Uncertainty pushes FX volumes above $5 trillion

FX Settlement provider CLS bank has announced FX transactions crossing the $5 trillion mark in March. The figures show the continued interest in FX as an asset class and are higher than February figures.

After the record summer months in 2011 trade volumes shrunk in the winter months however with sentiment still unfavorable for the market and more issues coming out of Europe traders are responding.

CLS Bank was set up in 1997 to overcome settlement risk in Foreign Exchange . The bank settled an average of $5.07 trillion in March. Figures for Feb 2012 were $4.68 trillion and $4.24 for January. The latest BIS research in 2011 saw volumes reaching $4 trillion.

Exchanges including ICE, DGCX and CME had promising volumes in March however the big two dealer to dealer FX players Reuters and EBS showed lower volumes.

Thomson Reuters daily volume was 137 billion down from the $150 billion traded in March 2011. ICAP owned EBS had daily trade volume of $122.7 billion.

Apart from the three main ECN's; FXall, Currenex and Hotspot other players are gaining coverage in the market. In addition bank single dealer platforms are improving in functionality. BNP (bank) launched its revised SDP Cortex.

Forexmagnates team wrote a report on the daily FX volumes in the institutional FX market, available n the Q4 2011 quarterly report.