In April, the Bank of Canada and 51 other central banks and monetary authorities conducted the latest triennial survey of turnover activity in the foreign exchange (FX) and over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets in their respective countries. This worldwide effort was coordinated by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) to obtain global, comprehensive and consistent information on the size and structure of the FX and OTC derivatives markets.

The Bank of Canada today released the summary results of its survey.1 As well, the BIS recently issued a press release that summarizes highlights of the aggregated global turnover. All dealers in Canada that are active in the wholesale FX and OTC derivatives markets were surveyed.2

With respect to FX, the survey covered spot transactions, outright forwards, FX swaps, currency swaps and OTC FX options.3 The interest rate products covered were forward-rate agreements, interest rate swaps, overnight index swaps and OTC interest rate options.

Highlights from the 2025 survey

  • Average daily turnover in Canada increased from US$172 billion in 2022 to US$233 billion in 2025, an increase of 35 percent (Table 1). Total turnover of FX transactions in Canada rose from US$3.4 trillion in April 2022 to over US$5.1 trillion in April 2025. Canada’s share of global turnover increased slightly to 1.9 percent in 2025 from 1.8 percent in 2022.
  • Single-currency interest rate derivatives turnover in April 2025 increased by 110 percent to US$3.0 trillion from the US$1.4 trillion recorded in 2022 (Table 2). The increase was driven primarily by forward rate agreements and overnight index swaps.
  • The composition of FX business by type of instrument or product and by type of counterparty is shown in Table 3. Although total turnover increased in all categories in 2025 relative to 2022, the proportion of spot, outright forwards, and options remained about the same as 2022, while the proportion of FX swaps fell. There was an increase in the proportion of currency swaps.
  • Table 4 shows the breakdown by currency of foreign exchange market activity in Canada. The share of Canadian dollars and US dollars increased slightly, while the share of euros and Pound Sterling decreased. The US dollar, the Canadian dollar and the euro were the top three traded currencies in Canada. Table 5 provides more detailed information on the turnover in foreign exchange products in Canada.
  • The survey includes an execution methods table for foreign exchange contracts (Table 6). About 60 percent of trades were executed by voice, while about 40 per cent were executed electronically.
  • Table 7 provides a maturity breakdown for outright forwards and FX swaps. The majority of outright forwards have a maturity of between seven days and one month. The majority of FX swaps have a maturity of less than seven days.
Content Type(s): Press, Press releases
Source(s): Canadian Foreign Exchange Committee
  1. 1. The reporting basis of the BIS survey is based on the location of the sales desk in Canada.[←]
  2. 2. Globally, almost 1,100 reporting dealers, mainly large commercial and investment banks, participated in the April 2025 triennial turnover survey. In Canada, 11 dealers participated.[←]
  3. 3. Currency swaps involve the exchange of streams of interest payments and principal amounts, whereas foreign exchange swaps involve the exchange of principal amounts only.[←]