UK Foreign Exchange Transaction Volume Hits All-Time High Daily
In April 2025, the UK foreign exchange (FX) market witnessed a significant surge in trading activity, as evidenced by a record high average daily turnover of $4,045 billion[1]. This increase represents a 26% rise from the October 2024 survey and marks the largest survey-on-survey increase since 2013[1].
The semi-annual turnover survey, conducted by the Foreign Exchange Joint Standing Committee (FXJSC), revealed that the growth in FX turnover was primarily driven by heightened market volatility and uncertainty surrounding global trade policies[1]. The elevated market activity was reflected across all FX instrument types, with significant growth observed in spot transactions, FX options, and FX swaps.
Spot transactions saw a notable jump of 42%, reaching $1,293 billion, while FX options volumes increased by 52% to $350 billion compared to the October 2024 survey[1]. FX swaps remained the most traded instrument by volume, increasing to $1,563 billion, up by 11% in comparison to the previous survey[1].
Despite the diverse growth across FX instruments, the most traded currency pair in London remained the EUR/USD, accounting for 25% of the overall FX turnover in April 2025[1]. This continued dominance of major currency pairs reflects London's central role in the global FX market.
The trend of increased trading volumes and volatility was not limited to the UK, as other major FX centers also reported substantial turnover increases, indicating a broadly volatile market environment[2].
Since April 2008, overall FX turnover has steadily increased from $1,815 billion to $4,045 billion. The surge in April 2025 can be attributed to the ongoing global economic uncertainty, particularly regarding trade policies, which has fuelled increased trading activity in the FX market.
The survey involved 25 financial institutions active in the UK foreign exchange market, and the survey results for the April 2025 reporting period have been summarised. Detailed tables for this period are available separately. The FXJSC will present the main findings of the survey in the text, providing a comprehensive overview of the UK FX market's performance in April 2025.
[1] FXJSC (2025). Semi-annual turnover survey, April 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.fxjsc.org.uk/reports/april-2025-survey-results/ [2] Global FX Coalition (2025). Global FX market turnover, April 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.gfxc.org/reports/global-fx-market-turnover-april-2025/
The growth in the FX turnover in April 2025 was primarily driven by the finance industry, as heightened market volatility and uncertainty surrounding global trade policies contributed to a significant surge in trading activity, especially in the business sector. The FXJSC's semi-annual turnover survey revealed that spot transactions, FX options, and FX swaps all experienced substantial growth across various financial institutions active in the UK foreign exchange market.
