Average daily spot volumes on currency trading platforms run by Thomson Reuters dipped to an eight-month low of $82 billion in August, though that was partially offset by strong trading volumes in derivatives. While August is typically a slow month, with many market players on vacation and with parliamentary recess in much of the developed world spelling less political noise, this was a particularly quiet one for spot trading - where buying and selling is done for immediate delivery. Spot trading matched its lowest daily trading average since at least January 2013, and was down around 7 percent on the month.
Spot turnover has declined recently, as falling market volatility has squelched trading appetite from large hedge funds and leveraged players who thrive on volatility. But trading in forwards, swaps, options and non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) has jumped at the same time, and though that dipped a little in August - to $285 billion daily from $299 billion the previous month - that was the third highest in any month since at least January 2013. Total trades across TR platforms averaged $367 billion a day over the course of the month, down from July's 13-month high of $387 billion, but up 7 percent compared with the same month last year.