April brought record volatility and uncertainty to financial markets, driven by Trump’s tariffs, along with record results for many retail CFD brokers. Increased activity was also observed among institutional foreign exchange (FX) trading venues, some of which once again reported record volumes.

FX Trading Volumes Rise in April

Cboe's spot FX platform reported total volume of $1.36 trillion in April, with ADV reaching $61.9 billion across 22 trading days. This represents a 19% increase from March's average daily volume (ADV) of $52.11 billion, continuing the platform's growth trajectory in 2025.

However, the first two days of May have generated $97.75 billion in trading volume on Cboe's platform, averaging $48.87 billion daily, suggesting a potential moderation in trading activity for the new month.

This also marks a significant increase compared to April 2024, when total volumes reached $1.1 trillion. Historical data shows that this time of year tends to be particularly favorable for Cboe FX, often delivering record-breaking results.

Analysts attribute April's volume increases to ongoing tariff uncertainty and central bank policy divergence, particularly between the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan, which has created trading opportunities across major currency pairs, including USD/JPY.

“Following President Trump's April 2 announcement of new tariffs, referred to as 'Liberation Day', GCEX has recorded some of its strongest trading days to date,” said Lars Holst, Founder and CEO of GCEX, the provider of prime brokerage services.

USD/JPY on the Rise

The USD/JPY emerged as a standout performer in April, with Click 365 FX Daily Futures contracts showing a substantial 61.6% month-on-month increase in trading volume for this pair. Overall, Click 365 reported 2.27 million contracts traded during April, a slight increase of 1.3% compared to March, though volumes remained 20.3% lower year-on-year.

Other yen-based pairs also showed strong monthly growth, with Australian Dollar-Japanese Yen and New Zealand Dollar-Japanese Yen increasing by 55.0% and 69.6% respectively. However, the Turkish Lira-Japanese Yen pair experienced a sharp decline of 67.2% compared to March.

Strong Numbers in Europe

Euronext reported total monthly trading volume of $893.12 billion in April, representing a modest increase from March figures. ADV reached $37.21 billion during the month.

Meanwhile, 360T recorded total trading volume of $870.73 billion with ADV of $39.58 billion, demonstrating the platform's consistent performance in the institutional FX space.

Meanwhile, FXSpotStream volumes also increased, reaching $122 billion last month—marking the fourth consecutive month of growth and a 33% rise compared to the same period in 2024.