Anecdotal evidence that February was a much quieter month for FX markets is reinforced by the first set of average daily volume (ADV) data reported by FX trading venues with all showing a month-on-month decline and only one a year-on-year rise.
FXSpotStream reports ADV of $34.8 billion in February, down 9.4% from January, but up 20.8% from February 2018.
Elsewhere, CboeFX says it handled $34.5 billion per day last month, a 4.2% decline month-on-month and a 21.9% decline from February 2018 – a month in which the platform set its highest ADV to date at $44.2 billion.
Finally in the first group to report data, Euronext’s FastmatchFX says it handled $18.1 billion per day in February, down 9.5% month-on-month and down 14.2% year-on-year. The FastmatchFX Tape also saw a month-on-month decline at $64.5 billion of notional value reported, this is down 3.4% from January, but still reflects a very healthy year-on-year increase from what was its second month of reporting in February 2018 when it handled $26.6 billion.
Fastmatch volumes are for spot FX products only, while CboeFX is spot and NDFs and FXSpotStream data is for all FX products, including FX swaps.
FX Volumes Dip In February
