CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, announced its foreign exchange (FX) futures reached a new single-day volume record of 2.7 million contracts on Dec. 11, 2019, surpassing the previous record of 2.5 million contracts set on June 14, 2017.
Open interest (OI) for CME Group FX futures also reached a record 2.3 million contracts on Dec. 11, 2019, up from the previous OI record of 2.2 million contracts set on Dec. 10, 2019.
OI represents the number of active positions that market participants are holding open without taking delivery or offsetting, a measure that typically increases during times of market uncertainty.
“Customers are increasingly accessing the deep liquidity, as well as capital and cost efficiencies, offered by our listed FX products to manage their FX exposure,” said Paul Houston, CME Group Global Head of FX. “Record open interest, combined with our recent reductions in minimum price increments for calendar spreads in euro, yen and pound pairs, has continued to strengthen liquidity and reduce the cost to trade during this year-end roll period.”
Individually, Mexican Peso (230,897 contracts) and Norwegian Krona (2,340 contracts) also reached single-day trading volume records on Dec. 10, 2019.
Large open interest holders (LOIHs) in FX futures reached a record high of 1,261, up 18 percent to date in 2019 compared to the previous year. LOIHs are a measure of market diversification.
For more than 45 years, CME Group has offered unparalleled liquidity and access to listed FX markets for customers around the clock and around the world. CME Group offers the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, helping businesses everywhere mitigate the complex risks they face in today’s uncertain global economy.