North American multinational derivatives marketplace CME Group Inc (NASDAQ:CME) today announced that February 2015 volume averaged 15.8 million contracts per day, up 13 percent from February 2014 and representing the all-time highest February average daily volume. Total volume for February 2015 was more than 300 million contracts, of which 87 percent was traded electronically.
CME Group foreign exchange (FX) volume averaged 755,000 contracts per day, which is a decrement of 24.2% compared to the 996,000 contracts reported in January 2015.
During recent months, CME Group has experienced buoyant FX volumes, as exchange traded FX volume in December averaged 957,000 contracts per day, which was an increase of 3 percent from November 2014 when CME recorded 929,000. Bearing this in mind, the 755,000 contracts traded in February marks a return to the lower volume periods experienced between April and August 2014.
On an yearly basis, FX volumes were down 2 percent in February 2015 from February 2014. The average daily notional value of FX contracts traded in February was $78 billion, compared to $108 billion in January.
CME Group equity index volume in February 2014 averaged 2.3 million contracts per day, down 20 percent from the same period a year ago.
Options volume in February averaged 2.8 million contracts per day, up 14 percent versus February 2014, with electronic options growing 13 percent over the same period.
CME Group interest rate volume averaged 8.7 million contracts per day in February 2015, up 27 percent compared with February 2014. Eurodollar futures volume averaged 2.8 million contracts per day, up 38 percent from the same period a year ago.
Eurodollar options volume averaged 1.0 million contracts per day, up 47 percent from February last year. Treasury futures volume averaged 4.1 million contracts per day, up 20 percent compared with February 2014. Treasury options volume averaged 656,000 contracts per day, up 3 percent from the same period last year. Overall CME Group interest rate open interest increased 11 percent since year-end 2014.
In February 2015, CME Group cleared $173 billion in average daily notional value of over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate swaps. During the month, OTC interest rate swap open interest increased to $24.8 trillion, which represents 65 percent of clients’ total cleared OTC interest rate swap open interest. Average daily trade count for the month was 2,634.
For the official announcement from CME Group, click here.