FXSpotStream reports $1.25 trillion in monthly volume for February

abdelaziz Fathi

Trading volumes on institutional FX platforms surged in February as traders increased their bets on central bankers’ policy with evidence mounting that inflation and economic growth are both losing momentum.

FXSpotStream’s trading venue, the aggregator service of LiquidityMatch LLC, reported its operational metrics for February 2023, which moved higher on a monthly basis. Specifically, February’s average daily volume (ADV) was reported at $62.8 billion. The ADV metric was up by 4 percent from $60.5 billion in January 2023, but was slightly down year-over-year when compared with $63.1 billion in February 2022.

February’s total turnover came in at $1.25 trillion, which was down from $1.33 trillion in the previous month and also declined from a year ago.

The total monthly volume across FXSpotStream’s streaming and matching products was comfortably above the $1 trillion mark throughout 2022. The activity got off to a strong rebound as the financial markets kicked off the year in high gear, with a multitude of factors helping steer volumes across several venues.

A big jump in trading activity

These difficult conditions could become increasingly common as investors brace for plenty of hurdles as conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been causing knock-on effects globally, which pumped up FX hedging trades.

The high volatility helps FX platforms shine when the market is anxious and trading activity is high, but low volatility then hurts when things settle down. With nobody having a clue so far, other institutional FX platforms, including Cboe FX, also reported higher trading activity.

FXSpotStream provides a multibank FX aggregation service for spot FX trading. The platform operates as a bank-owned consortium that provides the infrastructure to facilitate the route of trades from clients to liquidity providers.

FXSpotStream’s offering is a client-to-bank platform, with each liquidity taker required to ‎create individual credit relationships with participating banks.‎ This differs from other multi-dealer platforms, such as FX ECNs like Hotspot and ‎EBS Markets that operate with centralized order book systems for their participants.

Read this next

Inside View, Institutional FX

Time for brokers to add options trading as volumes explode on high volatility

“Usually, adding options to the typical CFDs and equities offering leads to fragmentation of the platform technology as many brokers will need additional back-end and front-end components, and that could be an important barrier for them. Apart from that, legal hassle and costs associated with proper licensing of market data could be a barrier at first. We are seeing this trend among market data vendors and exchanges to make it easier and more affordable.”

Metaverse Gaming NFT

GCEX’s DeFi education and prime brokerage offering available in DubaiVerse

“We are excited to be part of the developments of The Sandbox and to join other top players in the region, including our regulator, Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), as part of the DubaiVerse. This is a great opportunity to bridge the gap between Web3 early adopters and GCEX clients, building a community around Web3 and digital assets.”

Digital Assets

Circle wants Fed to back USDC stablecoin after “very serious stress test” with collapse of SVB

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank allegedly proves Circle’s point that there is a need for its USDC stablecoin to be backed by the U.S. Federal Reserve with its U.S. dollars held at the Fed.

Digital Assets

Google searches for Crypto.com and Gate.io exploded by 300% amid FTX collapse

“The findings emphasize the importance of staying on top of market trends and being able to pivot strategies quickly and also offer valuable insights into the current state of the market and the behavior of traders, providing investors with valuable information to make informed decisions about their investments.”

Institutional FX

iS Prime reports £35m turnover, £16.2 million pre-tax profits, £37 cash balances

“We have plans in place to evolve the business over the next year, driving further growth for both iS Prime and for our clients.”

Industry News

Clearwater taps BNP Paribas to combine investment accounting/reporting solutions with custody

“We invite asset owners to explore our powerful, game-changing solution that fully leverages our award-winning technology platform and BNP Paribas’ suite of custody activities. Together with BNP Paribas, we aim to extend this solution to our key core markets.”

Executive Moves

XS.com hires ex-iFX EXPO Andreea Ilies as Global Head of Events

“I believe in 2023, events, trade shows and seminars will be of significant importance in the finance sector as we push forward with a more social and personalized approach to doing business.”

Executive Moves

FlexTrade hires ex-Fidessa Rajiv Shah as Head of Sales EMEA for sell-side OEMS, FlexOMS

“It’s an exciting time to join FlexTrade. From a business perspective, the firm has a demonstrable track record in creating and growing long-standing customer relationships through first-class support and a client-first approach. Alongside this, the advanced capabilities of FlexOMS make it one of the most compelling offerings available within the OEMS space.”

Digital Assets

DWF Labs invests $20 Million in Synthetix, token trading volume triples

Global Web3 venture capital and market maker DWF Labs has pledged an investment of $20 million to spur development in the growing ecosystem of Synthetix, a derivatives liquidity protocol on Ethereum.

<