Cboe Reports Weak Trading Volumes Across All Business Lines

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE | NASDAQ: CBOE) has reported ‎weak trading volumes in April 2020, which hit all business segments that enjoyed record levels of activity in March when the volatility provided pockets of opportunity.

During April 2020, Cboe disclosed a total trading volume for options contracts at 200 million, down -23 percent from 263 million in the previous month. Year-over-year, this figure was up 46 percent from 137 million contracts back in April 2019.

This corresponded to an average daily volume (ADV) of 9.56 million contracts per day, which was up by the same percentage year-on-year from 6.5 million contracts per day in the same month a year earlier.

Nevertheless, the figures illustrated a different pattern at the Cboe over a monthly interval, which in terms of total ADV volumes during April 2020 marked a drop of -23 percent month-on-month from 11.97 million contracts in March 2020.

Across its futures business, Cboe Global’s total volumes came in at 2.34 million contracts in April 2020, down by -48 percent over a yearly basis from 4.56 million contracts a year back. The figure also marks a sharp drop of 69 percent month-on-month when compared with 7.54 million in March 2020. The exchange yielded an average daily volume (ADV) of 112,000 contracts per day, which was lower by two thirds from 343,000 contracts in the previous month.

FX business lags

Cboe’s institutional spot FX platform saw its average daily trading volumes amounting to $29.2 billion in April 2020, down 47 percent month-over-month from $55 billion in March 2020.

On a year-over-year basis, the ADV numbers released by Cboe FX, formerly Hotspot, illustrated weaker performance, falling by 7.2 percent when weighed against $31.5 billion a year earlier.‎

Looking at its total volumes, Cboe FX inked a figure of $643 billion in April 2020, down -46 percent on a month-over-month basis from $1.2 ‎trillion in March 2020‎. This figure was even lower by 7 percent year-over-year when weighed against $693 billion in April 2019.

Cboe FX turnover crossed the $1 trillion milestone last month amid coronavirus-driven volatility that has shaken awake previously slumbering FX markets.