2024 has been a pivotal year for the global adoption of FX futures, with record growth in both participation and trading volume. Meanwhile, EBS continues to act as a primary venue for OTC spot FX and NDFs, with traders turning to trusted liquidity and price discovery during times of market volatility.
An all-time, single-day record of $314 billion notional traded in FX futures on June 12, with volumes in futures now rivaling, and in many cases exceeding, the largest OTC spot venues. FX Link also saw an all-time, single-day volume record this year, as participants found a growing number of use cases for the spot vs. futures basis electronic order book.
While the general trend this year has been for lower FX volatility, with the combined G5 CVOL Index averaging 17% lower year-to-date than 2023, there have been episodic spikes in volatility due to escalating geopolitical risk, central bank actions and major elections – all of which saw market participants turn to CME Group to effectively manage currency risk.
A year of elections, driving risk-management needs
U.S election:
- $275B traded on November 6 across FX spot, NDFs, futures and options
- Record CNH spot trading on EBS, exceeding $34B
- MXN and BRL futures volumes of over $4.5B and $600M, respectively
- EUR trading exceeded $100B across FX futures and options and EBS
- FX Link volume of $5.6B, with volumes up 90% year-to-date versus 2023
Indian election:
- INR NDF volumes on EBS totaled $13.8B over a three-day period before and after the election results were announced
- June 4 was the highest volume day for INR NDFs since February 2021, and the fifth highest day on record
Mexican election:
- MXN futures volume totaled $7.5B notional (265k contracts) on June 3
- Multiple market participants commented that the MXN futures order book at CME Group was the venue for price discovery over the election, over and above OTC spot venues
Other notable market events included:
Equity market sell-off (July-August):
As markets reacted to a downturn in key U.S. economic sectors and nonfarm payroll data, sharp declines in major stock indices triggered a significant deleveraging event in Japan. The ripple effect led to significant trading in our FX markets. Between July 31 and August 6, our markets saw:
- $249.4B ADV across spot FX, NDF, futures and options
- $145.4B single-day volume on EBS, the highest since March 2020
- $11.3B ADV in 1-month NDFs on EBS Market, with a single-day high of $15.5B
- $13.5B all-time, single-day volume record on FX Link
- $41.8B all-time, single-day volume record on EBS Direct
USD/JPY price action (April):
On April 29, EBS Market experienced significant activity in spot USD/JPY trading, exceeding $70 billion, amid volatile price action particularly from 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. GMT. Market participants turned to the transparency and execution certainty offered by the EBS primary market, providing greater visibility into the market dynamics and reliability of risk transfer, much needed during times of heightened uncertainty.
Bringing the FX market together
Throughout these significant market events, we have continued to play a pivotal role in the FX market. The FX futures, options, spot and NDF order books are critical tools for traders to effectively manage risk, and with the launch of FX Spot+ in 2025, CME Group is bringing the FX market together like never before.
All examples in this report are hypothetical interpretations of situations and are used for explanation purposes only. The views in this report reflect solely those of the author and not necessarily those of CME Group or its affiliated institutions. This report and the information herein should not be considered investment advice or the results of actual market experience.
