FX Records for CME & ICE on USD Sell Off

Buoyed by sharp gains in the Euro, Pound and Yen against the US Dollar last Thursday, both the CME Group and IntercontinentalExchange announced record trading volumes among their FX products. The day featured monthly interest rate meetings from both the Bank of England and ECB, with ECB President Mario Draghi rejecting a short term policy of applying negative interest rates. The news caused a massive unwinding of the Dollar, that caused the USDJPY to drop to 8 week lows and the EURUSD and GBPUSD to achieve four week highs.

At the CME, the sharp volatility translated to the exchange setting a year high of total FX futures and Options trading volume of $238.9 billion, compared to the venue’s 2013 average daily volume (ADV) of $125 billion. Total volumes were the fourth highest ever for FX at the CME. The CME also set individual all-time records in Japanese Yen and Canadian Dollar trading. On the day, total Yen Futures and Options volumes was $64.7 billion, besting the previous record set last month. The exchange also posted gains in Open Interest among FX products. For the full year, futures ADV is 17% above figures from the same time last year, with options trading 55% higher.

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Over at the IntercontinentalExchange, the venue posted record volumes in its US Dollar Index (USDX) futures contracts. Trading in the USDX accounts for the majority of FX volumes at the ICE. On the day, 116,372 contracts were traded with a value of $9.5 billion, 31.6% above the previous one-day trading record of 88,394 contracts. The ICE also reported that year to date ADV for the USDX is 27% above the same period last year.