The Financial Futures Association of Japan (FFAJ) has released its FX trading volumes for the month of February, 2018.
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February’s trading volumes show a monthly rise of 14.9%, reaching 418.3 trillion JPY ($3.93 trillion) during the month, relative to January levels of 364.2 trillion JPY ($3.4 trillion). The improved monthly data is even more impressive considering that there are fewer trading days in February, further elevating ADV.
Meanwhile, OTC FX trading volume increased by 9.9% YoY, marking a 37.8 trillion JPY improvement from February 2017 levels of 380.5 trillion JPY ($3.57 trillion).
Trading Activity on the Rise
Moreover, the total number of positions executed during February has also increased YoY by approximately 1.95 million, signifying a 38.4% increase compared to February 2017. The monthly increase is more subtle, with just a 1.3% rise and 86,000 more positions than in January of this year.
Today’s release of the OTC FX trading volumes coincided with the trading volumes for binary options, which actually took a step back from January.
The Direction of the Japanese FX Market
The scope of the FX market in Japan has been altered as a result of the rising demand for cryptocurrency as an alternative form of investment. There have been contradictory reports regarding the Japanese FX market, which appears to have been resurgent after all.
Some Japanese firms have expanded operational capacity beyond the borders of Japan in an effort to adjust to growing demand within the country for crypto trading, due to their potentially highly lucrative returns on investment.
Throughout 2017, some reports indicated improved trading volumes, while others illustrated the aforementioned declines that were evident toward the end of the year.
More specifically, during the three-month period from October through December of 2017, the FFAJ reported a nearly 15% drop QoQ, which further raised speculation as to the cause of the drawback.
The quarterly report signified a decline at the same time as the spike in demand for Cryptocurrencies , which gained tremendous momentum toward the end of 2017.
