The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) half-year report revealed the number of trades worldwide decreased 7%, as Asia-Pacific region trade volumes plummeted almost 21%.
Despite the global slowdown, the US and Europe saw an increase in trade volumes executed in the first half of this year, compared to the same period last year.
The US total number of trades soared 23%, as European trade volumes increased 9%.
However, the increases in the US and Europe were not enough to see a global increase in the volume of trades in the first half of this year.
WFE explained the Asia-Pacific region accounted for 66% of all trades in the first half of 2015 and the global decline is “entirely due to a 20.6% drop in the number of trades in this region.”
Chief executive officer of WFE, Nandini Sukumar, said the strong performance in US and Europe - in terms of the number of trades – is interesting to note.
Other statistics from WFE’s half-year report show an uptake in exchange traded derivatives (ETD) volumes.
Since the beginning of this year, ETD volumes were up 1.4% compared to the same period last year.
Siobhan Cleary, head of research and public policy at WFE, said the increase “has been supported primarily by steady increases in the number of foreign exchange and commodity derivatives traded.”