Worldwide foreign exchange trading volume declined by approximately six per cent to just under USD100trn last year, according to Greenwich Associates.
The cooling down of global FX markets brought to an end an impressive run that saw new records for volume set in each of the prior two years.
The slowdown in global foreign exchange markets began in the second quarter of 2009 as world financial markets began to stabilise, and continued through the end of the year.
Because Greenwich Associates completes interviews for its research on global FX markets mid-way through the fourth quarter of every year, it is possible that reported volume totals actually understate the extent to which markets slowed in calendar year 2009 due to a significant falloff in activity at year-end.
Among the financial institutions that constitute the lion’s share of the global FX market volume, trading volumes were flat to just slightly lower last year, as a 23 per cent decline in hedge fund trading volume was partially offset by a 16 per cent increase among retail aggregators. Among corporations, which generated only 11 per cent of total volume in 2009, foreign exchange volume increased ten per cent from year-to-year.
Trading volumes in the US declined ten per cent from 2008 to 2009 and UK trading volumes fell by 14 per cent. Trading volumes in Continental Europe and Japan were essentially unchanged year-to-year. Throughout the rest of Asia, trading volumes grew nearly ten per cent, driven by an increase among a handful of large banks.
Worldwide, trading volumes among the biggest users of foreign exchange markets, primarily financial institutions generating more than USD50bn in annual FX trading volumes, declined about seven per cent. Trading volumes among corporations and financial institutions with lower average annual totals increased slightly.
FX trading volumes among hedge funds declined 23 per cent from 2008 to 2009, a drop-off that had a disproportionate impact on global foreign exchange growth rates. As of the end of 2008, hedge funds generated only about 14 per cent of global FX trading volume.
Until recently however, hedge funds had accounted for a much higher proportion of the market’s growth. From 2006 to 2007, a period during which global FX volumes grew by 30 per cent — hedge fund trading volumes increased 180 per cent.
The global financial crisis brought that phase of growth to a sudden stop, with hedge fund FX trading volumes dropping 28 per cent from 2007 to 2008.
“After continuing to decline over the past 12 months, hedge fund trading volume remains at just 14 per cent of the market, allowing retail aggregators to close the gap in terms of contributions to global FX trading volumes,” says Greenwich Associates consultant Tim Sangston.
