Foreign exchange (FX) trading volumes declined
month-over-month across major institutional platforms in February, but the
pullback largely reflected a shorter calendar rather than a loss of market
appetite. With only 19-20 trading sessions compared to January’s 21, total figures
fell at most venues while average daily volumes held up or posted year-on-year
gains.
The pattern mirrors what happened twelve months earlier, when February 2025 delivered similar
calendar-driven optics. Headline totals dipped from January but daily
averages climbed, pointing to sustained underlying activity.
Cboe Spot Volumes Hold Year-on-Year Gains
Cboe’s spot FX platform processed $1.19 trillion in total
February volumes, down from $1.33 trillion in January across 20 trading days.
Average daily volume came in at $59.7 billion, compared to $63.3 billion the
prior month.
On a year-over-year basis, however, the picture looks
notably stronger, February 2025 had generated an ADV of $48 billion, putting
this February roughly 24% ahead of year-ago levels.
January’s rebound had already set a high bar, with Cboe
posting $63.3 billion in daily turnover as dollar volatility returned to
markets. February’s modest pullback from that level is broadly in line with
seasonal norms.
FXSpotStream and 360T Face Month-on-Month Dip
FXSpotStream’s institutional ECN recorded total ADV of
$151.7 billion in February, with spot ADV at $105.6 billion and other products
contributing $46 billion. That compares to $154.3 billion total ADV in January,
a modest decline consistent with the reduced trading day count. Year-over-year
comparisons remain favorable given that the platform had reported $101.2
billion total ADV in January 2025, though February 2025 comparable figures were
not immediately available.
Deutsche Börse’s 360T recorded total monthly volumes of
$798.2 billion in February, translating to average daily turnover of $39.9
billion. That daily figure edged up from January’s $38.8 billion despite the
shorter month, suggesting underlying flow remained steady. In February 2025,
360T had posted an ADV of $33.9 billion, putting the year-on-year gain at
roughly 18%.
Euronext Trails Peers on Daily Average
Euronext FX processed $622 billion in total February volumes
with a daily average of $31.1 billion. That figure represents a decline from
January’s $34.9 billion daily pace and sits modestly above the $29.4 billion
recorded in February 2025.
The platform has consistently trailed its European peer 360T
on ADV growth over the past year, a gap that widened further in February.
Tokyo FX Contracts Fall, but Exotic Pairs Surge
Tokyo Financial Exchange ‘s Click 365 platform saw 1.76
million contracts change hands in February, down 13.4% from January and 2.9%
below year-ago levels. Daily averages came in at 88,073 contracts. USD/JPY
remained the most traded pair with 462,105 contracts, though it fell 9.7% from
January and 8.7% year-on-year.
The month’s more notable moves came in less-traded pairs.
Offshore Chinese yuan-yen contracts exploded 254.6% month-on-month to 46,382
contracts, while the Hungarian forint-yen pair jumped 30.7% to 61,009. The
Australian dollar-yen pair posted a 62.6% year-on-year gain, reaching 153,182
contracts.
On the other end, GBP/JPY and EUR/JPY both fell sharply, down
24.4% and 31.8% from January, respectively, and both more than 50% below their
February 2025 levels.
Retail trading activity more broadly remained
elevated. Interactive Brokers reported daily trades approaching 4.4
million in February, with retail client accounts reaching 4.6 million, up
2% from January – suggesting consumer-level engagement with financial markets
stayed firm even as institutional FX flows softened.
Tradeweb Posts Broad Fixed-Income Gains
Outside spot FX, fixed-income electronic trading showed
robust year-on-year growth in February. Tradeweb Markets reported total monthly
trading volume of $61.8 trillion, with average daily volume reaching $3.1
trillion, up 23.4% from February 2025.
The company said rates derivatives ADV climbed 38.9%
year-on-year to $1.2 trillion, driven by what Tradeweb attributed to
“evolving U.S. inflation expectations, shifting global monetary policy
outlooks, and elevated geopolitical risk.”
U.S. government bond ADV rose 6.4% to $268.4 billion, while
European government bond ADV jumped 34.5% to $77.3 billion, the firm said. Repo
ADV hit a record $866.4 billion, up 21% year-on-year, according to the company.
U.S. ETF ADV on the platform reached $10.8 billion, up 40.3%
year-on-year, with Tradeweb attributing the gain to broader client
participation and growth in automated trading adoption.
MarketAxess Sees Credit Gains Offset by Market Share Pressure
MarketAxess posted total trading ADV of $45.7 billion in
February, up 5% year-on-year but down 4% from January’s $47.7 billion. Credit
ADV excluding single-dealer portfolio trading came in at $17.3 billion, 11%
above year-ago levels but 7% below January. The company operated across 19 U.S.
and 20 U.K. trading days.
Chris Concannon, CEO of MarketAxess
CEO Chris Concannon acknowledged pressure on the high-grade
market share metric, noting that “our estimated U.S. high-grade market
share in February was negatively impacted by strong new issuance and a decrease
in portfolio trading activity by our core clients.” The company’s
estimated share of fully electronic U.S. high-grade TRACE slipped to 16.7% from
17.6% in January and 17.8% a year earlier.
Still, the company pointed to growth across its newer
trading channels. Block trading ADV in U.S. credit rose 30% year-on-year to
$3.4 billion. Emerging markets ADV climbed 13% to $4.6 billion, and eurobonds
ADV gained 18% to $2.7 billion. Open Trading ADV rose 17% year-on-year to $5.4
billion, the firm said.
Concannon said the company believes “recent
geopolitical events, as well as the very strong new issuance calendar
year-to-date are supportive of a return to higher levels of volatility, as well
as an increase in the velocity of trading in the global credit markets.”
