Activity on FXSpotStream’s trading venue, the aggregator service of LiquidityMatch LLC, dropped a tiny bit in December. Trading volumes declined to their lowest levels in more than three months as the year-end lull hit market activity.
During December 2018, FXSpotStream reported an average daily volume (ADV) of $32.5 billion. The number moved lower on a monthly basis by 8.5 percent from $35.5 billion back in November 2018, when volumes shot up to its second-best figure in 2018.
As a result the third-best month for FXSpotStream yielded a year-on-year increase of a whopping 64 percent.
The company's trading facilities were open on 21 trading days, which is one day more than its competitors. FXSpotStream’s YoY ADV based on 20 days in December to compare the same trading time period to other FX venues would represent an increase of just below 72 percent.
Daily volumes in the currency market have been hurt in December by seasonal factors and the year-end holidays. With many traders already closing their books, the volatility fell back to levels seen at the start of the fourth quarter.
FXSpotStream also saw a notable drop across its total trading volumes in December 2018 after reported just $683 billion for the month, down 12.7 percent month-on-month from $782 billion back in November 2018. The difference should partially be explained by fewer working days since December 2018 saw a total of 21 trading days, compared with 22 in the month prior.
A Client to Bank Platform
FXSpotStream is a wholly owned subsidiary of LiquidityMatch LLC and was created as a cost-effective platform, which is offered on a commission-free model for buy-side firms to tap pricing from banks using a multi-dealer aggregating platform.
The group started the streaming aggregation business in 2011 with just a spot FX API and six Liquidity providers, but now utilizes liquidity from a total of twelve leading global banks – BofA Merrill Lynch, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BNP Paribas, Citi, Commerzbank AG, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, and UBS.
FXSpotStream’s offering is a client to bank platform, with each liquidity taker required to create individual credit relationships with participating banks. This differs from other multi-dealer platforms such as FX ECNs like Hotspot and EBS Markets that operate with centralized order book systems for their participants.
