Mixed Fortunes for FX Platforms in May

Although all FX platforms to report volumes at the start of the month were significantly higher year-on-year, the monthly picture was a little more mixed, with two of the four reporting venues seeing a decrease in activity from April.

Deutsche Börse’s 360T reports spot average daily volume (ADV) of $26.9 billion, the fourth highest since the platform started reporting data in mid-2018. This represents a 4.2% increase from April and a 25.7% year-on-year rise.

Equally CboeFX reports spot ADV of $39.6 billion, up 7% month-on-month and up 21.8% year-on-year. Firm liquidity ADV at CboeFX was $11.78 billion, 5.1% higher than April and 20.8% higher than May 2021, while the non-firm daily fill rate drifted slightly lower to 86.79% from 87.2% in April. In May 2021 it was 88.2%. In terms of overall volume, this was the lowest proportion of firm volume at CboeFX, which has averaged just shy of 31% thus far in 2022.

The news was more mixed for EuronextFX and FXSpotStream, both of whom saw small declines in activity from April, however, as noted, both were significantly higher year-on-year. EuronextFX spot ADV was $23.1 billion, down 6.1% from April, but up 24.2% year-on-year, while FXSpotStream, which reports ADV across all FX products, not just spot, was $58.4 billion, down 4.6% from April, but up 23.5% year-on-year.

NDFs Continue Climb

Meanwhile, the three platforms to report data on NDFs continue to see good growth. CboeFX, which is largely a matching model, reports NDF ADV of $871 million, up 39.4% month-on-month and more than three times the $271 million reported in May 2021.

360T, which is largely a streaming quote model, reports ADV of $1.03 billion, the second highest since it started reporting data at the start of 2021. This is 11.4% up from April and up 79% year-on-year.

Finally, 24Exchange also saw its second highest NDF activity since it launched in January 2021, reporting ADV of $604 million, an 8% increase from April and up 69.2% year-on-year.