Thomson Reuters March Volumes Up 2.8% Overall as Spot Trading Dips Lower

Foreign exchange volumes averaged $362 billion per day during March, according to an update released by Thomson Reuters for trading across its related platforms during the month.

This total represents a nearly 2.8% rise from February’s total of $356 billion, an increase of $10 billion month-over-month in average daily volumes (ADV), and helped to reverse the two-month downtrend that had started at the beginning of 2016 as highlighted by Finance Magnates in a related post.

Despite the increase overall, in total volume and other volume categories, the amount of volume in spot trading fell from $111 billion in February, down 6.3% month-over-month or lower by $7 billion in ADV for the spot segment.

This mix could represent a higher need for dealers to hedge their exposure or use non-spot related instruments during March, whereas the decline in aggregate spot volumes could have reflected retail demand that had been subdued when compared to the Volatility in February, as a large number of dealers with retail flows trade on such venues.

From the ADV of $362 during March, spot trading represented $104, or nearly 29% of the volumes overall. The company said that the volumes reflect trading across its FX venues including Thomson Reuters Matching, FXall, and that the grand total included transactions forwards, swaps, options, and non-deliverable forwards (NDFs), including the spot Forex totals.

Shares of Thomson Reuters, under NYSE ticker symbol TRI , closed up 1% to $40.39 per share around time of the news this Monday afternoon in New York.