Institutional
FX trading volumes pulled back across major venues in April, with most
platforms giving up a meaningful share of the gains they had posted a month
earlier, as a US-Iran ceasefire and a softer dollar tone cooled the safe-haven
activity that had powered first-quarter readings.
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FXSpotStream,
the multibank liquidity aggregation service, reported total average daily
volume (ADV) of $142.3 billion for April, down roughly 18% from the $173.60 billion peak it set in March. Spot ADV came in at $100 billion,
with the “other products” category contributing $42 billion.
The
platform still tracked above its year-ago readings. FXSpotStream had reported
$122 billion in ADV for April 2025, putting this April roughly 17% higher
year-over-year, even after the monthly slide.
Cboe FX Surrenders Most of
March Gain
Cboe’s spot
FX platform processed total volumes of $1.18 trillion across 22 trading days,
with ADV of $53.85 billion. That sits well below March’s $74.47 billion daily
print, a reading the company at the time
described as a record on the back of a 43% year-on-year jump.
The April
number is also lower than the same month a year earlier, when Cboe’s daily
average reached $61.9 billion as Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff
announcement on April 2, 2025 set off a heavy round of dollar selling and
pulled traders into the venue.
The retreat
lands at a notable moment for the exchange . Cboe Global Markets reported
first-quarter earnings on May 1, with revenue up 29% year-on-year to $728.9 million on the back of
derivatives, equities and FX activity, even as it confirmed plans to cut
headcount by about 20%.
April 2026 Institutional
FX Volumes at a Glance
|
Platform |
April 2026 ADV |
March 2026 ADV |
MoM |
April 2025 ADV |
YoY |
|
FXSpotStream (Total) |
$142.3B |
$173.6B |
-18.0% |
$122.0B |
+16.6% |
|
Cboe FX |
$53.85B |
$74.47B |
-27.7% |
$61.90B |
-13.0% |
|
360T |
$39.0B |
$48.93B |
-20.3% |
$39.58B |
-1.5% |
|
Euronext FX |
$28.1B |
$39.71B |
-29.2% |
$37.21B |
-24.5% |
|
TFX Click 365 (Contracts) |
90,885 |
90,180 |
+0.8% |
n/a |
-11.8% |
Iran Ceasefire Unwinds
Safe-Haven Dollar Bid
April’s
calmer FX backdrop traces back to a US-Iran two-week ceasefire announced
on April 8, which
triggered a sharp reversal in the dollar and oil. Brent crude fell below $100 a
barrel for the first time since the conflict began in late February, removing
the inflation pressure that had been propping up the safe-haven bid.
That setup
was a near mirror image of March, when escalating Middle East tensions, a
roughly 3% Bloomberg Dollar Index gain and oil pushing toward $120 had
channeled flow into spot FX venues.
With the
geopolitical risk premium fading through much of April, traders had less reason
to reposition aggressively.
The
contrast with April 2025 also runs the other way. A year ago, Trump’s tariff
rollout on April 2 had driven record activity across
both retail brokers and institutional platforms, with FXSpotStream notching a 33% year-on-year
rise and Cboe its strongest April on record at the time.
360T and Euronext FX Slide
as Calendar Holds Steady
Deutsche
Börse’s 360T processed total volumes of $858 billion in April with ADV of $39
billion, down from $48.93 billion in March.
The April
figure is essentially flat against the $39.58 billion the platform reported in
April 2025, a notable softening given how much the broader institutional FX
backdrop has improved over the past year.
Euronext FX
took a sharper hit. The platform recorded total volumes of $646.2 billion with
ADV of $28.1 billion, down nearly 30% from March’s $39.71 billion and roughly
24% below the $37.21 billion daily average it posted in April 2025. The gap with 360T, which had narrowed to $9 billion
per session in March, widened back to about $11 billion in April.
Both
platforms ran across the same 22 trading days as Cboe and FXSpotStream, so the
calendar offers no easy explanation for the slide.
Tokyo Yen Pairs Buck the
Trend on Turkish Lira Surge
The Tokyo
Financial Exchange’s Click 365 platform was the lone outlier. The venue
reported 1,999,422 contracts traded in April, up 0.8% from March, with ADV of
90,885 contracts.
Year-on-year,
however, the platform was still down 11.8%, reflecting tough April 2025
comparables when USD/JPY trading surged 61.6% month-on-month on tariff-driven
yen volatility .
The
standout story sits in the exotic crosses. Turkish lira to yen volume reached
612,981 contracts, up 28.5% from March and a striking 220.4% year-on-year,
putting it ahead of USD/JPY as the platform’s most actively traded pair.
USD/JPY
itself came in at 501,430 contracts, up 4.2% month-on-month but down 41.9% from
a year earlier.
