The Financial Futures Association of Japan (FFAJ) released its member activity report for the second quarter this Friday. Despite there being an ever so slight increase in its membership ranks, the Japanese regulator reported a solid uptick in the amount of foreign exchange (Forex ) contracts traded.
The FFAJ is a self-regulatory body established in 1989 to govern the Japanese futures market. At the end of the second quarter, which spans from July to September, it had 142 members. This is one more than at the end of the first quarter ended June 30, 2018.
While forex contracts were up, overall, the trading activity of members of the FFAJ was mixed. Overall, the total amount of on-exchange contracts traded was almost 16.1 million contracts. This is less than the first quarter by 3.38 percent, as more than 16.6 million contracts were traded during this period.
The number of domestic contracts traded during the second quarter, on the other hand, was up. In Q2, just under 10.2 million contracts were traded which is 8.88 percent more than the amount that was traded in Q1 - 9.3 million.
The total domestic over-the-counter (OTC) trading volume during the second quarter came in at ¥8.86 trillion. While this like seem like a lot, this value is less than that achieved in the first quarter, which was ¥10.1 trillion.
Forex Trading volumes of FFAJ members
Taking a look at forex contracts, the total on-exchange domestic futures contracts traded were 9.3 million contracts. This represents a jump of slightly more than eight percent from the first quarter.
The number of forex contracts traded for overseas futures was 128,109 contracts. This is also up by 21.14 percent from the first quarter, with 105,751 contracts traded during the period.
However domestic OTC forex contracts were down on a quarter-on-quarter comparison, falling by 12.93 percent from ¥10.1 trillion contracts in the first quarter, down to ¥8.8 trillion in the second quarter.
