Daily trading on the global market in currencies bounced by almost $400 billion a day in January, driven by a surge in market volatility due to worries over China, oil prices and global growth, data showed on Wednesday. Compared to January 2015, when a record-breaking gain for the Swiss franc prompted a surge in trading, data from settlement company CLS showed volumes were still down by around 9 percent at $4.84 trillion a day.
The recovery on the month, however, offers a sliver of optimistic news for major banks and financial firms struggling to reform trading businesses on which margins have turned ever tighter after generating billions in profit in the past decade. The CLS numbers showed trading volumes recovering from $4.47 trillion in December and a multi-year low of $4.41 trillion in November. That compares to peaks of almost $6 trillion a day hit in September 2014.