CME FX Volumes Back on Track on GBP Surge, Overall June Activity Rises 32.2% MoM

With several brokers and trading venues issuing volumes for June, activity in the industry has picked up since bottoming during April and May. Doing well during the month was the CME, where total FX volumes of futures rose 32.2% to 14.91M contracts from 11.28M in May. However, the figures relating to 2014 remain depressed when compared with 2013 activity, with June’s trading 35.1% below the same period last year.

During the month, FX options fared slightly better on a year-over-year basis, only dipping 11.3% compared to 2013. But the 1.14M contracts traded during June was only a 4.2% increase from May. Overall, combined futures and options trading averaged 765,000 contracts per day, at a notional value of $93 billion.

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Volume increases were seen across the board, with all major currencies experiencing an increase in activity. Specifying names, outperforming other major currencies was the British pound, where trading rose 60% from June. Volumes have picked up the GBPUSD trading as prices broke out to multi-year highs, having risen above 1.70 for the first time since 2008.