Trading activities on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group’s FX Link, increased in March with average daily volume (ADV) jumping 34% year-over-year. FX Link is a spot foreign exchange (FX) service that connects the derivatives platform’s FX futures contract and over-the-counter FX marketplaces. The service is hosted on an electronic trading platform , CME Globex.

CME Hits Record Single-Day Volume

CME Group in a statement noted that the ADV of FX futures and options contracts traded on its platform in March increased 16% year-over-year. Earlier in the month, Finance Magnates reported CME Group’s single-day FX futures and options volume peaked at a record high of 3.15 million contracts on March 8. The new volume jumped 5% over the previous record of over 3 million contracts seen on September 14, 2022.

Furthermore, CME Group’s FX futures and options hit an all-time open interest record of 2.26 million contracts on March 9. The contracts, which were worth $298 billion notional, came with daily open interest records in EUR/USD futures and options contracts as well as the MXN/USD futures.

The figures are part of larger growth in the CME Group in March. On Tuesday, CME Group reported hitting its second-highest March and quarterly ADV last month. Finance Magnates reports that the performance was pushed by ADV increases in interest rates, options, equity index and crypto-asset derivatives.

US Banking Crisis Shakes Markets

According to CME Group, the traded volumes in March were impacted by an increase in short-term interest rate volatility , major bank failures and expected monetary policy actions from central banks across the world.

In March, the United States saw the biggest bank collapse since the 2008 financial crisis. Crypto-friendly lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failed during the month. Another US bank, Silvergate Bank, announced voluntary liquidation. In Switzerland, the top Swiss bank UBS agreed to acquire rival Credit Suisse in a deal quickly arranged to prevent a Swiss banking crisis.

“USD initially benefitted from a flight to quality rally after the failure of SVB, Signature and Credit Suisse. However, markets stabilized after the FDIC guaranteed all bank deposits, even those above $250,000, and Credit Suisse was merged into UBS. As markets stabilized, the U.S. dollar sold off against most other currencies,” Erik Norland, the Senior Economist at CME Group, explained.

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