CME Group Achieves Asia Pacific Average Daily Volume of 921,000 Contracts in Q4 2018, Up 45 Percent from Q4 2017ed at LCH SwapClear During 2018

CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced that it achieved Asia Pacific average daily volume (ADV) of 921,000 contracts in the fourth quarter of 2018, up 45 percent from the corresponding period in 2017.  This was driven largely by a strong performance in Equity products, up 201 percent.  Interest Rates and Energy products were up 42 percent and 35 percent respectively.

For the full year 2018, Asia Pacific ADV stood at 862,000 contracts, up 29 percent from 2017.  This was driven by 108 percent growth in Equity products, 28 percent growth in Energy products, and 14 percent growth in Interest Rates products.

Christopher Fix, Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific, CME Group.
Christopher Fix, Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific, CME Group.

“2018 saw a number of key geopolitical events which contributed to increased volatility in international financial markets, especially towards the tail-end of the year, and further highlighted the need for risk management on a robust, liquid and regulated marketplace,” said Christopher Fix, Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific, CME Group.  “We continue to see trading volume growth out of Asia Pacific, as market participants further look to CME Group to manage their risks across multiple asset classes.”

Latin America quarterly ADV was 107,000 contracts in the fourth quarter of 2018, up 54 percent from the corresponding period in 2017. This was driven by 204 percent growth in Interest Rates products and 21 percent growth in Equity products.  For the full year 2018, Latin America ADV stood at 100,000 contracts, up 49 percent, led by 103 percent growth in Interest Rates products and 30 percent growth in Equity products.

EuropeMiddle East and Africa (EMEA) quarterly ADV hit 3.7 million contracts in the fourth quarter of 2018, up 16 percent from fourth quarter 2017.  This was led by a strong performance in Equity and Interest Rates products, up 44 percent and 28 percent respectively, compared to the same period in 2017.  For the full year 2018, EMEA ADV stood at 3.4 million contracts, up 14 percent from 2017, led by 20 percent growth in Interest Rates products, 19 percent growth in Metals products and 14 percent growth in Equity products.

In all, CME Group’s international (defined as outside of North America) ADV reached 4.7 million contracts during the fourth quarter of 2018, up 21 percent over the same period in 2017.  For the full year 2018, CME Group’s international ADV stood at 4.4 million contracts, up 17 percent from 2017.

Globally, CME Group reached a record ADV of 19.2 million contracts in 2018, up 18 percent from 2017. This was led by Interest Rates products ADV, up 22 percent to 9.95 million contracts.  During 2018, 91 trading days exceeded 20 million contracts, up from 34 days in 2017.  Fourth quarter 2018 volume averaged 20.8 million contracts per day, up 31 percent from the same period a year ago.

As the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest ratesequity indexesforeign exchangeenergyagricultural products and metals.  The company offers futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex® platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform.  In addition, it operates one of the world’s leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing.  With a range of pre- and post-trade products and services underpinning the entire lifecycle of a trade, CME Group also offers optimization and reconciliation services through TriOptima, and trade processing services through Traiana.

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