CME Group April Average Daily FX Volumes Drop 34% to $68 Billion Month-Over-Month

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group, reported today that it had an average daily volume of 12.2 million contracts traded per day during April 2014, up 6% compared to the same month last year, across its products.

Eurodollar futures, and Eurodollar options volumes also increased year-over-year (YoY) and the exchange operator reported a number of other positive figures YoY, but foreign exchange was not one of them from a month-over-month perspective, and neither when comparing to the same month last year.

That is, average daily volumes (ADV) plummeted by 34% from $104 billion in March to $68 billion just reported for April, a decrease of just over one-third or $36 billion from the prior month’s total –which had held above the $100 billion mark.

These figures, a 34% drop, consisted of 559,000 contracts traded per day on average during April, and lower by 296,000 per day when compared to March’s ADV of 855,000 contracts, and down 38% from April 2013 from a year-over-year perspective.

Overall the total volume for April 2014, traded across the exchanges products was more than 256 million contracts, of which 87 percent was traded electronically. CME Chairman, Terry Duffy spoke at the end of April about market confidence in an interview published on Yahoo Finance, following recent events surrounding controversy over rigged benchmarks, foreign exchange, and now equities markets - following recent attention on HFT and best-execution. He said despite these, "People should feel confidence in the overall structure of the markets," and how a longer time horizon should be viewed over day-to-day short-term focus.

Just yesterday Forex Magnates reported the positive first quarter that CME reported, although the first month of Q2 appears to already be a more challenging one, as a number of venues report lower results following a drop in Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term volumes as Volatility Volatility In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders Read this Term subdued in recent weeks. The news also follows the announcement of CME Europe launching at the end of last month.