Eurex U.S. off and running (Part II)

With its U.S. treasury futures business officially dead, Eurex U.S. began trading currency futures on Sept. 23, hoping to grab a piece of the $2 trillion-a-day forex industry.

Volume on the first day was 317, while day two saw 1,027 contracts traded, and 1,664 contracts exchanged hands on the third day of trading. By comparison, average daily volume at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which handles a large majority of U.S. currency futures trading, was around 250,000 contracts in August.

However, Eurex U.S., which trades six U.S. dollar-based pairs — the Australian and Canadian dollars, the Euro, the British pound, the Japanese yen, and the Swiss franc — plus the pound/yen, Euro/yen, Euro/pound, and franc/Euro cross rates, has said it is not competing directly with the CME. Rather, the exchange is hoping to make inroads in Europe, where Eurex AG, the parent company of Eurex U.S., is hugely successful, and where currency trading is much more prevalent.