CME Hits New Record Amid Volatility Spike

CME Group says its FX futures and options product suite hit a new daily record for activity on Wednesday March 8 with 3.15 million contracts changing hands, for a notional value of $296 billion.

This represents a 5% increase over the previous record of 3 million contracts set in September 2022, CME also reached trading records in several individual currencies, including a record of 1.1 million euro FX futures and a record 264,000 Canadian dollar FX futures. In addition, blocks and exchange for related positions (EFRP) transactions traded a record 274,000 contracts on March 8, a level 23% higher than the previous record set in December 2022.

The new peak for activity comes against a background of renewed volatility surrounding concerns over several regional or specialist banks in the US, highlighted by the closure of Silicon Valley Bank last week by US regulators. Either side of the weekend Cboe FX saw a sharp increase in activity with average daily volume rising from the low $40 billion per day mark to $65.6 billion on March 10 and $73.2 billion on March 13.

Elsewhere, Euronext FX saw activity jump to above $30 billion on March 10 and then $36 billion on March 13, this from recent levels around the $20 billion mark.