It seems like we bang this drum in every column, but lately the truth is that a week doesn’t go by without us receiving news of some record volume figure or other.
CME reported that on February 4: “EUR/USD options set a record with a total notional value of $10.2 billion with 59,491 contracts traded. This record boosted overall FX options to 86,521 contracts traded, with a notional value of $13.2 billion – the highest in a decade.”
Icap reported that average daily spot FX volumes traded on the EBS platform in January were $146.7 billion. This is a slight fall-off on the $149.1 billion reported for January 2009. Which doesn’t compare well with the 78% increase in volume reported by the CME or the 33% increase in average daily payment instructions reported by CLS.