Forex Volume Slows Everywhere But US

By Kathy Lien • February 6th, 2012

This morning, central banks around the world released their latest reports on foreign exchange turnover. These numbers are for October 2011. FX trading volume declined in every part of the world except for the U.S., where it rose to a fresh record high in October. The anomaly in the U.S. may have to do with the improvement in risk appetite in October - stocks rose strongly, which could have made US investors more willing to take on risk. In other parts of the world, trading volumes in the Swiss Franc and Japanese Yen could have suffered from central bank intervention, which capped volatility in those pairs.

London Link to Report
- Average daily reported UK foreign exchange turnover was $1,972 billion in April 2011, 3% lower than in October 2010, and 17% higher than a year earlier. This was off the highest level of turnover recorded since the survey began in April.
- The decrease in turnover was driven by a 9% fall in FX swaps activity. Spot turnover rose
2% to a record survey higher.

New York Link to Report
- Daily FX market turnover rose to a record $977 billion for the Oct 2011 reporting period, up 20% from prior year

Singapore Link to Report

- Average daily reported ‘traditional’1 foreign exchange turnover was US$308bn, a 1.1% decrease compared to April 2011.

- Average daily reported turnover in OTC foreign exchange derivatives2 was US$46bn, a 2.1% decrease compared to April 2011

Canada Link to Report

- On an average daily basis, total turnover declined by 14.4% from US$ 61.2 billion in April 2011
to US$ 52.4 billion in October. This was the first decline in traditional foreign exchange
turnover since April 2009

Australia Link to Report

- Total average daily turnover in all OTC foreign exchange instruments in the Australian market was US$167.9 billion in October 2011. This was a decline of 23 per cent from April 2011, and a decline of 14 per cent over the year.

- Average daily turnover in traditional OTC foreign exchange instruments (spot, outright forwards and foreign exchange swaps) in the Australian market was US$161.2 billion in October 2011. This was a decline of 23 per cent from April 2011, and a decline of 14 per cent over the year.