Foreign exchange (FX) trading volumes declined
month-over-month across major institutional platforms in February, but the
pullback largely reflected a shorter calendar rather than a loss of market
appetite. With only 19-20 trading sessions compared to January’s 21, total figures
fell at most venues while average daily volumes held up or posted year-on-year
gains.
The pattern mirrors what happened twelve months earlier, when February 2025 delivered similar
calendar-driven optics. Headline totals dipped from January but daily
averages climbed, pointing to sustained underlying activity.
Cboe Spot Volumes Hold Year-on-Year Gains
Cboe’s spot FX platform processed $1.19 trillion in total
February volumes, down from $1.33 trillion in January across 20 trading days.
Average daily volume came in at $59.7 billion, compared to $63.3 billion the
prior month.
On a year-over-year basis, however, the picture looks
notably stronger, February 2025 had generated an ADV of $48 billion, putting
this February roughly 24% ahead of year-ago levels.
January’s rebound had already set a high bar, with Cboe
posting $63.3 billion in daily turnover as dollar volatility returned to
markets. February’s modest pullback from that level is broadly in line with
seasonal norms.
FXSpotStream and 360T Face Month-on-Month Dip
FXSpotStream’s institutional ECN recorded total ADV of
$151.7 billion in February, with spot ADV at $105.6 billion and other products
contributing $46 billion. That compares to $154.3 billion total ADV in January,
a modest decline consistent with the reduced trading day count. Year-over-year
comparisons remain favorable given that the platform had reported $101.2
billion total ADV in January 2025, though February 2025 comparable figures were
not immediately available.
Deutsche Börse’s 360T recorded total monthly volumes of
$798.2 billion in February, translating to average daily turnover of $39.9
billion. That daily figure edged up from January’s $38.8 billion despite the
shorter month, suggesting underlying flow remained steady. In February 2025,
360T had posted an ADV of $33.9 billion, putting the year-on-year gain at
roughly 18%.
Euronext Trails Peers on Daily Average
Euronext FX processed $622 billion in total February volumes
with a daily average of $31.1 billion. That figure represents a decline from
January’s $34.9 billion daily pace and sits modestly above the $29.4 billion
recorded in February 2025.
The platform has consistently trailed its European peer 360T
on ADV growth over the past year, a gap that widened further in February.
Tokyo FX Contracts Fall, but Exotic Pairs Surge
Tokyo Financial Exchange ‘s Click 365 platform saw 1.76
million contracts change hands in February, down 13.4% from January and 2.9%
below year-ago levels. Daily averages came in at 88,073 contracts. USD/JPY
remained the most traded pair with 462,105 contracts, though it fell 9.7% from
January and 8.7% year-on-year.
The month’s more notable moves came in less-traded pairs.
Offshore Chinese yuan-yen contracts exploded 254.6% month-on-month to 46,382
contracts, while the Hungarian forint-yen pair jumped 30.7% to 61,009. The
Australian dollar-yen pair posted a 62.6% year-on-year gain, reaching 153,182
contracts.
On the other end, GBP/JPY and EUR/JPY both fell sharply, down
24.4% and 31.8% from January, respectively, and both more than 50% below their
February 2025 levels.
Retail trading activity more broadly remained
elevated. Interactive Brokers reported daily trades approaching 4.4
million in February, with retail client accounts reaching 4.6 million, up
2% from January – suggesting consumer-level engagement with financial markets
stayed firm even as institutional FX flows softened.
Tradeweb Posts Broad Fixed-Income Gains
Outside spot FX, fixed-income electronic trading showed
robust year-on-year growth in February. Tradeweb Markets reported total monthly
trading volume of $61.8 trillion, with average daily volume reaching $3.1
trillion, up 23.4% from February 2025.
The company said rates derivatives ADV climbed 38.9%
year-on-year to $1.2 trillion, driven by what Tradeweb attributed to
“evolving U.S. inflation expectations, shifting global monetary policy
outlooks, and elevated geopolitical risk.”
U.S. government bond ADV rose 6.4% to $268.4 billion, while
European government bond ADV jumped 34.5% to $77.3 billion, the firm said. Repo
ADV hit a record $866.4 billion, up 21% year-on-year, according to the company.
U.S. ETF ADV on the platform reached $10.8 billion, up 40.3%
year-on-year, with Tradeweb attributing the gain to broader client
participation and growth in automated trading adoption.
MarketAxess Sees Credit Gains Offset by Market Share Pressure
MarketAxess posted total trading ADV of $45.7 billion in
February, up 5% year-on-year but down 4% from January’s $47.7 billion. Credit
ADV excluding single-dealer portfolio trading came in at $17.3 billion, 11%
above year-ago levels but 7% below January. The company operated across 19 U.S.
and 20 U.K. trading days.
Chris Concannon, CEO of MarketAxess
CEO Chris Concannon acknowledged pressure on the high-grade
market share metric, noting that “our estimated U.S. high-grade market
share in February was negatively impacted by strong new issuance and a decrease
in portfolio trading activity by our core clients.” The company’s
estimated share of fully electronic U.S. high-grade TRACE slipped to 16.7% from
17.6% in January and 17.8% a year earlier.
Still, the company pointed to growth across its newer
trading channels. Block trading ADV in U.S. credit rose 30% year-on-year to
$3.4 billion. Emerging markets ADV climbed 13% to $4.6 billion, and eurobonds
ADV gained 18% to $2.7 billion. Open Trading ADV rose 17% year-on-year to $5.4
billion, the firm said.
Concannon said the company believes “recent
geopolitical events, as well as the very strong new issuance calendar
year-to-date are supportive of a return to higher levels of volatility, as well
as an increase in the velocity of trading in the global credit markets.”
