July marked the start of the traditional summer slowdown at the big four derivatives exchanges, with volumes falling slightly from June. The upward trend on last year's figures was maintained, however, keeping well on course for another record year.
The slowdown was most pronounced in Europe, with volumes on Eurex and Liffe dropping off 19% and 14% respectively on the previous month.
Eurex traded 75.5m contracts in July, bringing the total year-to-date volume to 628m, up 3% over the same period last year.
The exchange's fixed income derivatives provided the strongest trading, accounting for around 39m contracts in July, more than half of Eurex's traded volume. At 15.4m contracts, the Bund future retained its position as the most successful product on...