USD/JPY trading volume surged in September after the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan raised interest rates two days apart. The pair grew faster than any other major on Cboe FX, and futures activity in Tokyo rose by a similar margin, as broader institutional FX volumes climbed to their busiest level since March.
USD/JPY volume on Cboe FX averaged $7.89 billion a day in September, up 45.3% from August, the fastest gain among the venue's five largest currency pairs. The pair's share of Cboe FX flow rose to 12.8% from 10.5%, even as EUR/USD remained the biggest pair, gaining 25.1% to $13.31 billion.
Rate Decisions Two Days Apart
The Federal Reserve lifted its target range by a quarter point to 3.75%-4.00% on September 16, its first increase since 2023, in a 12-0 vote. Two days later, the Bank of Japan raised its policy rate to 1.25% in a 7-2 vote, and USD/JPY volume on Cboe FX reached $11.46 billion that day.
Earlier in the month, the busiest USD/JPY session matched $15.0 billion on September 3, when the yen jumped on rising bets for a BOJ rate increase, CNBC reported. Yen flows had already carried Cboe FX in July, when two intervention days accounted for much of that month's activity.
Tokyo Futures Track the Same Move
Japan's futures market showed a similar move: USD/JPY contracts on the Tokyo Financial Exchange's Click 365 market rose 45.4% to 547,325. TRY/JPY remained the largest pair on that market, at 871,264 contracts, or 39.1% of the total.
Institutional Volumes Hit a Multi-Month High
A broad pickup across institutional FX venues accompanied the rate hike activity. Combined spot average daily volume across the four venues tracked by Finance Magnates reached about $268 billion, up 18.8% from $226 billion in August — the busiest month since March, when a dollar rally pushed volumes to their 2026 high of about $291 billion a day. FXSpotStream alone set an all-time high of $179.12 billion in average daily volume, surpassing its previous record of $173.60 billion from March.
Source: Finance Magnates
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