Institutional
FX trading volumes pulled back across major venues in April, with most
platforms giving up a meaningful share of the gains they had posted a month
earlier, as a US-Iran ceasefire and a softer dollar tone cooled the safe-haven
activity that had powered first-quarter readings.
Singapore Summit: Meet the largest
APAC brokers you know (and those you still don’t!)
FXSpotStream,
the multibank liquidity aggregation service, reported total average daily
volume (ADV) of $142.3 billion for April, down roughly 18% from the $173.60 billion peak it set in March. Spot ADV came in at $100 billion,
with the “other products” category contributing $42 billion.
The
platform still tracked above its year-ago readings. FXSpotStream had reported
$122 billion in ADV for April 2025, putting this April roughly 17% higher
year-over-year, even after the monthly slide.
Cboe FX Surrenders Most of
March Gain
Cboe’s spot
FX platform processed total volumes of $1.18 trillion across 22 trading days,
with ADV of $53.85 billion. That sits well below March’s $74.47 billion daily
print, a reading the company at the time
described as a record on the back of a 43% year-on-year jump.
The April
number is also lower than the same month a year earlier, when Cboe’s daily
average reached $61.9 billion as Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff
announcement on April 2, 2025 set off a heavy round of dollar selling and
pulled traders into the venue.
The retreat
lands at a notable moment for the exchange . Cboe Global Markets reported
first-quarter earnings on May 1, with revenue up 29% year-on-year to $728.9 million on the back of
derivatives, equities and FX activity, even as it confirmed plans to cut
headcount by about 20%.
April 2026 Institutional
FX Volumes at a Glance
|
Platform |
April 2026 ADV |
March 2026 ADV |
MoM |
April 2025 ADV |
YoY |
|
FXSpotStream (Total) |
$142.3B |
$173.6B |
-18.0% |
$122.0B |
+16.6% |
|
Cboe FX |
$53.85B |
$74.47B |
-27.7% |
$61.90B |
-13.0% |
|
360T |
$39.0B |
$48.93B |
-20.3% |
$39.58B |
-1.5% |
|
Euronext FX |
$28.1B |
$39.71B |
-29.2% |
$37.21B |
-24.5% |
|
TFX Click 365 (Contracts) |
90,885 |
90,180 |
+0.8% |
n/a |
-11.8% |
Iran Ceasefire Unwinds
Safe-Haven Dollar Bid
April’s
calmer FX backdrop traces back to a US-Iran two-week ceasefire announced
on April 8, which
triggered a sharp reversal in the dollar and oil. Brent crude fell below $100 a
barrel for the first time since the conflict began in late February, removing
the inflation pressure that had been propping up the safe-haven bid.
That setup
was a near mirror image of March, when escalating Middle East tensions, a
roughly 3% Bloomberg Dollar Index gain and oil pushing toward $120 had
channeled flow into spot FX venues.
With the
geopolitical risk premium fading through much of April, traders had less reason
to reposition aggressively.
The
contrast with April 2025 also runs the other way. A year ago, Trump’s tariff
rollout on April 2 had driven record activity across
both retail brokers and institutional platforms, with FXSpotStream notching a 33% year-on-year
rise and Cboe its strongest April on record at the time.
360T and Euronext FX Slide
as Calendar Holds Steady
Deutsche
Börse’s 360T processed total volumes of $858 billion in April with ADV of $39
billion, down from $48.93 billion in March.
The April
figure is essentially flat against the $39.58 billion the platform reported in
April 2025, a notable softening given how much the broader institutional FX
backdrop has improved over the past year.
Euronext FX
took a sharper hit. The platform recorded total volumes of $646.2 billion with
ADV of $28.1 billion, down nearly 30% from March’s $39.71 billion and roughly
24% below the $37.21 billion daily average it posted in April 2025. The gap with 360T, which had narrowed to $9 billion
per session in March, widened back to about $11 billion in April.
Both
platforms ran across the same 22 trading days as Cboe and FXSpotStream, so the
calendar offers no easy explanation for the slide.
Tokyo Yen Pairs Buck the
Trend on Turkish Lira Surge
The Tokyo
Financial Exchange’s Click 365 platform was the lone outlier. The venue
reported 1,999,422 contracts traded in April, up 0.8% from March, with ADV of
90,885 contracts.
Year-on-year,
however, the platform was still down 11.8%, reflecting tough April 2025
comparables when USD/JPY trading surged 61.6% month-on-month on tariff-driven
yen volatility .
The
standout story sits in the exotic crosses. Turkish lira to yen volume reached
612,981 contracts, up 28.5% from March and a striking 220.4% year-on-year,
putting it ahead of USD/JPY as the platform’s most actively traded pair.
USD/JPY
itself came in at 501,430 contracts, up 4.2% month-on-month but down 41.9% from
a year earlier.