The month of October opened on a volatile note with geo-political tensions in Europe, the US, and Asia, which led investors and traders to increasingly turn to derivative instruments to hedge and mitigate the impact of volatility. The Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX) witnessed increased trading volumes in its G6 currencies and Indian SSF as traders sought protection from increasingly erratic sentiment.
DGCX’s G6 Currency portfolio continued its strong growth trajectory seen in recent months, recording a 225% year-on-year increase. Among the G6 currency pairs, the Euro and British Pound futures recorded their highest monthly Average Open Interest (AOI) of 2077 and 1275 contracts respectively. Year-to-date (YTD) trading volumes in the two currency pairs registered impressive growth of 112% and 36% compared to the same period last year. Trading volumes in Japanese Yen saw an increase of 205% year-on-year while also recording significant YTD growth of 189%. The Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar, and Australian Dollar registered year-on-year growth of 438%, 458% and 95%, respectively.
Gaurang Desai, CEO of DGCX, commented on October volumes:
As the largest and most diversified bourse in the Middle East, we are committed to providing our traders and members with a range of trading options across different asset classes to manage their risk effectively in times when they most need it. We are pleased to see our G6 currency portfolio achieve stronger trading volumes this month, as this demonstrates that DGCX currency derivatives products are increasingly used by traders for hedging and risk management purposes. We will continue to push forward with our efforts to provide our market participants with a diverse array of products and tools so that they are in a better position to take advantage and protect themselves during volatility spikes.
DGCX Indian Single Stock Futures (SSF) have traded an aggregate 877,218 contracts this year, showing ten-fold growth over the same period last year. While trading their highest ever daily volume of 17,959 contracts on October 25th which also coincided with an all-time high in AOI for the BSE Sensex Index Futures.
The strength of volumes in the Equity portfolio emphasizes a rising appetite among traders to access and trade Indian blue-chip stocks that have been made available in the region by the DGCX.” Desai added.