Unifying FX Markets with FX Tape+

It is often said that you can only successfully trade in today’s markets if you have a successful strategy. This could be long term and simple, such as buy and hold, or it could be for trades that are intended to run for the short term. Developing a trading strategy requires data to identify the opportunities and test hypotheses against historical events.

When it comes to the FX market, we have the data you need for a vast range of analysis. Historical pricing data for FX goes back to 1997 and is available for 55 currency pairs.

Our most recent offering of FX data is FX Tape+, and is possibly the most comprehensive intraday dataset of the wholesale FX market.

FX Tape+ data is sourced from four of our central limit order books (CLOBs); this ensures all prices are linked to firm orders, rather than quotes with uncertain volume. Because credit is pre-agreed and counterparties trade anonymously in the FX market, all orders are treated equally and the best price always takes priority.

Consisting of bid, offer, trade and mid prices, the FX Tape+ dataset aggregates data across four distinct order books, each featuring its own unique features.

EBS Market stands as a primary venue for spot FX trading. Backed by the world’s major trading institutions, its prices are widely referenced as the consensus FX rate.

FX Tape+ also includes data from our FX futures, the most actively traded market of its kind in the world. Open to all market participants, our futures pricing is increasingly recognized as a key reference point for global FX trading – a trend formally acknowledged by the Bank for International Settlements.

FX Tape+ also includes data from FX Link, which seamlessly bridges the Spot and futures markets. Traded as a basis spread, FX Link transactions simultaneously execute spot FX and FX futures contracts on Globex. Because these prices reflect the differential between the two legs of the trade, they react quite dynamically to new information, providing highly valuable insights for strategy refinement.

The fourth source in the FX Tape+ dataset is FX Spot+, an all-to-all spot FX marketplace. FX Tape+ uses our implied matching technology to bridge the spot and futures markets. By applying FX Link, which prices the spread between spot and futures, independent orders in one market automatically generate implied liquidity in another. For example, resting orders in FX futures and the FX Link spread combine to represent standalone, resting orders in FX Spot+. This award-winning market design allows the spot and futures traders to interact seamlessly, transferring liquidity across both venues.

To see how FX Tape+ data functions in practice, we can analyze how the different order books reacted to the Australian inflation data released at 11:30am Canberra time on July 29, 2026. This corresponds to a relatively quiet part of the global trading day: 2:30 a.m. in London and 9:30 p.m. on July 28 in New York. The weaker-than-expected inflation reading triggered an abrupt sell-off in the Australian dollar (AUD).

Figure 1: Australian Dollar AUD/USD Price

As expected, the AUD became highly active in the minutes following the announcement, with FX Tape+ data capturing how prices evolved across all four CLOBs. Below, we analyze the development of the bid-ask spread across these markets.

Figure 2: Australian Dollar Bid-Ask Spread

To reduce market noise and provide a clearer visualization, Figure 2 illustrates the time-weighted average spreads in 15-second intervals.

Notably, futures spreads widened ahead of the announcement, with the order book demonstrating high volatility leading up the release. Spreads narrowed somewhat after the data was published, but frequently widened intermittently as traders searched for new price levels. Within 15 minutes of the announcement, our AUD futures traded nearly half a billion dollars in value.

Spreads on EBS Market also widened following the announcement. They remained wider for a longer period as ask prices adjusted more slowly to the new trading environment than bids, though spot spreads stabilized once this adjustment was complete.

The widening of spreads during major market moves is a typical response, but the data reveals fascinating insights about FX Link and FX Spot+. Because FX Link prices the spread between spot and futures, it is structurally insulated from the full volatility of the outright markets. In this case, the bid-ask spread for FX Link actually tightened immediately following the announcement, briefly compressing to 0.1 pips. This behavior demonstrates that market participants are actively applying FX Link to manage their exposure across instruments.

Despite being our newest venue at just over a year old, the spread on FX Spot+ also performed exceptionally well. It widened very briefly post-announcement before quickly returning to typical levels, remaining slightly tighter than the spread on EBS Market and providing resilient liquidity throughout the volatile period.

FX Tape+ is available as a real-time service, with historical data accessible via DataMine. Sourced from four major FX CLOBs, FX Tape+ provides a premium foundation for analyzing the relationship between futures and spot FX.

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