Forex trading is continuing a strong second half of the year during what’s often a slow month, with LeapRate learning that December trading volumes are up in the neighborhood of 5%-10% over November at many retail forex brokers worldwide.
The entire Forex world seems to be focused on the Russian Ruble crisis, however RUB pair volumes account for only a very small fraction of FX trading volumes. Ruble volatility has certainly helped put traders in a trading frame of mind, but the main drivers of December’s strong volumes seem to be the continued drop in oil prices, and the somewhat-connected strengthening of the US Dollar.
On the institutional side, Hotspot FX has seen a 6% rise in December first-half volumes over what was a strong November, with ADVs at $36.6 billion (see graph below) from December 1 through December 16.
Gerald Segal, LeapRate Managing Director commented,
The second half of December is unlikely to be as strong, as we head into the holiday season. But if the month were to end today, December would be the second best month of 2014 for forex trading behind only October’s record results.