April
brought record volatility and uncertainty to financial markets, driven by
Trump’s tariffs, along with record
results for many retail CFD brokers. Increased activity was also observed
among institutional foreign exchange (FX) trading venues, some of which once again
reported record volumes.
FX Trading Volumes Rise in
April
Cboe’s spot
FX platform reported total volume of $1.36 trillion in April, with ADV reaching
$61.9 billion across 22 trading days. This represents a
19% increase from March’s average daily volume (ADV) of $52.11 billion,
continuing the platform’s growth trajectory in 2025.
However, the
first two days of May have generated $97.75 billion in trading volume on Cboe’s
platform, averaging $48.87 billion daily, suggesting a potential moderation in
trading activity for the new month.
This also
marks a significant increase compared to April 2024, when total volumes reached
$1.1 trillion. Historical data shows that this time of year tends to be
particularly favorable for Cboe FX, often delivering record-breaking results.
Analysts
attribute April’s volume increases to ongoing
tariff uncertainty and central bank policy divergence, particularly between
the
Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan, which has created trading
opportunities across major currency pairs, including USD/JPY.
“Following
President Trump’s April 2 announcement of new tariffs, referred to as
‘Liberation Day’, GCEX has recorded some of its strongest trading days to
date,” said
Lars Holst, Founder and CEO of GCEX, the provider of prime brokerage
services.
USD/JPY on the Rise
The USD/JPY
emerged as a standout performer in April, with Click 365 FX Daily Futures
contracts showing a substantial 61.6% month-on-month increase in trading volume
for this pair. Overall, Click 365 reported 2.27 million contracts traded during
April, a slight increase of 1.3% compared to March, though volumes remained
20.3% lower year-on-year.
Other
yen-based pairs also showed strong monthly growth, with Australian
Dollar-Japanese Yen and New Zealand Dollar-Japanese Yen increasing by 55.0% and
69.6% respectively. However, the Turkish Lira-Japanese Yen pair experienced a
sharp decline of 67.2% compared to March.
Strong Numbers in Europe
Euronext
reported total monthly trading volume of $893.12 billion in April, representing
a modest increase from March figures. ADV reached $37.21 billion during the
month.
Meanwhile,
360T recorded total trading volume of $870.73 billion with ADV of $39.58
billion, demonstrating the platform’s consistent performance in the
institutional FX space.
Meanwhile, FXSpotStream
volumes also increased, reaching $122 billion last month—marking the fourth
consecutive month of growth and a 33% rise compared to the same period in 2024.
This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.
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