Euronext’s FX volume takes yet another step back in May

Taking a year-over-year perspective, Euronext’s currency turnover was higher by 24 percent from $18.64 billion reported back in May 2021.

In terms of its aggregated monthly turnover, Euronext FX reported $509 billion, which is down 1.6 percent from $518 billion that changed hands in the previous month.

Following the boom in activity seen at major FX trading venues over the last three years, the institutional ECNs were in a sea of red over the last two months. Almost all institutional platforms reported double-digit drops in their monthly volumes.

Euronext, which operates stock and derivatives markets in countries such as France, the Netherlands and Belgium, also said its total derivatives trading was higher 7 percent. The figure was reported at 15.4 million contracts a day in May compared to 14.3 in the month prior. It was down -7 percent when weighed against 2021’s turnover of 16.6 million contacts.

Founded as a joint venture by the Swiss bank Credit Suisse and FX broker FXCM in 2012, Euronext FX (formerly FastMatch) provides an electronic currency trading platform  mostly for institutional clients such as banks, asset managers and hedge funds. The FX unit of the franco-dutch exchange operator operates an electronic communication network (ECN) for currency trading and has matching engines in New York, London, Tokyo, and Singapore.

FastMatch was acquired by Euronext in 2017 as part of the exchange’s strategy to diversify its top line and extend its proposition to an additional asset class.

In 2020, Euronext discontinued its FX Tape service, which provided a central reference point for prices of spot FX transactions. 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.