A daily average of 811,000 contracts was traded at the CME Group during November, down 12.5% from last month and a year on year decline of 16% when an average 964,000 contracts changed hands each day in November 2010. The average daily notional value of FX transactions also fell 13% to $106 billion. Monthly volumes on the InterContinentalExchange, home of the benchmark US dollar index, also fell by a similar proportion last month as volatility receded and interest in using the dollar index as a hedging tool fell.
The average daily volume of all FX futures and options contracts traded at ICE was 30,478 in November, representing a month on month decline of 14.3%. This was also 5.7% lower than the same period a year ago.
Meanwhile, spot volumes on Thomson Reuters’ main trading platforms were also down for the month of November, though by a smaller margin.
Average daily volume was $150 billion, a 3.3% decline over last month’s figures though a 2% gain year on year.
“Our FX volumes for November show a flattening in volumes as we would expect at this time of year although there is still a slight 2% increase year on year. The continual theme of the month was risk aversion, as negative news from the eurozone pushed risk-asset volumes lower,” said Jas Singh, Global Head of Marketplaces at Thomson Reuters.
ICAP’s November volumes will be posted in coming days which EuromoneyFXnews will report here.