Fewer Currencies Trade Hands

Roughly $5.1 trillion a day worth of global currencies were traded on average in April compared with $5.4 trillion in April 2013, according to a Bank for International Settlements survey released September 1 and conducted every three years.

Spot trading fell more than 19% from its April 2013 level, but trading in foreign-exchange derivatives rose 4.1%.

The stronger U.S. dollar accounted for some of the decline; when measured at constant 2016 exchange rates, average daily trading overall edged up 3.5%.

The euro, yen and the Swiss franc are being trading less, while the pound Sterling, China’s yuan and emerging-markets currencies in general are being traded more.

Second chart is scaled logarithmically to show the extent of change in each currency.