Following a record April in the wake of Donald Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs, and the market mayhem that ensued, May 2025 was a much more sedate month leading to a somewhat severe drop-off in global FX trading activity.

Each of the leading eFX venues surveyed by FNG – FXSpotStream, Cboe FX, EuronextFX and 360T – saw double digit decreases of between 17-27% in trading activity during May 2025, more details follow below.

We would remind FNG readers that, as mentioned above, April was an absolute blowout record month in terms of FX trading volumes, as virtually everything in the capital markets including stocks, crypto, and FX rates went on a wild roller coaster ride after the introduction of much more severe than expected tariffs by Donald Trump on April 2. For example, the benchmark EURUSD rate soared from the 1.08 range at the beginning of April, to over 1.15 at one point later in the month. May was much quieter, with equity markets and key FX rates trading in a much more limited range, leading to lower trading volumes.

Cboe FX (formerly HotspotFX)

• May 2025 average daily volumes were $47.97 billion, -22.5% from April’s $61.90 billion.

EuronextFX (formerly FastMatch)

• May 2025 ADV $27.50 billion, -27.9% from April’s ADV of $38.16 billion.

FXSpotStream

• In May, FXSpotStream registered an overall ADV of USD98.739billion, which represented drop of 19.08% following our record high in April, but a 14.31% increase YoY. May’s ADV consisted of USD68.006billion in Spot (down 18.14% compared to April 2025) and USD30.733billion in other products.
• Year to date, FXSpotStream’s Overall ADV (for the period January-May 2025) is up 33.53% when compared to the same period last year, while Spot ADV is up 33.12%.
• FXSpotStream’s Total ADV MoM (May’25 vs Apr’25) decreased 19.08%.
• FXSpotStream’s Total ADV YoY (May’25 vs May’24) increased 14.31%.
• FXSpotStream’s Spot ADV MoM (May’25 vs Apr’25) decreased 18.14%.
• FXSpotStream’s Spot ADV YoY (May’25 vs May’24) increased 2.81%.
• FXSpotStream’s Other ADV MoM (May’25 vs Apr’25) decreased 9.13%.
• FXSpotStream’s Other ADV YoY (May’25 vs May’24) increased 19.44%

360T

• Average daily volumes (ADV) at 360T came in at $32.72 billion in May 2025, down 17.3% from April’s $39.58 billion.