FX Platforms – May 15 vol: All major platforms report falls of between -1% and -6.8%

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Paul Blank

The major OTC FX platforms have now reported their May 15 volumes. All the platforms bar one, reported falls ranging from -1% for EBS to -6.8% for Reuters Spot, with only FastMatch registering an increase up 8.5% (although on much smaller volume than the other major platforms).

Looking in more detail we see the individual platform figures as follows:

EBS $95.9bn/day in May, down -1% on Apr, although still up +30.5% compared to May 14 level of $73.5bn/day.

Reuters Spot: $110bn/day in May, down -6.8% on Apr, and up +6.5% compared to the May 14 level of $103bn/day.

Reuters Other Products: $243bn/day in May, down -3.2% on Apr, and down -1.8% compared to May 14 level of $247bn/day.

Reuters total: $353bn/day in May, down -4.3% on Apr, and up +0.7% compared to May 14 level of $351bn/day.

HotSpot: $26.8bn/day in May, down -5.8% on Apr, although still up 3.4% compared to May 14 level of $25.9bn/day.

FXCM Institutional total: $9.8bn/day in May, down -2% on Apr, although still up 16.7% compared to May 14 level of $8.4bn/day.

Fastmatch: $8.7bn/day in Apr, up 8.5% on Apr, although still an impressive +85.3% up compared to May 14 level of $4.7bn/day.

Table showing Reuters and EBS vols for May 15

From the charts below, it looks like Reuters and EBS are pretty much moving in step change with each other.

Reuters, EBS FX volumes May 2015

Looking at the gap between Reuters and EBS, we can see from the chart below that it failed to break through the down trend line, meaning that EBS regained ground from Reuters, thus reducing the Reuters-EBS gap.

Chart showing gap between Reuters – EBS

Now let’s look at the second tier of FX Platforms. Hotspot, FXCM and Fastmatch. Although Fastmatch volumes are small compared to the other major platforms, they have shown strong growth and with FXCM divesting their 30% stake and a batch of new innovative product offerings being rolled out, it looks like Fastmatch could be due for further volume increases as it continues to gain traction.

Table showing Hotspot, FXCM (Institutional) and Fastmatch: vols for May 15