Refinitiv’s forex aggregator, FXall announced on Tuesday that trading volumes with FX options reached a record level in 2020, gaining 26 percent on the previous year.
FXall provides electronic trading to banks and brokers and is a complete end-to-end workflow solution for FX trading, covering spot, forwards, swaps, non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) and options.
Buy-side institutional clients can trade both vanilla and exotic options strategies using FXall, executing on the relevant regulating venue. The single window electronic trading interface has gained over 2,300 clients and partnered with 230 bank and non-bank Liquidity providers.
The announcement cited that the last year's record gain was the result of increasing demand for FX options among the buy-side participants to hedge their currency exposure.
The Rise of Electronic FX Desks
FXall elaborated that the adoption of electronic over-the-counter (OTC) desks for FX is increasing, and over 66 market participants are offering FX options liquidity via its platform.
Meanwhile, Refinitiv is focusing on the expansion of the FX-centric services and added Optiver, the first non-bank liquidity provider for FX options on FXall. Further, the platform added several analytics tools to enable its clients to evaluate the changing market spreads.
Last year, FXall received approval from the Malaysian regulator to operate its electronic Trading Platform in the country.
Commenting on the growing FX options demand, FXall Head, Jill Sigelbaum said: “The record-growth of options trading during one of the most transitional years for the trading sector validates the effectiveness of our platform to deliver seamless end-to-end trading solutions across all segments of the FX market. The addition of Optiver, a market-leader in options, builds on this commitment and our strategy in 2021.”
