Thomson Reuters, CME, FXall September volumes rise after August lulls

Thomson Reuters – which overtook Icap’s EBS as the largest FX platform by volume in November 2011 – saw average daily FX volumes (ADVs) grow by 16% in September to $133 billion.

In August, Thomson Reuters recorded an 11.5% fall in ADVs to $115 billion compared with July, which were the lowest volumes level seen on the platform since 2009, excluding the typically slow month of December.

Thomson Reuters’ September ADVs were at $176 billion in September 2011.

Meanwhile, FXall – the world-leading multi-dealer platform for non-financial corporates and asset managers – saw ADVs rise in September by 25% to $105 billion compared with August, when volumes declined by 7% to $83.96 billion from July.

FXall’s September 2011 ADVs were at $91 billion.

Thomson Reuters agreed to acquire FXall in July for $643 million.

FXall separates its services according to client type. Relationship trading is largely by corporates and asset managers, while active trading refers to the firm’s electronic communication network platform and continuous stream platform, which is used by banks, broker-dealers and hedge funds.

The September FXall ADVs represent the average amount traded daily, counting one side of the trade on the platform’s main relationship trading and active trading services.

CME also saw September ADVs for the exchange’s currency futures go up compared with August by 45% to $122 billion. However, year-on-year, the CME FX futures volumes remained down by 10%.

In August, CME ADVs fell by 9% from July to an average of 731,000 contracts traded per day, compounding a 24% volume slowdown seen in July from June.

Across all of CME’s currency futures and options offerings, ADVs were at $129 billion in September, says the exchange.

CME FX options ADVs were up 45% in September to $7.1 billion, a 1% year-on-year increase.