Looks like February was another blowout month in the electronic FX trading world.
CME Group, which runs the world’s largest derivatives marketplace, announced that FX contract volumes (mainly Eurodollar futures contracts) in its system were up by 19% in February from January, and up 26% from last year February, to an average of 1,067,000 contracts daily — the CME’s third best month ever for FX volumes (see chart below).
Just yesterday we reported that Japanese FX brokers reported record trading volumes in February.
We should learn more when Forex ECNs such as ICAP EBS, Hotspot FX, FXall and Thomson Reuters release figures in the coming days and weeks. Stay tuned…
While CME’s reported volumes are futures contracts, they typically are a good predictor of retail / spot volumes as well. Those markets are interconnected, and are typically driven by the same catalyst — namely volatility.
For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.