ICAP EBS volumes soar 22%; CME Group’s FX futures volumes up 21%.
Two leading FX aggregators, ICAP’s EBS division (spot FX ECN) and the CME Group (FX futures), reported very healthy January trading volumes. CME Group’s FX futures volumes were up by 21% over last January (but just 9% over a surprisingly strong December) to average an even 900,000 contracts daily. The EURUSD’s bull run, from around 1.30 at the beginning of January up to the 1.36 range toward the end of the month, seems to have brought FX traders back to the market.
An even more surprising rise came from EBS, which — after six months of dwindling volumes — reported that January volumes averaged $141 billion per day. As per the chart below, that made January 2013 better than any individual month of 2012 for EBS, although still well below average 2011 levels. Nevertheless, a very nice January for EBS.
It certainly looks at this point like we’ll end up reporting a very nice January rise in our LeapRate Retail FX Volume Index, sponsored by Leverate, due out later in the month. Stay tuned…
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