On-exchange FX trading had begun to make a strong case for a surge in popularity during the inaugural weeks of 2014, however Tokyo Financial Exchange today reported a 10% decrease in trading activity for Click 365 margin contracts for the month of May when compared with the volumes achieved in April, casting a shadow on the notion that exchange traded FX volumes are outpacing OTC volumes on a global scale.
The total trading volume of Click 365’s Exchange FX Margin contracts in May was 1,879,665, with a daily average of 85,440.
Whilst the vast majority of OTC FX firms have experienced a significant downturn in revenues during the first quarter of this calender year, there has been a steady demand globally for FX contracts executed on exchanges, with some success in the case of certain western venues.
Any trend in a positive direction however, is very much region specific in Tokyo Financial Exchange’s case, as the EUR/JPY and CAD/JPY currency pairs are the only instruments which have demonstrated any increments over the previous month’s trading activity, leaving demand for the vast majority of other majors against the Yen considerably down compared with April’s figures.
EUR/USD activity was up 40.4% in May when compared with April, potentially highlighting a requirement by Tokyo Financial Exchange’s audience for execution of the most popular FX pair via a venue, representing an interesting dynamic as draconian trade reporting rulings head toward Europe, and have been in place in North America for over a year.
Overall, a further decrement has made its presence felt as Click 365’s volumes decreased during May over an already low April, however the gulf between the results for May this year and those of May 2013 demonstrate the gravity of the contraction, with a 66.2% decline compared with May last year.
