CLS Group Reports Minor Drop in FX Trading Volumes for April

CLS Group, a settlement services provider to companies trading in the foreign 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 market, published trading volume data for April this Thursday.

According to the information released by the group, trading volumes slipped to their lowest levels since December of last year.

Having said that, trading volumes were not abnormally low. In fact, they were in line with the broader FX market and fit with the past few months of trading volumes that CLS has published.

Total average daily trading volumes at CLS were $1.63 trillion in April. That was a 12.5 percent decrease on March when the firm reported an average daily trading volume of $1.86 trillion. For April of last year, the equivalent figure was $1.77 trillion.

Down across the board

Trading was down in all three of the product classes that CLS services - Swaps Swaps Swaps can be defined as a derivate contact composed of two parties that exchange to cash flow between two separate financial instruments.They are generally divided into two categories. This includes contingent claims (options) and forward claims, where forward contracts, swaps, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are exchanged. Commodity price, equity price, interest rate, and foreign exchange rate are common variables used as one of the cash flows in swaps upon initiation. Different Types of Swaps Swaps can be defined as a derivate contact composed of two parties that exchange to cash flow between two separate financial instruments.They are generally divided into two categories. This includes contingent claims (options) and forward claims, where forward contracts, swaps, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are exchanged. Commodity price, equity price, interest rate, and foreign exchange rate are common variables used as one of the cash flows in swaps upon initiation. Different Types of Swaps Read this Term, spot and forwards.

For the first of those, swaps, volumes declined from $1.31 trillion in March to $1.17 trillion in April - an approximately 11 percent month on month decrease.

That was the lowest CLS has recorded since December of last year when the group reported swaps trading volumes of $1.05 trillion.

There was a more precipitous shrinking - in percentage terms - of spot trading volumes.

In March, CLS reported an average daily spot trading volume of $0.44 trillion. That slumped by 19 percent to $0.36 trillion in April.

Finally, in forward contracts, the settlement services provider published an average daily trading volume of just under $0.10 trillion for April.

The equivalent figure for March was $0.12 trillion - meaning there was a month on month decline in forward contract trading volumes of just under 17 percent last month.