Knight Capital unit Hotspot FX reported that volumes in its Forex ECN system fell in August to average $21.0 billion daily, down 19% from July’s $25.9 billion — and down 34% from last-year August’s $31.5 billion. The August decrease at Hotspot FX was indeed larger than those seen at other Forex ECNs and futures exchanges (e.g. ICAP off 10.5%, FXall down 7.3%, Thomson Reuters down 11.5%, CME Group down 8.7% to its lowest volume level since 2009), but given the problems at parent Knight Capital at the beginning of August things could have been a lot worse.
By comparison, the problems at Knight which nearly brought down the company had a much greater effect on Knight’s equity market making business, with August volumes there down about 35% from July and 65% from last year.
Knight Capital Chairman & CEO Tom Joyce remarked at an investor conference last week that volumes have largely returned to levels seen before their early-August trading “glitch”.
For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.