The survey tracks the activity of the largest 30 banks by volume and is up by nearly a quarter on the previous survey’s figure, based on the month of October 2010, and a rise of nearly 30% year-on-year. Spot trading rose by 32%, while swap trading was up 19%. Euro/dollar was by far the biggest pair traded in London, accounting for a third of all trading.
New York shrugged off a 5.3% decline in outright spot trading to post an increase in total trading to $798.7bn, up 5.9% from October 2010.
The most notable increase from the survey was from spot volumes traded by “other financial institutions,” which typically means hedge funds and high-frequency trading firms. Turnover from these firms increased 44%, versus a 32% increase in trading between reporting dealers. This shows a continuation of a trend pointed out in the Bank for International Settlements triennial survey last December, which asserted that the majority of the growth in the FX market has come from high-frequency trading over the past three years.
Spot trading also rose by 32% in Singapore, the world's third largest FX trading centre. An average $361.5bn a day changed hands during April, up 14% from October’s Foreign Exchange Market Committee survey. Swap trading was up by 20%, at $47.2bn.
In Tokyo, total trading rose to $284.6bn on the back of a strong rise in outright spot volumes, which rose by 10% on a year earlier. Forward trading was up by 7.9% over the same period.
In Australia, total growth of 12% over October was driven by an increase in FX swaps trading, which rose 15% to hit $149bn – three times the size of the outright spot market. Total average daily turnover for April stood at $219bn.