FX Volumes Decline 23% at the CME Group During March

The CME Group has reported its April trading volume figures. During the month, average daily volumes (ADV) of combined FX futures and options were 838,000 contracts. The figures were 23% below March’s trading activity, but 50% above the same period in 2014 when overall FX industry volumes had contracted. On a dollar notional value, ADV of FX products were $86 billion. The 23% decline underperformed a 10% decrease in month over month trading volumes experienced by spot FX trading venue, HotspotFX.

The drop in FX activity during April occurred as the US dollar experienced a slight reversal of its momentum against other currencies. After the Dollar Index reached a multi-year high of 100.39 in March, it has since pulled back to around 95.00, which appears to have decreased trader speculation taking place on dollar’s future direction.

Overall at the CME Group, total ADV of futures and options contracts was 11.45 million, a decline of 16.5% from March and 6% below the same period in 2014. The month over month decline was experienced across all of the CME Group product types except for Agricultural contracts, where trading volumes grew 16.7%. Among individual sectors, Equities were the hardest hit, declining 26.2% from March, followed by a 23% and 20.7% fall in activity in FX and Interest Rate products respectively.