Saxo Bank has released its trading metrics for December, reporting an uptick in the monthly volume of forex instruments. According to the official numbers, forex trading jumped 13.6 percent month-over-month to $13.8 billion, the highest since last March.

Strong FX Demand on Saxo

The average daily volume (ADV) for FX in December was $6.4 billion, increasing from the previous month’s $5.4 billion. Year-over-year, the ADV gained 16.3 percent, while the overall monthly volume increased over 11.1 percent.

An increased demand for forex also dragged the overall monthly volume at Saxo marginally higher to 1.8 percent reaching $369.5 billion. However, this figure dropped 11.1 percent when compared to December 2022.

Equities and Other Asset Classes Declined

Headquartered in Denmark, Saxo offers trading services with equities, commodities, and fixed-income instruments. While demand for forex increased in the last month of 2023, all these other asset classes witnessed a decline in trading volume.

Equities, the most popular asset class on Saxo in terms of trading volume, recorded a monthly volume of $192.8 billion in December, a monthly decline of 2.4 percent. Year-over-year, the demand for equities dropped by more than 22 percent. However, the latest ADV for equities at $9.2 billion improved from the previous month’s $9 billion.

The monthly volume of commodities instruments on Saxo for December was $31.6 billion, down from the previous month’s $35.4 billion. Fixed income, which brings in the least demand from traders on Saxo, witnessed a monthly volume decline to $10.3 billion from $10.6 billion.

Saxo has a global presence and offers cryptocurrency contracts for differences in some Asia-Pacific markets. However, it does not actively report on those figures. In the first half of 2023, the group turned an operating profit of DKK 520 million, an uptick of 34 percent.