The FX trading venue of Euronext, which operates the biggest pan-European Exchange , has reported trading volumes for October 2020. Euronext FX, formerly FastMatch, reported a total of $409 billion that changed hands in the previous month, representing a 13 percent decline from the $469 billion reported back in September 2020.
In addition, the exchange’s institutional FX trading venue saw its average daily trading volumes amounting to $18.6 billion in October 2020. This is also down 12 percent month-over-month from $21 billion in the previous month.
Taking a year-over-year perspective, Euronext’s total currency turnover was down five percent from $429 billion in October 2019 while its ADV figure was virtually unchanged compared to its equivalent a year ago.
Technical Glitch Halts Trading on Key Platforms
Euronext experienced technical glitches in October, which froze all transactions in Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris for more than three hours when much of the key trading activity happens. The exchange operator said the outage hit morning trading in cash equities, derivative products and commodity futures across Europe.
The glitches were the latest in a string of breakdowns that hit retail, institutional and exchange platforms this year, including a 'technical problem' and 'failure' with Deutsche Boerse’s Xetra and Eurex platforms. The New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) was also hit with DDoS attacks that took the NZX website down for nearly a week.
During the market turbulence, other platforms that cater to retail investors have likewise experienced difficulties, resulting in clients getting kept out of the market during sensitive times. Robinhood, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab, experienced trading downtime amid heavy trading volumes, before managing to restore its systems.
Furthermore, two trading platforms failed at JPMorgan Chase & Co, including one that caters to wealth-management clients when the financial markets were in chaos.
