FX Volume Reports Conclude with Mixed News
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: November 21, 2023
The final group of FX volume data released confirms the mixed nature of October in terms of volume traded, although it remains one of the busier months of the year.
CLS Group says it handled a fraction over $2 trillion per day, down 2.8% from September, but up 3.8% year-on-year. Within this, CLS says spot volume settled every day was $491 billion, down $4 billion from September, reflecting the steady nature of spot activity, this is only $3 billion up on October 2022.
Outright forwards activity also declined slightly at CLS, however it remains the standout growth area for the year. In October it settled $204 billion per day, down from $209 billion in September, but up 58% year-on-year. It is the third busiest month for CLS in the product. In FX swaps, the settlement service’s biggest market, CLS handled $1.306 trillion, down3.5% from September and broadly unchanged year-on-year (down $4 billion).
The FX swaps slowdown was reflected in data from 360T and LSEG FX, with the former reporting overall FX activity for October at EUR 128.6 billion. This is down 9.7% on what was the highest month for 360T to date in September, but is up 3.5% year-on-year. Using a fixed exchange rate, this indicates that non-spot activity was $103.7 billion – down 11.4% from September and largely unchanged year-on-year.
At LSEG FX, non-spot volume ADV was $340 billion, down 1.7% from September, and down 2.6% year-on-year.
Spot volumes at LSEG averaged $87 billion per day in October, an 8.4% decline from September and down 13% year-on-year. Earlier this month, LSEG reported September spot volumes of $95 billion per day and $346 billion in non-spot products.
Elsewhere, Singapore Exchange (SGX) reports 3.27 million contracts per day in September. This is a 20.4% drop from September, but continues the recent run of good year-on-year growth for the exchange by rising 0.6% from October 2022 (although there was one more trading day in 2023). CNH remains the star contract for SGX at over 2.07 million contracts per day, this is down from 2.83 million in September and up significantly from 1.55 million in October 2023.
Finally, LCH ForexClear hit yet another high – its sixth in a row – for FX options clearing volumes at $14 billion – this is up 8.5% month-on-month and up 185% year-on-year. Elsewhere, ForexClear cleared $3.1 billion-worth of client NDF trades per day, up 43% on October 2022 and slightly higher than September 2023.
