Forex trading on Thomson Reuters dips in February

The share of Thomson Reuters' Matching service in the world’s biggest market has fallen in the face of competition from players such as Hotspot FX and commodities-dominated exchange CME. Thomson Reuters’ main forex trading rival, EBS, has suffered too.

Daily volumes on Thomson Reuters Matching fell to $113 billion in February from $117 billion in January and $137 billion a year ago. Trading on FXAll, the company’s electronic platform for buyside customers, was almost unchanged on the month and up 10 per cent year-on-year at $122 billion.

Thomson Reuters said a rise in Chinese yuan trading prompted by Beijing’s efforts over the past month to halt the currency’s steady rise, creating more market volatility and hence volumes of trade, had boosted trading.

“Trading volumes on Thomson Reuters venues remained steady through February which was a slower month due to fewer trading days and Chinese New Year,” Phil Weisberg, Reuters global head of foreign exchange, said. “As with the rest of the market, we saw continued strong performance in CNH (offshore yuan trade) which became the second most traded pair by volume on our Matching platform.” ■