It looks like it’ll be a September to remember in institutional FX trading. Possibly in retail too.
Yesterday we learned that ICAP’s EBS unit will report its first above-$100 billion ADV month since mid-2013, despite reporting otherwise lackluster financial results for the half-year to September 30. So it should come as no surprise that its competitor Hotspot FX had a similarly good month.
KCG’s Hotspot FX has reported that September FX volume metrics rose to $38.2 billion average daily volume – a record for Hotspot, slightly better than its previous best of just under $37 billion in June 2013.
FX trading volumes had been in a funk all year long in both the retail and institutional worlds. September’s perfect volatility storm of ECB action, the Scotland referendum, a generally rising dollar and falling commodity prices brought many traders back to the table.
As we reported in our mid-month FX volume report, Hotspot actually did above $40 billion ADV in the first half of September, so the second half of the month was a little slower, but still certainly good.
We’ll soon see how retail FX brokers fared during the month. But if institutional brokers are any indication, September retail FX volumes should also come in a good 20-30% above previous months, if not more.
Stay tuned to LeapRate…