Eurex, a global derivatives exchange, reported its operational metrics for August 2021, which were largely mixed on a yearly basis, but certain segments continued their upward trend.
During August 2021, Eurex disclosed that a total of 101.4 million contracts were traded across its financial derivatives, which include European equity index, interest rate, and equity derivatives. This figure was higher by 8.0 percent over a yearly timeframe, compared to 94 million contracts reported back in August 2020.
Meanwhile, Eurex’s OTC clearing business saw mixed gains over the last year, with total volumes jumping 7 percent in August to EUR 20.6 trillion. In terms of its average daily cleared volumes, the ADV figure fell year-on-year to EUR 69 billion in August from EUR 72 billion a year earlier.
The Eurex FX offering of classic FX futures and options, in combination with the rolling spot futures, allows traders to manage their FX exposures with listed products.
The pan-European exchange has made efforts over the past year to expand its FX trading business, most recently signing major banks to support their FX futures, from clearing to trading.
Eurex’s currency trading desk currently offers various FX derivatives products, including FX futures available in 11 currency pairs, all with quotation and tick sizes in-line with existing OTC FX standards.
Earlier in August, the European derivatives exchange, owned by financial titan Deutsche Börse Group, announced plans to launch trading on bitcoin exchange-traded note (ETN) futures, effective September 13.
The Germany-based trading venue said the novel ETN futures contract is physically backed by bitcoin and tracks the BTCetc Bitcoin Exchange Traded Crypto index, which is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
According to the announcement, this centrally cleared offering will be the first regulated market in Bitcoin-related derivatives in Europe.
An ETN is a type of unsecured debt obligation payable to the contract holder. It has a maturity date and tracks an underlying asset or a particular index. ETNs holders receive a one-time payment on expiry date, based on the performance of the underlying asset, but they can also sell the contract any time on the open market.
There are now three bitcoin ETNs listed on Germany’s Xetra platform. ETC Group was first listed in June 2020, followed by crypto ETP issuer 21Shares and US asset manager VanEck.
