- The cleared FX market experienced strong growth in 2024, reaching $18 trillion in notional cleared, a 33% increase compared to 2023.
- Average daily volumes (ADV) stood at $195 billion, split between $70 billion in OTC products and $125 billion in FX futures.
- Here’s a detailed review of the trends that shaped 2024.
FX Cleared Volumes
CCPView shows that cleared OTC FX has grown substantially over the past three years:
Showing that cleared OTC FX volumes surpassed $18 trillion in 2024, with notable growth trends:
- 33% Year-on-Year Growth: Following a 12% increase in 2023, clearing saw a significant jump in 2024.
- NDFs Driving Growth: Non-Deliverable Forward (NDF) volumes grew by $3.5 trillion (+27%).
- Breakout Year for FX Options: With $1 trillion more traded than ever before, FX options volumes increased by 81%, marking a major milestone.
LCH ForexClear continued its dominance, holding over 98% market share in FX OTC clearing.
FX Products
FX clearing remains dominated by NDFs, although their share declined from 96% in 2022 to 85% in 2024. The chart of FX volumes excluding NDFs throughout 2024 throws out some surprises:
Showing;
- FX Options Growth: $2.4 trillion cleared in 2024, accounting for 17% of Open Interest. November 2024 set a record with $300 billion cleared in a single month.
- Currency Trends: EURUSD dominated FX Options, contributing 55% of volumes, followed by AUD, JPY, and GBP (10–12% each).
- Surprising Quarter Trends: Q3 2024 was the strongest quarter, while Q4 fell short, likely due to reduced year-end activity.
To put a monthly volume of $300bn in context for FX Options, it took until November 2016, with the looming implementation (and calibration) of Uncleared Initial Margin Rules before NDF cleared volumes broke $300bn in a single month.
Which NDF Currency Pairs are the largest?
Back to NDFs, the currency split by volume is much the same as back in 2023:
- 24% of volume is in INR, taking the top spot from…
- TWD, making up 21% of volumes.
- 18% in KRW
- 14% in BRL
- 6% in IDR
- 4% each in CNY and PHP
- 90% of total volumes are in these 7 currency pairs, more concentrated than when we last looked in 2022 and 2024.
To add further context to FX Options clearing, $2.4Trn was cleared in 2024, more than in BRL NDFs. The adoption of FX Option clearing has been like adding a new top 4 NDF currency to volumes.
And What About FX Futures?
While OTC FX cleared volumes continue to rise, FX futures remained steady:
Showing;
- Nearly $32.5Trn notional equivalent cleared in 2024, pretty much the same as 2022 volumes (and $0.5Trn higher than 2023).
- With an ADV of nearly $125bn, FX Futures are still about 80% larger than OTC markets.
Comparing the relative size of Open Interest between OTC and FX Futures;
Showing;
- 11% of Open Interest in Cleared FX products is in FX Futures, down from 15% in 2022.
- 70% of the Open Interest is in NDFs.
- Window dressing is alive and well when considering Open Interest. December each year sees OI drop 17-22%.
- There are clear signs of growth in FX Options here as well – with OI up 80% year-on-year and now accounting for 17% of Open Interest.
- From an Open Interest perspective, FX Options are now larger than FX Futures.
In Summary
Cleared FX Market Growth: The cleared FX market reached $18 trillion in notional cleared in 2024, with a 33% year-on-year increase and an average daily volume (ADV) of $195 billion ($70 billion in OTC and $125 billion in FX futures).
Surge in FX Options: Cleared OTC FX options grew significantly, with $2.4 trillion cleared in 2024, an 81% increase from 2023, now comprising 17% of Open Interest in cleared FX derivatives.
Dominance of NDFs and Currency Trends: Non-Deliverable Forwards (NDFs) represent 85% of cleared FX volumes, with INR, TWD, and KRW leading. FX Options volumes are increasingly significant, driven by pairs like EURUSD (55%) and AUD, JPY, and GBP (10–12% each).
FX Futures Steady but Lagging in Growth: FX futures volumes remained stable at $32.5 trillion in 2024, but Open Interest has shifted in favor of NDFs and FX Options, indicating a changing market focus.