Euronext FX volumes see mild drop in July as summer lull weighs
Pan-European exchange, Euronext has reported a six percent drop in the average daily volume on its spot foreign exchange market. The ADV figure stood at $18.1 billion in July 2021, which is down from June’s $19.3 billion.
Taking a year-over-year perspective, Euronext’s currency turnover was higher by 2.4 percent from $17.7 billion reported back in July 2019.
In terms of its aggregated monthly turnover, Euronext FX reported $399 billion, which is down -6.1 percent from $425 billion that changed hands in the previous month.
The average trading volume in 2021 was below the $20 billion mark, down from $22.3 billion in the comparable period the year earlier. In 2020, the volume had jumped to record levels due to frenzied buying and selling activities. Trading has been driven by investor fears that despite the new vaccines, coronavirus will continue to put a damper on the world economy.
In 2020, however, Euronext has discontinued its FX Tape service, which provides a central reference point for prices of spot FX transactions. The termination occurred around July 2020 and, as a consequence, the FX Tape volume chart was removed from Euronext FX website.
Initially launched in 2017, Euronext FX Tape was modelled on similar projects for other asset classes such as equities, and it consists of ECNs, banks and other financial institutions engaged in the FX market to provide a last-sale data feed with price, size and timestamps. The idea itself made sense due to the decentralized and international nature of the FX markets and the lack of a single regulatory authority sitting above it.
Euronext operates bourses in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Lisbon and Dublin.
Earlier this week, the exchange operator said its second-quarter revenues improved 56 percent to €328.8 million, primarily driven by the strong performance in listing and post-trade businesses, as well as the first consolidation with Borsa Italiana Group.
Trading revenue was on the uptick, having increased by 26 percent to €112.8 million. Post-trade revenue also grew 134 percent to €83.4 million thanks to the strong performance of the two Nordic CSDs, Euronext VPS in Norway and VP Securities in Denmark. Borsa Italiana Group contributed €89.6 million to Q2 revenue.
On the FX business front, Euronext FX has reported an average daily volume at $18.6 billion for the Q2 2021, down 10 percent compared to a year ago. The spot foreign exchange division yielded €5.7 million in revenues, down 13 percent from €6.6 million in Q2 2020.
