BIS FX Survey: What Global Currency Turnover Reveals
The BIS triennial survey offers a structured view of foreign-exchange activity beyond retail platform screenshots.
The Bank for International Settlements coordinates a large triennial survey of foreign-exchange and over-the-counter derivatives markets. Its 2025 results provide measures of turnover broken down by currency, instrument and market participation. These are aggregated market statistics collected under a defined methodology, not an estimate of money that changed hands on any retail broker's application.
Turnover includes instruments such as spot transactions, forwards and swaps. Their notional amounts are not equivalent to profits, new investment or the market's direction. A high trading volume for a currency may reflect hedging and funding transactions rather than speculation about appreciation.
When using survey tables, check the reporting date, aggregation method and whether figures are netted to avoid double counting. Compare like-for-like categories before announcing a new market trend. The survey is a benchmark for market structure, not real-time tick data.
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