Oil’s roller coaster ride has helped crude trading volumes in October.

Based on information we’ve received from across the forex and CFD trading world, the second half of October has seen strong trading volumes in crude oil and related products, as the oil price volatility has increased (see chart below), primarily on the downside.

With US-Iran tensions easing and Syria seemingly forgotten for now, and with economic growth still a long way away on the horizon, oil prices have hit a four month low, dropping from above $104 at the beginning of October down to the $96-$97 range the past few days.

So it should come as no surprise that the CME Group (NASDAQ:CME), which runs the world’s largest derivatives marketplace, announced that on Wednesday October 23 it reached record volumes in WTI-Brent crude spread options, with 25,474 contracts trading hands, compared to 19,400 on July 1, 2013, the last record for this contract — a 31% increase over the previous record. Along with the increased volatility has come an increase in the spread between WTI and Brent crude.

NYMEX (December 2013) daily price, one month. Source: Marketwatch.

The CME’s record oil volumes follow volume records we’ve also recently seen in both Gold trading and Forex trading. A good time to be a broker….

For the CME Group press release click here.

For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.