On Monday, CME Group reported its third quarter and September market statistics, showing an average daily volume (ADV) increase of 14% to 17.8 million contracts during Q3.
The US derivatives exchange operator also reported an 11% rise to 18.8 million contracts for September.
Forex ADV for September came in at 975,000 contracts, representing a 3% decline from the same period in 2020, during which the company reported an ADV of over one million contracts. FX trading demand did grow month on month by 56%, however. In addition, quarterly FX ADV fell 6% compared to 2020.
In September, demand elsewhere decreased, with agriculture, equities, and metal derivatives ADV falling both in the month and the quarter.
However, CME revealed that interest rate ADV helped to push its overall demand higher. September saw interest rate ADV increase 58% to 7.66 million contracts, with the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) hitting a record ADV of 137K, an increase of 147%.
Interest rate ADV in Q3 added 53%, which also included a record quarterly SOFR futures of 124,000, representing a 183% increase.
Energy contracts demand during September added 14%, whereas metal contract demand fell 40%, with equities and agriculture also seeing a decline.
In the third quarter, demand outside of the US increased 13% to 5 million contracts, including 15% growth in EMEA and 8% in Asia. For September, ADV outside the United States grew 17% to 5.6 million contracts, with a 22% climb in EMEA and 3% in Asia.
With regards to cryptocurrency, Bitcoin futures saw a surge of 170% in average daily volume, up to 24,236 contracts during the quarter. Meanwhile, September saw Micro Bitcoin futures reach an ADV of 21,000 contracts, with over 2.1 million total contracts since their launch in May.
CME Group is considered the most prominent financial derivatives exchange globally and trades in asset classes that include agriculture, energy currencies, interest rates, stocks, metals, and cryptocurrencies futures.
Its main competitor, Cboe, saw a similar jump in demand during September.
