price, i.e., what you can trade right now without moving the market - fell 21% over the same period, from $14 million to $11 million In other words, the tape is twice as big, while the cushion under it is smaller. Some napkin math: divide top-of-book depth by daily executed value and you get how much depth stands behind every $1 billion traded. In 2017 that was about $162K. In 2022, the year of the bear market and the Fed's fastest hiking cycle in four decades, it was about $12K. In 2026? Roughly $11K - the thinnest on record, even below the 2022 trough, and down 93% from 2017.