The first venue to report FX trading volumes figures for December is the Tokyo Financial Exchange (TFX). The TFX reported solid growth in interest for trading of the USD/JPY currency pair, resulting in a modest dip of 3.5% on a monthly basis. Total trading volume of exchange traded FX margin contracts was 3,999,545 with an average daily volume of 173,894.
The month of December is usually accompanied by materially subdued volumes due to poor Liquidity conditions around the Christmas and New Year holidays. However, in Japan the effects are not felt strongly, especially for the exchange traded products on the TFX.
The USD/JPY trading volume during the month has grown 15.2%, with extreme volatility around the Russian ruble debacle causing a liquidation of risky carry trade positions across the board followed by a subsequent reestablishment after the ruble more or less stabilized.
On a yearly growth basis, Click 365 contracts have grown 42.9% with the USD/JPY trading leading the way once more.
Index margin contracts (Click kabu 365) volumes have increased by 26.4% on a monthly basis in December and skyrocketed by 85% year-on-year. The bulk of growth is coming from the local Nikkei 225 margin contracts.
Total trading volumes on the TFX have been substantially lower in 2014 - Forex trading on the exchange contracted 40.7%.
