ICE FX volume drops 14pct YoY in March 2023
Intercontinental Exchange, which also operates clearing houses and serves OTC markets, disclosed weak metrics across its FX and credit volumes for March, which averaged 37,000 contracts per day.
The figure reflected a 5 percent drop month-over-month from the number of FX contracts in February 2023, which was reported at 39,000. Additionally, the Atlanta-headquartered futures exchange operator registered a 14 percent decrease in volumes when compared to March 2022, having dropped year-on-year from 43,000.
The overall financial products, which also include interest rates and equity indices, rose 21 percent month-on-month after revealing 3.6 million contracts per day compared to 2.98 million in February. In addition, the figure was higher by 30 percent over a yearly basis.
Turnover from ICE’s flagship energy contracts rose slightly in March, according to data released today, as the volatility eased.
For the month ending March 2023, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange saw its energy volume average 3.5 million contracts per day, which represents a 2 percent change month-on-month. Across a yearly interval, the latest figures were higher by the same percentage from 3.42 million contracts per day in March 2022.
In terms of ICE’s total commodities volume, the figure was also mixed in its overall performance, amounting to an average of 3.95 million contracts per day in March 2023, which is down 1 percent vs. 4.0 million for the month prior. The group’s commodities activity was skewed to upside year-on-year when weighed against 3.8 million contracts reported back in March 2022.
Overall, ICE’s aggregated volumes were characterized by positive results across both the monthly and yearly intervals while volumes were broadly down in March across most business segments.
During the reported month, ICE’s March average daily volume (ADV) for futures and options business was reported at 7.55 million contracts per day, which corresponded to a change of 8 percent month-over-month from 6.9 million per day in February 2023. In addition, this latest figure marks a 15 percent increase over March 2022 which came at 6.58 million contracts per day.