FXSpotStream Hits New High as FX Platforms Rebound in March
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: April 2, 2024
A strong month for the first group of platforms to FX report average daily volume (ADV) is headlined by a new peak for FXSpotStream, which has had a strong start to the year under new CEO Jeff Ward.
The platform says it handled $82.6 billion per day in March, a 14.2% increase on February, and up an impressive 23.7% year-on-year – it is also more than 10% higher than its previous peak in January of this year. Of this, $58.2 billion per day was in spot – up 12.4% month-on-month and 7.6% year-on-year, while non-spot activity was $24.4 billion – a new high. Non-spot ADV was almost $4 billion per day higher than the previous peak, rising 19% from February and a massive 91.7% from March 2023.
It was also a strong month for 360T, which reports spot FX ADV of $29.6 billion – the second highest recorded by the platform, beaten only by March 2020 at the onset of the pandemic. 360T often reports strong quarter-end activity – non-spot volumes are also expected to rise strongly when they are reported by parent Deutsche Börse later this month – and here spot volumes are up 7% month-on-month and up 5.9% year-on-year.
In what may be heartening news for EBS later this month when it reports, 360T saw USD/JPY volumes leap – making up 16% of activity on the platform, from a recent average around 13%. The two other major pair on the platform, EUR/USD and Cable saw their share drop slightly, by 3% and 2% respectively, while USD/CNH rebounded from the Lunar New Year-driven dip in February, rising 1% to 7% of activity. The average round trip time (RTT) on 360T remained just under the 7ms mark, while 54% of volume went through the New York matching engine, unchanged from the previous two months, while 31% went through London (down 2%) and 15% through Tokyo (up 2%).
Euronext FX was another to report strong numbers, the platform having its third busiest month on record at $25.7 billion per day, an 8.9% increase from February and up 13.2% year-on-year. Only March 2020 and March 2022 have been busier for Euronext FX, which also reported RTT of 8.1ms to New York (from 7.5ms in February) and 7.3ms to London (9.7ms). Across the engines, 28.9% of the anonymous platform was firm at Euronext FX in March, down from 29.1% in February, but above the average of the past year.
Fill rates on Euronext were mixed, with 84% of Skew Safe volume getting filled (from 84% in February), 94.9% of Full Amount volume (93.8%), while on the platform the fill rate dropped slightly, to 82.9% from 83.3%.
Finally, of the first group to report, Cboe FX had its fourth strongest month at $46 billion per day, up 8% from February, but down 5% year-on-year. Firm volume remained unchanged at $15 billion per day – largely where it has been since August 2023 – while 91% of all volume was traded anonymously. The average RTT was 8ms and the non-firm fill rate was 92%, both slightly improved from February – indeed the fill rate is the highest since Cboe Fx started reporting the data.
New Highs in NDFs Also
There was also good news from those platforms to report NDF data, with all two hitting new peaks and one the second highest.
24Exchange continues to post strong NDF data, the platform says it handled a new high of $3.275 billion in March – the first time the venue has surpassed the $3 billion threshold, having come close in January of this year. This is a 32.7% leap from February and is more than double activity in March 2023.
It was a similar story, albeit with a different trading protocol, at 360T, which also hit a new high at $1.7 billion per day in NDFs. This is a 32.9% increase from February and is up an impressive 44.7% year-on-year.
CboeFX, meanwhile, had its second busiest month on its SEF, with ADV of $1.316 billon in March – just below the $1.365 billion it reported in November 2023. This is a 31.3% rise from February and is up 15.4% year-on-year.
A strong month was expected for NDFs after CME earlier in the month reported that volume in Asian NDFson the EBS CLOB hit $13 billion on March 22.