CLS FX Activity Higher, ForexClear Up

Average daily traded FX volumes at CLS rose slightly in August, thanks to an increase in non-spot activity.

Overall traded volumes were $2.366 trillion per day in August, up 2.1% from July and up 8.4% year-on-year. Reflecting the results of the trading platforms from earlier in the month, average daily traded value in spot drifted lower to $517 billion, a 3.5% drop from July and down 6% year-on-year. Excluding the traditionally quiet month of December, this was the lowest spot numbers at CLS since July 2024.

The drop in spot was more than covered by non-spot products, however, with outright forwards volume at $222 billion, up 11% from July and up 22.7% year-on-year. Again reflecting those platforms to report data, FX swaps traded volumes at CLS rose to $1.627 trillion, up 2.9% month-on-month and up 12% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, LSEG has provided an update on volumes at its ForexClear service. In August, FX options volume cleared was $29 billion per day, down slightly from July and off the record seen in June, but up some 27% year-on-year.

Across the entire ForexClear business, daily volume cleared rose fractionally in August to $183 billion, again off the June peak but the second highest volume reported to date and up 33% year-on-year.