Foreign Exchange settlement provider CLS Group reported its operational metrics for November 2019, which dropped on a yearly basis, and executed trade volumes were also lower compared with the figures of the prior month.
The average daily traded volume submitted to CLS was 1.60 trillion in November 2019, down ten percent month-over-month from $1.78 trillion in October. Across a yearly timetable, the figure also reflected a drop by four percent relative to November 2018’s figure of $1.68 trillion.
CLS reported swaps volumes at $1.17 trillion in November 2019, down from $1.27 trillion in October 2019, a fall of 8.2 percent month-over-month. However, the figure was higher by a factor of four percent year-over-year from $1.12 trillion a year ago.
Global FX swap volumes surged to nearly $3.2 trillion per day and now account for almost half of global FX trading, according to the Bank for International Settlements’ latest survey, mirroring a pick-up in the spot market and reflecting strong trends in OTC sectors.
In December, however, currency volumes declined at major institutional platforms as industry figures show the interest faded somewhat ahead of the holiday season after the sheer weight of bets on central banks’ policies and trade wars eased.
CLS turns focus to FX forward market
In terms of CLS’ spot FX volume, the group has reported the figure at $366 billion in November 2019, down 12 percent relative to $415 billion in the month prior. The figure was lower by 20 percent over a yearly basis from the $455 billion set in the previous year.
The weak performance was again pronounced across CLS forwards business, which yielded a figure of $69 billion last month, down 26 percent over a monthly basis, and was also down 29 percent year-over-year from $97 billion in November 2018.
CLS Group, which provides risk mitigation and settlement services for FX dealers and institutions, announced last week the launch of an FX Forward Volume dataset as part of its executed trade data suite.
The new product provides an aggregated view of the forward market for confirming pricing models for forwards and Swaps . It complements its existing datasets, which is focused on the FX spot market, with a dedicated data product for the FX forward market, covering 33 major currency pairs.
