Institutional FX Trading Volume Declines for the Second Consecutive Month in December 2022

The trading volumes of leading institutional FX and ECN platforms in December 2022 have been revealed, generally showing an overall decrease. During the month, the Average Daily Volume (ADV) of all institutions fell by more than 10% on a monthly basis.

The report covers ADV of institutional FX trading volumes from five major venues, namely Cboe FX, CLS, Euronext FX, FxSpotStream and Refinitiv, as shown in the chart below.

The five companies all reported a decrease in average daily FX trading volumes in December 2022 versus November. Overall, Cboe FX has the biggest percent of MoM decrease of 16 percent, followed by Euronext FX and FxSpotStream with 15 percent and 14.4 percent. CLS and Refinitiv are showing a MoM decline of 13.5 percent and 10.4 percent respectively.

The detailing trading volumes for each venues are as follows:

​Cboe FX

Cboe FX witnessed a total trading volume of $773 billion during December 2022, decreasing by 16% month-on-month from $921 billion in November 2022. However, that figure has increased by 13% on a yearly basis when compared with $681 billion in December 2021.

Moreover, the institutional FX trading venue registered $35.1 billion in the average daily trading volume (ADV) this month, down 16% month-on-month from $41.8 billion in November 2022. On a yearly basis, the ADV numbers has however rised by 19% from $29.6 billion last year.

CLS

The average daily traded volumes (ADTV) submitted to CLS dropped 10% in December 2022 to $1.704 trillion compared to the previous month. The company has reported a decline in ADTV for three consecutive months, with the November ADTV dropping 2% to $1.892 trillion, and October decreasing 5% to $1.928 trillion.

ADTV for forex forwards also drop MoM from $0.145 trillion to $0.107 trillion, forex swaps from $1.274 trillion to $1.188 trillion, and forex spots from $0.473 trillion to $0.409 trillion. However, compared to the same period in 2021, the values recorded an increase.

Euronext FX

The total volume of Euronext FX reached $394,561 million, down 14.9% compared to $463,708 million in November 2022 and down 3.1% compared to $407,263 million in December 2021.

The ADV Euronext FX came in at $17,935 million, falling 14.9% from $21,078 million of November 2022 but slightly up 1.3% compared to $17,707 million in December 2021.

FxSpotStream

In December 2022, FXSpotStream's overall volume was $1,267,233 million, 14.4% lower than the figure of the previous month which was $1,480,051 million, and 28.4% higher than the figure of December 2021 which was $986,560 million.

The average daily volume (ADV) came in at $57,602 million in December,​ a decrease of 14.4% comparing to $67,275 million in November 2022, and an increase of 34.3% comparing to $42,894 million in the same period of 2021.

Refinitiv

Refinitiv's average daily volumes was $86 billion in December 2022, which represents a decline of 10.4 percent compared to November 2022.