FFAJ’s OTC FX Volumes Rebound in Q3 2016, Still Stagnant YoY

The Financial Futures Authority of Japan (FFAJ) today published its latest report on financial futures transactions which includes retail FX and over the counter (OTC) contracts, for the quarter ending December 31, 2016, showing largely higher trading volumes in key FX segments.

According to data compiled by the FFAJ from its members for Q3 2016, total trading volumes on-Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term rose to 20.29 million contracts which was higher by nearly 14.4 million contracts from the 17.72 million contracts reported in the Q2 period through the end of September 2016.

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The majority of the quarter-over-quarter increases for on-exchange volumes were driven by nearly 20% gains in domestic trades, including the retail FX margin trading, whereas the overseas segment was less upbeat, having yielded a 9.0 percent advance at 6.8 million contracts.

In addition, the over-the-counter OTC domestic volumes published by the FFAJ for its reporting members totaled over ¥13.56 trillion ($120.88 billion) during the last quarter of the 2016 calendar year, up by nearly 22.6 percent quarter-on-quarter. This figure includes margin FX OTC volumes which grew with a similar percentage to ¥13.5 trillion ($120.33 million) up from ¥11.00 trillion ($98.0 billion) reported in the prior quarter.

Across a year-to-date (YTD) perspective, the OTC volumes figure reversed the narrative, having dropped -8.5 percent year-over-year to ¥36.23 trillion ($323 billion) in the nine month period from April through December 2016. This is compared to ¥39.6 trillion ($353.5 billion) reported back in the same period from April (the start of the FFAJ’s fiscal year) in 2015.

The higher volumes in Q3 also mirrored the increase in the total number of active customer accounts, albeit in a slower pace, which rose 3.8 percent quarter-on-quarter from 728,611 in Q2 to 757,884 reported for Q3 ending December 31, 2016.