ForexClear Hits Another FX Option Clearing Peak

Although the numbers remain relatively small compared to the overall foreign exchange market, the latest data from LSEG’s ForexClear indicates that clearing of FX options in particular continues to gain traction, with the service breaking above the $10 billion per day threshold for the first time.

In July, ForexClear cleared average daily volume (ADV) of $10.5 billion, the seventh month in a row it has hit a new peak and the first time above $10 billion for a month. This is up 7.1% from June, but is up a massive 162% on a year-on-year basis.

The rise comes against a backdrop of increasing overall volumes in FX options, however the growth of clearing is outstripping rises in trading volumes. Using the regional FX committee data as a proxy for global data, trading volumes in FX options have risen by around one-third over the past two years, while ForexClear data shows cleared FX options volumes have more than quadrupled.

It should be noted that this is very much a period of growth for the service, and that it remains well below 5% of overall FX options volume traded, but the trend certainly appears to be heading north.

The curve in client NDF clearing is less steep at ForexClear, in July it cleared ADV of $3.3 billion in NDFs, slightly above that in June ($3.2 billion), but up 74% on a year-on-year basis.