CME Group Reports Record Volumes in FX Futures and FX Link

CME Group has announced its foreign exchange (FX) futures reached an all-time single-day volume record of 3.26 million contracts (equivalent to $314B notional) on June 12. The previous record of 3.15 million contracts ($296B notional) was set on March 8, 2023.

In addition, FX Link, CME Group's anonymous, all-to-all spot-futures spread trading tool reached a single-day volume record of 113,662 contracts ($10.5B notional) on June 12, which represents a 37% increase over the previous record of 82,900 contracts ($7.2B notional), set on June 16, 2022. Year-to-date, FX Link volumes are up over 52% versus the same period in 2023.

"Achieving two all-time volume records on June 12, is a significant milestone for CME Group FX products and is testament to the continued growth that we have seen in client segments, currency pairs and overall liquidity over many months," said Paul Houston, Global Head of FX Products, CME Group. "FX Link will play a crucial role in our new CME FX Spot+ marketplace as we prepare for client testing in the second half of 2024. The improved liquidity, tighter spreads and increasing client participation builds an even stronger foundation for delivering value to market participants in the future."

"We are pleased to see the continued growth in CME Group FX futures and FX Link as complementary sources of liquidity to the OTC market and as mechanisms to help automate the trading of products like FX swaps," said Shuo Wu, Global Head of Forward eTrading, Deutsche Bank. "Deutsche Bank is a major liquidity provider to this marketplace as part of our market-leading portfolio of electronic trading products."

"Record levels of listed FX volume are a clear indication of the rapidly evolving interplay of OTC and cleared FX futures liquidity. In particular, the use case of Exchange for Related Position (EFRP) amongst institutional clients continues to resonate across hedge funds and asset managers alike," said Richard Condon, Head of FX, Commodity and EM Institutional Sales, North America, BNP Paribas. "Participants point toward the benefit of pairing the familiarity, breadth and relationship pricing of bilateral OTC execution strategies with the power of a centrally cleared instrument."

FX Link provides a transparent central limit order book on CME Globex for trading spreads between OTC FX spot and CME Group FX futures, connecting the two markets. Currently, there are nine major FX prime brokers live, with credit lines in place with major bank FX house entities, along with integrated post-trade messaging provided by Traiana, RTN and IHS Markit.