CME Group, which operates one of the largest derivatives exchanges in the United States, released key trading metrics for July, reporting a slump in foreign exchange (forex) trading volumes, but the overall figures strengthened.
As per the exchange reported numbers, the average daily volume (ADV) of forex came in at 735,000 contracts last month. Though the absolute number looks strong, there was a yearly slump of 3 percent in forex demand, while the figures went down by 20.7 percent when compared with the numbers from the previous month.
CME offers forex trading services on its CME Globex platform, and most of the trading happens on the dedicated electronic platform. Out of the total figure, only ADV of 4,000 contracts were traded privately.
Overall Number Strengthened
The overall derivatives exchange figures, however, strengthened significantly on a yearly basis. But, on a monthly basis, the numbers look grim mostly due to the cyclical effects in the market.
The total ADV of contracts of all asset classes trading on the exchange came in at 17.1 million during the month, 25 percent higher than the numbers reported in July 2020. This figure was at 18.3 million in June 2021.
Interest rate contracts remained the market mover with an ADV of 7.8 million contracts, gaining 96 percent year-over-year. The ADV of equity index and options came in at 4.8 million contracts and 3.1 million contracts, respectively. The demand for energies also skyrocketed as the ADV for the month surged by 23 percent on a year-over-year basis.
CME also dived into the Bitcoin game in late 2017 and enhanced its products recently to cater to the market demand. The exchange also highlighted that the ADV of micro-Bitcoin futures stood at 17,600 in the month, while 1.3 million of such crypto contracts were traded since its launch in May.
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