Currency trading at Moscow Exchange (MOEX) continued its upward route in February buoyed by a steady rise in Volatility , coupled with a multi-year effort to bring new business to the platform, though volumes remained well below volumes of the year prior, as well as a 2019 peak seen in April.
February was a particularly volatile period for global financial markets as investors ramped up bets on new stimulus measures from central banks to combat Coronavirus risks. The MOEX numbers also followed stronger trading volumes from rival foreign exchange venues.
So far this month, Cboe FX, FXSpotStream, CME Group, and Euronext have reported new peaks for activity, and all platforms have recorded strong year-on-year growth with only some Japanese brokers being slightly down on a month-on-month basis.
MOEX’s total FX market turnover edged higher to RUB 24.1 trillion ($366 billion) last month, up 18 percent month-over-month from the RUB 20.4 trillion ($310 billion) exchanged hands in January 2020. Compared with volumes from the same month a year earlier, this figure was down by more than five percent when weighed against RUB 25.4 trillion in February 2019.
FX volumes also rebound at rivals
Average daily volumes in February 2019 reached RUB 1.270 trillion ($19.9 billion), up 24 percent against RUB 1.022 trillion in the prior month, Moex said in a statement. Year-over-year, the ADV figure was up three percent in dollar terms from RUB 1.268 trillion ($19.3 billion) in 2019.
February 2019’s turnover included spot trades of RUB 7.2 trillion ($109 billion), up from RUB 5.4 trillion in January, and swap trades coming in at RUB 16.9 trillion ($256 billion).
FX trading on Russia’s mega bourse, as well as on those of its competitors, has had a record start to the year as a rise in volatility from multi-year lows and a flurry of policy changes supported more currency transactions. Even before that, the exchange’s FX volume was able to recover from recent lows as it continues to develop its infrastructure as part of a state-backed drive to make Moex one of the world’s leading financial hubs.
After several lackluster months, the latest metrics from major institutional spot FX platforms show the FX market has bounced back with hefty jumps in daily trading volumes. This, however, led some retail investors to experience slowness and technical issues related to heavy trade volumes. Due to higher than usual volumes, free trading app Robinhood experienced a system-wide outage at the open on Monday.
