So we’re really happy with that. We price this in a way that we anticipate some Fed easing and we anticipate being able to tighten the spread as well. So, yes, the run rate looks like it’s a little bit higher. That was going to happen anyway. We’re going to be able to reduce it. And we were able to kind of monetize the swap to trim the debt. So we’re very comfortable with the $1.70 billion, $1.50 billion and we’re happy with the deal we did.
Alex Blostein: Got you. So no change in terms of the pay down of the loan versus buybacks, kind of same trajectory?
Douglas Cifu: No, that’s right. That’s right. We trimmed it a little bit here with the monetization of the swap. We felt that was appropriate. But in terms of the cash flow we generate at different levels of net trading income, we’ve got that chart here, as we do almost every quarter. So you should expect that to continue.
Alex Blostein: Got you. All right. Thank you.
Douglas Cifu: Sure.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Michael Cyprys of Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Michael Cyprys: Great. Thank you. Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. I was hoping you could maybe update us on your fixed income market making initiatives, maybe elaborate on how much that’s contributing today. How would you sort of size your participation and presence in fixed income markets today? Maybe you could talk about some of the steps that you’re taking and corporate credit and treasuries for that to become more meaningful over time versus, say, fixed income ETFs.
Douglas Cifu: Yes, great question. The analogy I would make is the trajectory I hope is going to be similar to what we experienced in options. So, as I’ve said on prior calls, we’ve done a lot of, I’ll loosely just call it, groundwork around technology and integration with the various RFQ vendors, Tradeweb, MarketAxess, Bloomberg, et cetera, Trumid. We’ve developed the internal ability to quote extensively, and we have the – an ongoing sales wide distribution effort in order to give us branches, counterparties. I think the thing in terms of like priorities and kind of where I see Virtu of being able to add value and where I’d be able to see growth in the same way. We did in options, where we spent a year or two developing the infrastructure and technology, we used internal people, we hired folks from the outside, we’re in the process of doing that.
And in options, we went to the big index family. If I look at the marketplace and I say to myself, okay, where convert to add value, what looks and feels more like what we do? The obvious answer is rates, particularly with what the SEC has done with regard to centralized clearing of treasuries, which is going to come online in 2025, and you already see significant interest around gross margin in between treasury futures and, et cetera. And so that will look more like a Virtu style business, the plus CUSIPs and certainly the further electronification of fixed income in general. So I think we’re going to focus more on rates initially, but at the same time continue to put emphasis onto our credit business, where we have counterparties and we are actively quoting mostly investment grade products and whatnot that tie very nicely into our fixed income ETF desk and the custom creation redemptions that one needs to do on that desk.
So very, very early stage in terms of contribution de minimis at this point, but in the same way that it was sort of 2019 in options, where we started to develop the wherewithal hired folks built the technology infrastructure. That’s kind of where we’re at right now. And optimistic, as I always am, that we’ll see that business take off. I’m particularly enthused about some of the market structure issues or considerations that we’ve seen in rates, again, with regard to centralized clearing and the prime brokers being more willing to deal with firms of our type and provide us leverage and allow us access. So I think that’s just going to become a much more competitive marketplace where the domination, if you will, by the big dealers will continue to wane.
Non-traditional liquidity providers like the Jane Streets and the Citadels, and hopefully the Flow Traders and us can garner significant market share. So again, it’s a growth initiative for us, de minimis contribution in 2023. Will it be meaningful in 2024? Probably not, real meaningful, given kind of the competitive nature of the market and the size of the rest of the firm. But it’s certainly an investment that we’re very focused on, Michael. So thank you for the question.
Michael Cyprys: Great. Thanks so much.
Operator: Thank you. We have another question from Craig Siegenthaler of Bank of America. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Douglas Cifu: Craig?
Operator: Sorry, Craig, you might be on mute. Your line is now open.
Douglas Cifu: [Indiscernible] maybe he dropped off.
Operator: My apologies. [Operator Instructions]
Douglas Cifu: Okay, well, sounds like we have no further questions. Obviously, Craig, if you do have a question, you can follow up with me, Joe or Andrew after the call. I want to thank everybody for joining us today, and we look forward to speaking with you in some point in mid-April. Thank you, everybody. Have a great day.
Operator: Thank you for joining today’s call. You may now disconnect your line.
