e-Forex Magazine | e-FX Industry Report | Electronic trading tops 60% of Global FX trading volume
e-FX Industry Report : Electronic trading tops 60% of Global FX trading volume
First Published in e-Forex Magazine April 2012
Peter DAmario
is Managing Director at Greenwich AssociatesStrong growth in electronic trading activity last year pushed electronic foreign exchange volumes above 60% of the overall global FX market for the first time.
Greenwich Associates tracks foreign exchange (FX) trading volume among a universe of 1,632 end-user corporate and institutional customers. Volume figures in this report exclude inter-bank trades, as well as end-user short-dated swaps and rollovers. On this basis, the Greenwich Associates 2012 Global Foreign Exchange Services Study reveals that electronic FX (eFX) trading volumes increased 23% from Q3 2010 to the same period in 2011. That growth surpassed the 15% increase in overall foreign exchange trading volumes, thus expanding the share of the market traded on electronic systems to 61% from the 57% of total volume recorded in Q3 2009 to Q3 2010.
The study results reveal a clear and interesting trend: Electronic trading systems did not attract new users last year. Instead, eFX growth was driven entirely by a pickup in the share of total foreign exchange trading volume routed to electronic systems by existing users. Globally, 62% of FX market participants trade foreign exchange electronically - a share unchanged from 2010. Approximately half of FX market participants in the Asia Pacific region use electronic systems, as do 75% in Europe, 76% in the United States and 80% in the United Kingdom.
