CLS Group, a major foreign exchange settlement provider, revealed that its FX market volumes in April 2021 were $1.77 trillion, up 14% on a year-on-year basis compared to the same period last year. According to the monthly report, Average daily traded volumes also were $1.66 trillion, which were down 10.4% compared to March. FX swaps also accounted for $1.27 trillion, p 17% compared to last year.

When it comes to the spot market, CLS Group highlighted that its spot volumes were up 9% in April compared to last year, with EUR/USD rising by 3% compared to the same month the previous year. On the other hand, USD/JPY and GBP/USD both increased by 12% and 15%, respectively, compared to the prior year.

Furthermore, April 30 was the busiest day in terms of daily spot activity, when it reached a peak of $593 billion approximately, according to CLS Analytics. Hourly spot volumes’ figures for the same month show that the busiest hour was 16:00 London Time on April 30 as well, when $135 billion was traded in the spot markets. The basket of pairs traded during that period of time includes EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, USD/CHF, NZD/USD, USD/MXN, EUR/CHF, USD/DKK, EUR/SEK, and EUR/CAD.

March FX Volumes

As previously reported by Finance Magnates, CLS Group unveiled positive growth in trading activities across all offered forex instruments in March.

The demand for FX swaps leaped to the highest last month with around a 3% jump to $1.377 trillion from February’s $1.353 trillion. “In the first quarter of 2021, we witnessed record average daily traded volumes of USD1.95 trillion, demonstrating a consistent increase of FX market activity year-on-year,” said Keith Tippell, CLS’s Global Head of Product, explained at that time about the trend witnessed during the Q1 2021.

Founded in 2002, CLS Group is a financial institution based in New York, operating with a global multi-currency cash settlement system. The settlement’s risk can be mitigated with various systems, including PvP Settlement over CLS central bank accounts.