FX Volumes Drift in September, but Landmark for FXSpotStream

After the hectic, and banner, month of August, the first group of FX platforms to report results show a slight dip in spot FX activity, with the exception of 360T, which grew slightly.

The Deutsche Börse-owned 360T reports spot average daily volume (ADV) of $31.5 billion, up 1.6% from August and establishing a new mark for the platform’s second-busiest after March 2020. Year-on-year activity is up 8.3%.

The performance statistics on 360T were relatively stable, the round-trip time averaged just over 7ms in September, while the New York matching engine maintained its healthy share of activity at 54% of volume. London increased to 32%, at the expense of the Tokyo matching engine, which fell to 14%, a share that is largely in line with its longer-term average.

In currency terms, 27% of volume was in EUR/USD, up 1% from August, while USD/JPY was unchanged at 14%, Cable rose by one point to 8% and CNH remained third largest pair at 9%.

FX SpotStream, meanwhile, hit a new landmark with overall volume breaching the $100 billion mark for the first time. Spot volumes were actually slightly lower, by 1.6% to $72 billion per day, but this was more than made up for by a 26.7% rise in non-spot ADV to $29.9 billion – the highest yet reported by the service. Year-on-year, overall volumes were up 54.4%, with spot rising 37.9% and non-spot by 117%.

CboeFX also saw a slight dip in spot activity, by 6.4% to $46.7 billion per day – a 3.1% year-on-year increase. Firm ADV rose slightly from $15 billion per day to $16 billion. The average response time on CboeFX was 10ms, unchanged from August but still above the longer-term average of 9ms, while 93% of volume was traded anonymously. The non-firm fill rate on the platform dropped slightly, from 88% in August to 87% in September, this is the lowest in more than a year, suggesting LPs were still cautious after the mayhem of August.

This was reinforced by data from Euronext FX, which also saw fill rates decline on its Skew Safe channel from 80.2% to 79.8%, while the platform’s fill rate rose slightly to 73% from 72.8%, still well below the 83-85% seen last year. The Full Amount channel maintained a 93.7% fill rate. Round-trip times were unchanged on Euronext at 10.6ms to New York and 19.6ms to London.

In terms of volume, Euronext FX handled $27.6 billion per day in September, this is down 4.8% from August, but is up 15.2% year-on-year.

NDFs Mixed Also

In the NDF market, the platforms fared differently also, again with 360T seeing a nice boost to activity. The platform handled a fraction under $1.9 billion per day in September, up 22.2% month-on-month and up 66.3% year-on-year. This makes it the second busiest month in NDFs for 360T, behind the $2.2 billion seen in June 2024.

24 Exchange saw activity drift lower, but it retains a healthy year-on-year growth trajectory. ADV was $3.7 billion in September, down 10.6% from the new peak established in August, but up 104% year-on-year.

Finally, CboeFX SEF also saw a slight drift, ADV in NDFs hitting $1.4 billion, down from $1.45 billion in August, but up 29.4% year-on-year.