Key Takeaways
- • Hedge funds hold a record $100 billion in FX futures positions and asset managers have surpassed $200 billion, according to CME Group's Phil Hermon, who attributes the build to trade friction, Middle East tensions and dollar uncertainty.
- • Overall FX futures and options open interest hit an all-time record of 4,410,167 contracts on September 4, 2026, with a record 1,446 large open interest holders.
- • On July 30, 2026, USD/JPY saw roughly $158 billion in total volume across CME's FX ecosystem, including a record ~$52 billion in JPY futures and a record ~$10 billion in daily volume on CME FX Spot+.
- • FX Spot+, launched in April 2025, has drawn nearly 80 participants, including 39 banks new to FX futures, and gives spot traders access to futures liquidity while trading, booking and settling in spot terms.
- • Hermon argues EFRPs let banks keep OTC client relationships while moving risk into centrally cleared derivatives, easing SA-CCR-driven capital pressure.
Summary
CME Group's FX Products executive director Phil Hermon, in a Q&A published by CME Group, described a client base that is increasingly positioned in FX futures as macro conditions have shifted. Hedge funds now hold a record $100 billion in FX futures positions, and asset managers have surpassed $200 billion. Hermon said the two themes clients raise most often are access to foundational liquidity, meaning where price formation occurs and where risk transfer is available under stress, and how to optimize activity across the many venues now open to them.
Hermon said overall FX futures and options open interest reached an all-time record of 4,410,167 contracts on September 4, 2026, driven by a record 1,446 large open interest holders. He said records in open interest or traded volume extended across euro, yen, sterling, Aussie dollar and Norwegian krone. Asset managers' long yen/short dollar positioning peaked around April-May 2025 and has since largely unwound, leaving essentially no structural yen position, which Hermon linked to broader dollar strength.
The yen position was tested on July 30, 2026, when USD/JPY saw roughly $158 billion in total volume across CME's FX ecosystem. That included about $102 billion in JPY spot on EBS, the highest daily volume in over a decade, and about $52 billion in JPY futures, an all-time record. CME FX Spot+ recorded a record of roughly $10 billion in daily volume that day.
Hermon described the FX market as the largest asset class globally and also the most fragmented. CME's approach includes FX Spot+, ERFP and FX Link. FX Spot+ lets OTC spot traders interact with futures liquidity entirely in spot terms. Since its April 2025 launch, nearly 80 participants have traded on the platform, including 39 banks new to FX futures. Hermon said participants value spot-format access to futures liquidity and the ability to rest a spot order that is distributed to more than 95,000 traders in the FX futures market.
On capital, Hermon said the Standardized Approach for Counterparty Credit Risk (SA-CCR) has changed how banks hold capital against FX trading. EFRPs let banks keep trading OTC with clients while holding the resulting risk off balance sheet in a centrally cleared derivative. Looking 18 months ahead, Hermon said OTC and futures markets will continue to converge as more products emerge. Note that these figures come from CME Group's own interview and reflect its product perspective.
Hermon said overall FX futures and options open interest reached an all-time record of 4,410,167 contracts on September 4, 2026, driven by a record 1,446 large open interest holders. He said records in open interest or traded volume extended across euro, yen, sterling, Aussie dollar and Norwegian krone. Asset managers' long yen/short dollar positioning peaked around April-May 2025 and has since largely unwound, leaving essentially no structural yen position, which Hermon linked to broader dollar strength.
The yen position was tested on July 30, 2026, when USD/JPY saw roughly $158 billion in total volume across CME's FX ecosystem. That included about $102 billion in JPY spot on EBS, the highest daily volume in over a decade, and about $52 billion in JPY futures, an all-time record. CME FX Spot+ recorded a record of roughly $10 billion in daily volume that day.
Hermon described the FX market as the largest asset class globally and also the most fragmented. CME's approach includes FX Spot+, ERFP and FX Link. FX Spot+ lets OTC spot traders interact with futures liquidity entirely in spot terms. Since its April 2025 launch, nearly 80 participants have traded on the platform, including 39 banks new to FX futures. Hermon said participants value spot-format access to futures liquidity and the ability to rest a spot order that is distributed to more than 95,000 traders in the FX futures market.
On capital, Hermon said the Standardized Approach for Counterparty Credit Risk (SA-CCR) has changed how banks hold capital against FX trading. EFRPs let banks keep trading OTC with clients while holding the resulting risk off balance sheet in a centrally cleared derivative. Looking 18 months ahead, Hermon said OTC and futures markets will continue to converge as more products emerge. Note that these figures come from CME Group's own interview and reflect its product perspective.
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