CME Group’s FX Futures and Options Hit Record Single-Day Volume

Friday, 10/03/2023 | 14:04 GMT by Solomon Oladipupo

The single-day volumed increased by 5% to 3.15 million contracts.

CME also posted new trading records in several individual currencies.

The single-day volume of foreign exchange futures and options contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) Globex electronic trading platform hit a new record of 3.15 million contracts on March 8, 2023. The new volume is equivalent to $296 billion in USD notional, CME Group disclosed in a statement on Friday.

The new volume represents a 5% growth over the previous record of over 3 million contracts posted on September 14, 2022. The single-day volume at the time surged 7% over the prior single-day trading record of 2.8 million recorded on December 2, 2020. Additionally, CME Group’s open interest record hit an all-time high of 3.25 million contracts on September 8, 2022, at $294 billion notional.

‘Strong Momentum’

Speaking about the new record, Paul Houston, the Global Head of FX Products at CME Group, noted that the derivatives marketplace organizer, which saw a 6% growth in revenue in 2022, achieved “strong momentum” despite “ongoing market uncertainty.”

"We are pleased to offer clients the flexibility of both our highly liquid, central limit order book, as well as disclosed, OTC-style block and exchange for related position (EFRP) trading now supported by more than 20 liquidity providers,” Houston added.

CME Group Marks New Record Highs

Apart from the new single-day volume in FX futures and options contracts, CME achieved new trading records in several individual currencies. For instance, trading of the Euro FX futures contracts on Globex has peaked at a record 1.1 million contracts so far. A record trading of 264,000 contracts of the Canadian Dollar FX futures has also been seen.

“In addition, blocks and exchange for related positions (EFRP) transactions traded a record 274,000 contracts on March 8, a level 23% higher than the previous record set in December 2022,” CME Group explained.

Meanwhile, on January 12, 2023, the single-day volume of Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) futures and options contracts traded on Globex reached a record 7.56 million contracts. This came with a record open interest (OI) rate of 35.7 million contracts on the same day.

“Individually, SOFR futures reached a record of 4,513,725 contracts traded on the same day. SOFR options traded a record 3,044,742 contracts and reached record OI of 26,258,989 contracts on January 12,” CME Group disclosed in a previous statement.