Q3 Daily Average FX Trading Volume at Banks Hits Record $122.01 Billion

Slight increase from previous quarter despite growth in exports and imports
Lower exchange rate volatility and reduced foreign investors' trading of domestic securities among contributing factors

The daily average foreign exchange trading volume of foreign exchange banks edged up in the third quarter of this year, setting another record since the statistics were revised.

An employee sorts U.S. dollar and Chinese yuan banknotes at Hana Bank's Counterfeit Response Center in Jung-gu, Seoul.

According to the “Trends in Foreign Exchange Transactions by Foreign Exchange Banks in the Third Quarter of 2026,” released by the Bank of Korea on October 30, the daily average volume of foreign exchange transactions by foreign exchange banks—including spot foreign exchange and foreign exchange derivatives—totaled US$122.01 billion in the third quarter, a slight increase of US$570 million, or 0.5%, from US$121.44 billion in the previous quarter. This was the highest quarterly figure since the statistics were revised in 2008. The previous record was set in the second quarter. A BOK official explained, “Despite the expansion in the volume of exports and imports, the increase from the previous quarter was limited because of reduced exchange rate volatility and a decline in foreign investors’ trading of domestic securities.”

Spot foreign exchange transactions totaled US$50.74 billion, down US$3.37 billion, or 6.2%, while foreign exchange derivatives transactions totaled US$71.26 billion, up US$3.94 billion, or 5.9%. By type of bank, transactions by domestic banks rose US$1.38 billion, or 2.5%, from the previous quarter to US$56.89 billion, while those by branches of foreign banks fell US$810 million, or 1.2%, to US$65.12 billion.

Looking at spot foreign exchange transactions by currency, won-dollar transactions totaled US$40.83 billion, down US$2.91 billion, or 6.6%. By type of bank, transactions declined by US$250 million, or 0.9%, at domestic banks, to US$29.26 billion, and by US$3.12 billion, or 12.7%, at branches of foreign banks, to US$21.49 billion.

By counterparty, transactions between foreign exchange banks totaled US$25.02 billion, down 2.9%, while transactions with nonresidents totaled US$15.15 billion, down 14.7%. Transactions with domestic customers edged down 0.1% to US$10.58 billion, remaining at a similar level to the previous quarter.

Among foreign exchange derivatives, forward transactions rose US$1.19 billion, or 5.1%, from the previous quarter to US$24.21 billion. Foreign exchange swap transactions increased US$3.07 billion, or 7.3%, to US$45.11 billion.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.