July FX volumes on Thomson Reuters' platforms outpaced those of last year, though turnover is still down month-over-month as the lack of clear direction in currency markets continues to affect daily trading activity.
FX trading volumes saw a significant drop last month, coming in at $398 billion, down 12 percent from $452 billion in June 2018, failing to match its strong comeback in the previous month.
However, Thomson Reuters’ total average daily volume (ADV) of its foreign Exchange (FX) products, including spot, forwards, Swaps options, and non-deliverable forwards (NDF), made a slight increase by 2.8 percent year-over-year from $387 billion in July 2017.
Following a bumpy period in geopolitics over the first quarter, trading activity rose strongly to $461 billion and $463 billion in March and February of this year respectively, the two best months on record for trading volumes.
In a month in which the dollar rose against a basket of currencies on the revival of the trade wars and expectations for US interest rate hikes, average volumes for spot trading declined to $94 billion in July 2018, down 14 percent from $103 billion in the month prior. On a year-on-year basis, spot turnover for July registered a seven percent increase from $88 billion a year ago.
Thomson Reuters’ figures reflect the trend observed in the monthly figures from many of the major trading platforms. However, given its position as a major trading hub for the wholesale market, the company provides one of the most comprehensive snapshots of activity.
