Forex trading volume has finally recovered after the wave of deleveraging caused the market to contract back in April 2009. Earlier this week central banks from around the world released their semi-annual foreign exchange surveys and according to the reports, the average daily trading volume between April and October of 2009 increased significantly.
In London, total daily foreign exchange volume rose 14 percent to $1,549 billion and in NY the average volume increased 28 percent to $675 billion.
These are still below 2008 levels but indicate that demand for foreign exchange trading and hedging is beginning to recover.
The EUR/USD remains the most actively traded currency pair by far followed by the GBP/USD and USD/JPY.
London (link to report)
- Britain is the world’s biggest FX trading hub with over a third of global turnover.
- Average daily turnover in traditional forex products rose 13% to $1,430B, up 13% from Oct 2009
- Total forex trading volume rose 14% to $1,549B
- The most heavily traded currency pair was euro/dollar, which accounted for 32.6% of total turnover.
UK forex trading volume
UK forex trading volume breakdown
New York (link to report)
Daily FX market turnover rose 28.1% to $675B
NY forex trading volume
Tokyo – Data not updated
Singapore (link to report)
Average daily reported ‘traditional’ foreign exchange turnover was US$231bn, a 13% increase compared to April 2009
Singapore forex trading volume
Canada (link to report)
The monthly turnover in October of traditional foreign exchange products (defined as spot transactions, outright forwards and foreign exchange swaps) totaled US$ 1.26 trillion. On an average daily basis, total turnover increased by 6.2% from US$ 56.4 billion in April 2009 to US$ 59.9 billion in October.
