CLS Sees Significant Uptick in Spot FX Volumes, Driven by COVID-19
- Overall, trading increased by 5 percent year-on-year in February of 2020.

According to the data released by CLS Group, a leading provider of risk mitigation and settlement services for 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 trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. 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 trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. Read this Term dealers and institutions, the average daily traded volumes increased by 5 percent on a yearly comparison, with the total monthly volume coming in at $1.81 trillion.
When measuring this figure against the previous month, January of 2020, which had a total monthly volume of $1.77 trillion, volumes have also managed to increase by 2.2 percent.
Although, overall, volumes increased, according to the data provided by CLS, which measures the trading activity submitted to the company, February delivered different results across its three products – swap FX, spot FX, and forward FX.
Specifically, Spot FX trading volumes increased significantly in February of 2020, coming in at $500 billion. This represents an uptick of 24.7 percent month-on-month, and it has increased by 24.4 percent on a yearly measurement.
Swap forex and FX Forwards, however, both saw a drop in trading volumes on both a yearly and monthly comparison, which goes against the trend of February, which saw many trading providers report robust performances.
COVID-19 drives CLS volumes up into March
Commenting on the volumes, CLS’s Head of Information Services, Masami Johnstone, said in the statement: “Covid-19 (Coronavirus) was the dominant theme driving markets in February 2020, which coincided with record daily averages in USDKRW of USD24 billion, USDSGD of USD44 billion and USDILS of USD7 billion.
“The high average daily traded volumes observed at the end of February, particularly USD2.30 trillion during the last week of February, have continued well into March with average daily traded volumes of USD2.30 trillion, up almost 27% compared to February 2020 as a whole. By product this was a rise of 55% in spot, 15% in FX swaps and 36% in forwards."
“This was against the backdrop of the increased market volatility. The spread of the Coronavirus globally led to significant losses in global stock markets. Meanwhile the US 10-year treasury bond fell below 1.00% for the first time in its history on the back of a surprise Federal Reserve 50 basis point rate cut.”
According to the data released by CLS Group, a leading provider of risk mitigation and settlement services for 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 trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. 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 trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. Read this Term dealers and institutions, the average daily traded volumes increased by 5 percent on a yearly comparison, with the total monthly volume coming in at $1.81 trillion.
When measuring this figure against the previous month, January of 2020, which had a total monthly volume of $1.77 trillion, volumes have also managed to increase by 2.2 percent.
Although, overall, volumes increased, according to the data provided by CLS, which measures the trading activity submitted to the company, February delivered different results across its three products – swap FX, spot FX, and forward FX.
Specifically, Spot FX trading volumes increased significantly in February of 2020, coming in at $500 billion. This represents an uptick of 24.7 percent month-on-month, and it has increased by 24.4 percent on a yearly measurement.
Swap forex and FX Forwards, however, both saw a drop in trading volumes on both a yearly and monthly comparison, which goes against the trend of February, which saw many trading providers report robust performances.
COVID-19 drives CLS volumes up into March
Commenting on the volumes, CLS’s Head of Information Services, Masami Johnstone, said in the statement: “Covid-19 (Coronavirus) was the dominant theme driving markets in February 2020, which coincided with record daily averages in USDKRW of USD24 billion, USDSGD of USD44 billion and USDILS of USD7 billion.
“The high average daily traded volumes observed at the end of February, particularly USD2.30 trillion during the last week of February, have continued well into March with average daily traded volumes of USD2.30 trillion, up almost 27% compared to February 2020 as a whole. By product this was a rise of 55% in spot, 15% in FX swaps and 36% in forwards."
“This was against the backdrop of the increased market volatility. The spread of the Coronavirus globally led to significant losses in global stock markets. Meanwhile the US 10-year treasury bond fell below 1.00% for the first time in its history on the back of a surprise Federal Reserve 50 basis point rate cut.”