Institutional FX Volumes Cool in October as Fed and Bank of Japan Hold Rates
Institutional foreign exchange trading volumes declined across all major venues in October 2026 as both the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan held interest rates steady.
Daily spot FX trading fell on all four institutional venues tracked in October, with the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan both leaving interest rates unchanged during the month. FXSpotStream reported average daily volume (ADV) of $163.22 billion, down 8.9% from its all-time high set in September when both central banks raised rates.
Cboe FX fell 9.0%, Euronext FX 5.9% and 360T 2.6%. Combined spot ADV on the four venues was about $247 billion, down 8.0% from $268 billion in September. That still made October the third-busiest month of 2026, after March and September.
The decline came after a September surge when both central banks raised rates, which had driven trading volumes to record levels. October's volume was 25.6% above the roughly $196 billion of October 2025, when dollar volatility pushed institutional FX volumes to a three-month high.
FXSpotStream Posts Third-Best Month
FXSpotStream, a multibank price-streaming service, traded about $3.59 trillion over 22 sessions in October. Its total ADV was 25.9% above the $129.61 billion of October 2025. Only September and March were higher in the venue's monthly record.
Spot ADV at FXSpotStream fell 9.8% to $116.81 billion, while non-spot products slipped 6.5% to $46.40 billion. The platform maintained its position as one of the busiest venues for institutional FX trading despite the monthly decline.
Euro-Dollar Gains Share as Yen Trading Cools
Cboe FX matched $1.234 trillion in spot, an ADV of $56.08 billion, down 9.0% from September but still 8.4% above October 2025. The busiest day overall was October 1, when Cboe FX matched $81.30 billion, while the quietest was October 12, the US Columbus Day holiday.
The currency pair mix reversed September's pattern. USD/JPY averaged $5.65 billion a day, down 28.4%, with its share of the venue's flow falling to 10.1% from 12.8%. EUR/USD moved in the opposite direction, rising 7.7% to $14.34 billion and its share climbing 4.0 percentage points to 25.6%.
Neither central bank moved in October. The Fed kept its target range at 3.75%-4.00% on October 28 in a 10-2 vote. Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack wanted a quarter-point increase.
Exchange-Owned Venues Perform Better
Euronext FX averaged $32.47 billion a day on $714.28 billion of monthly volume, 31.4% more than a year earlier. That was the sixth-highest monthly average in the venue's daily file, which starts in January 2013.
At 360T, owned by Deutsche Börse, ADV was $41.17 billion on $905.71 billion of spot volume, up 21.3% from October 2025. Only March, June and September were busier this year, with 360T's 2.6% decline being the smallest of the four venues in October.
Tokyo Financial Exchange reported 1,604,046 FX futures contracts on Click 365, down 28.0% from September and 19.4% from a year earlier. TRY/JPY remained the largest pair at 612,015 contracts, or 38.2% of the total, while USD/JPY contracts fell 35.0% to 355,865.
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