CME Group – FX Tape+ 2026

Five years ago, Euronext FX pulled the plug on its FX Tape after several years in which it failed to gain traction amongst FX traders. It may well have been a question of timing – were markets less automated in the wake of the pandemic? – but the fact remains, there is still demand for such a product.

Late last year, CME brought the product back to the table with the launch of FX Tape+, so why do we like this when the last attempt failed? Quite simply, the source of the data. Previous efforts at a Tape have included last look liquidity, so what amounts to indicative pricing – there is no value in a Tape offering trade and price data that cannot be traded upon in certain circumstances. With CME’s modus operandi very much being about firm pricing, FX Tape+ offers what could be termed a “truer” insight into the market than that available before.

Of course, the FX market is linked, and repeats through liquidity recycling, but nearly everyone recognises that CME’s FX futures, EBS Market, and LSEG Spot Matching do not deal in last look and therefore represent the best raw data for institutions who want to avoid the noise of a large amount of small value trades.

This makes CME, with effectively four order books in futures, EBS Market, FX Spot+ and FX Link, the ideal place to launch such a product. There are still some, this publication’s current editor among them, who are wary of giving away too much information in the current market landscape, arguing that full transparency can work against hedgers in particular, but that does not mean that a notable segment of the market will find great value in a Tape. It will be interesting to see how the project progresses as automation, and information security concerns, continue to climb.