The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has just published trading volumes for the month of March. Foreign exchange trading volumes have rebounded by almost 113% month-on-month and 168% year-on-year to mark 83,000 contracts daily.
These figures are widely due to the increased activity in the EUR/USD pair, which marked a record trading day around the time the Federal Reserve made its unchanged interest rates announcement. The market has rallied over 400 pips in a single day, with a rollercoaster ride on the next bringing prices to pre-news levels.
Oil trading on the ICE has also increased materially when compared to last year, with oil trading rising 25% to 1,367,000 contracts daily, which is lower than last month by -20%.
Energy contracts also marked a decline when compared to February, coming in at 2,368,000 contracts daily, which is -21% lower than last month and 16% higher year-on-year than in March 2014.
Activity in financials continued sliding due to with interest rates contracts declining -5% on February and -24% when compared to last year. The decline in bond trading is explained by low Volatility in the European continental bonds market.
Cash equities average daily volumes on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) have risen 6%, while options declined 32% when compared to last year. The fully owned subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange, NYSE held a market share of 24.4% in equities and 17.9% in options.
