FX Volumes Drop 30pct at Intercontinental Exchange in October 2020
- The overall financial products, which also include interest rates and equity indices, also dropped 18 percent year-on-year

Atlanta-headquartered futures exchange, Intercontinental Exchange, which also operates clearing houses and serves OTC markets, on Wednesday disclosed weak metrics across its FX and credit volumes for October, which averaged 35,000 contracts per day.
The figure reflected a 30 percent drop month-over-month from 50,000 contracts in September 2020. However, the exchange operator registered a stronger advance in volumes when compared to the number of contracts in October 2019, having jumped by over one-third year-on-year from 27,000.
The overall financial products, which also include interest rates and equity indices, dropped 18 percent year-on-year after revealing 1.85 million contracts per day compared to 2.27 million in October 2019. In addition, the figure also dropped by -34 percent over a monthly basis.
Turnover from ICE’s flagship energy contracts dropped further off record highs in October, according to data released today, as the 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 can be successful in both low and high volatile environments, but the strategies employed are often different depending upon volatility. Why Too Much Volatility is a ProblemIn the FX space, lower volatile currency pairs offer less surprises, and are suited to position traders.High volatile pairs are attractive for many day traders, due to quick and strong movements, offering the potential for higher profits, although the risk associated with such volatile pairs are many. Overall, a look at previous volatility tells us how likely price will fluctuate in the future, although it has nothing to do with direction.All a trader can gather from this is the understanding that the probability of a volatile pair to increase or decrease an X amount in a Y period of time, is more than the probability of a non-volatile pair. Another important factor is, volatility can and does change over time, and there can be periods when even highly volatile instruments show signs of flatness, with price not really making headway in either direction. Too little volatility is just as problematic for markets as too much, we uncertainty in excess can create panic and problems of liquidity. This was evident during Black Swan events or other crisis that have historically roiled currency and equity markets. 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 can be successful in both low and high volatile environments, but the strategies employed are often different depending upon volatility. Why Too Much Volatility is a ProblemIn the FX space, lower volatile currency pairs offer less surprises, and are suited to position traders.High volatile pairs are attractive for many day traders, due to quick and strong movements, offering the potential for higher profits, although the risk associated with such volatile pairs are many. Overall, a look at previous volatility tells us how likely price will fluctuate in the future, although it has nothing to do with direction.All a trader can gather from this is the understanding that the probability of a volatile pair to increase or decrease an X amount in a Y period of time, is more than the probability of a non-volatile pair. Another important factor is, volatility can and does change over time, and there can be periods when even highly volatile instruments show signs of flatness, with price not really making headway in either direction. Too little volatility is just as problematic for markets as too much, we uncertainty in excess can create panic and problems of liquidity. This was evident during Black Swan events or other crisis that have historically roiled currency and equity markets. Read this Term eased.
Rivals Data Shows Strength in Volumes
Overall, ICE’s aggregated volumes were characterized by mixed results across both the monthly and yearly intervals, while volumes were broadly flat in October across most business segments.
During the reported month, ICE’s October average daily volume (ADV) for futures and options business was reported at 4.91 million contracts per day, which corresponded to a change of -19 percent month-over-month from 2.8 million per day in September 2020. In addition, this latest figure marks a 9 percent drop over October 2019 which came at 5.39 million contracts per day.
In terms of ICE’s total commodities volume, the figure was downbeat in its overall performance, amounting to average 3.06 million contracts per day in October 2020, down 7 percent vs. 3.2 million the month prior. The group’s commodities activity was slightly skewed to downside year-on-year when weighed against 3.11 million contracts reported back in October 2019.
Atlanta-headquartered futures exchange, Intercontinental Exchange, which also operates clearing houses and serves OTC markets, on Wednesday disclosed weak metrics across its FX and credit volumes for October, which averaged 35,000 contracts per day.
The figure reflected a 30 percent drop month-over-month from 50,000 contracts in September 2020. However, the exchange operator registered a stronger advance in volumes when compared to the number of contracts in October 2019, having jumped by over one-third year-on-year from 27,000.
The overall financial products, which also include interest rates and equity indices, dropped 18 percent year-on-year after revealing 1.85 million contracts per day compared to 2.27 million in October 2019. In addition, the figure also dropped by -34 percent over a monthly basis.
Turnover from ICE’s flagship energy contracts dropped further off record highs in October, according to data released today, as the 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 can be successful in both low and high volatile environments, but the strategies employed are often different depending upon volatility. Why Too Much Volatility is a ProblemIn the FX space, lower volatile currency pairs offer less surprises, and are suited to position traders.High volatile pairs are attractive for many day traders, due to quick and strong movements, offering the potential for higher profits, although the risk associated with such volatile pairs are many. Overall, a look at previous volatility tells us how likely price will fluctuate in the future, although it has nothing to do with direction.All a trader can gather from this is the understanding that the probability of a volatile pair to increase or decrease an X amount in a Y period of time, is more than the probability of a non-volatile pair. Another important factor is, volatility can and does change over time, and there can be periods when even highly volatile instruments show signs of flatness, with price not really making headway in either direction. Too little volatility is just as problematic for markets as too much, we uncertainty in excess can create panic and problems of liquidity. This was evident during Black Swan events or other crisis that have historically roiled currency and equity markets. 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 can be successful in both low and high volatile environments, but the strategies employed are often different depending upon volatility. Why Too Much Volatility is a ProblemIn the FX space, lower volatile currency pairs offer less surprises, and are suited to position traders.High volatile pairs are attractive for many day traders, due to quick and strong movements, offering the potential for higher profits, although the risk associated with such volatile pairs are many. Overall, a look at previous volatility tells us how likely price will fluctuate in the future, although it has nothing to do with direction.All a trader can gather from this is the understanding that the probability of a volatile pair to increase or decrease an X amount in a Y period of time, is more than the probability of a non-volatile pair. Another important factor is, volatility can and does change over time, and there can be periods when even highly volatile instruments show signs of flatness, with price not really making headway in either direction. Too little volatility is just as problematic for markets as too much, we uncertainty in excess can create panic and problems of liquidity. This was evident during Black Swan events or other crisis that have historically roiled currency and equity markets. Read this Term eased.
Rivals Data Shows Strength in Volumes
Overall, ICE’s aggregated volumes were characterized by mixed results across both the monthly and yearly intervals, while volumes were broadly flat in October across most business segments.
During the reported month, ICE’s October average daily volume (ADV) for futures and options business was reported at 4.91 million contracts per day, which corresponded to a change of -19 percent month-over-month from 2.8 million per day in September 2020. In addition, this latest figure marks a 9 percent drop over October 2019 which came at 5.39 million contracts per day.
In terms of ICE’s total commodities volume, the figure was downbeat in its overall performance, amounting to average 3.06 million contracts per day in October 2020, down 7 percent vs. 3.2 million the month prior. The group’s commodities activity was slightly skewed to downside year-on-year when weighed against 3.11 million contracts reported back in October 2019.