CBOE FX Trading Volumes Surpass $930B in January to Post a New Record

Trading volumes at the FX subsidiary of the CBOE have rebounded to a new record in January 2018. The first month of the year appears to be marked with a sharp rebound in FX Volatility driven by comments from the US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and the ECB’s President Draghi.

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A detailed look at the metrics of the FX trading venue of the CBOE, which was formerly called Hotspot FX, shows that a total of $937 billion changed hands in the first month of the year. The figure was higher by 50 percent when compared to the seasonally weak December of 2017 and by 44 percent when compared to the first month of last year.

Average daily trading volumes also set a record at $42.6 billion. The number is higher by 36 percent month-on-month and by 44 percent year-on-year.

The sharp turn in volatility was driven by the massive move in the US dollar after it was jawboned by US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin in Davos. Comments that a weak dollar is good for US trade have triggered a run on stops above 1.24 in the EUR/USD, which is the most liquid and widely traded FX pair on the market.

The CBOE’s ECN for trading foreign Exchange posted the highest daily volume on the day of the comment, which was also the day of the ECB’s scheduled press conference. A total of $68.4 billion changed hands on the 25th of January.