Despite low levels of Volatility , CME Group Inc. has managed to achieve its third-highest quarterly volume in its history in the first quarter of 2019, the company announced this Wednesday.
During the first quarter of this year, the average daily volume (ADV) was 18.6 million contracts. Although this is the third-highest result the Chicago-headquartered company has ever achieved, it is down from the record first quarter the firm had in 2018.
Q1 of 2018 and the final quarter of 2018, were the two highest quarters in terms of ADV. So even though the most recent period was a historically solid performance, it is weaker on a year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter basis. In fact, the Group managed to report solid results across the whole of last year.
Nonetheless, the ADV for foreign exchange (Forex ) instruments was lackluster even when compared with weaker quarters outside of Q1 and Q4 of 2018. Specifically, 885 thousand contracts were traded during the first quarter.
This is lower than the previous quarter by 6.4 percent, and it’s also down on a year-on-year comparison by 19.5 percent. It’s also weaker than the second and third quarters of last year.
The average rate per contract (RPC), however, looks a bit better for the FX sector. In the first quarter of 2019, the average RPC was $0.763. This is higher on both a quarterly and annual comparison by 5.97 percent and 0.13 percent respectively.
CME Group Achieves Quarterly Revenue of $1.2 Billion
Terry Duffy, CEO of CME Group
Source: CME Group Inc
Commenting on the results, CME Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Terry Duffy said: "Despite low levels of volatility in several product areas, we delivered our third-highest quarterly volume in our history during the first quarter, driven by continued product innovation and a growing proportion of our volume from customers outside the U.S.
"In addition, we continue to focus on the NEX integration and have been heavily engaged with clients about our expanded offerings. Lastly, our expense control remained solid during the first quarter of 2019."
During the first quarter of this year, CME Group reported revenue of $1.2 billion. When measured against the previous quarter, this is higher by 6.3 percent. Operating income, however, fell by 14.8 percent to hit $631 million.
