USD/CNH Futures, the US dollar/Offshore Renminbi (RMB) futures traded at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), had record high volume of 20,338 contracts (US$2 billion in notional value) today and open interest reached an all-time high of 46,711 contracts (US$4.7 billion in notional value) on 4 January.
Today's record, comprised of all-time high trading in last night's After-Hours Futures Trading (AHFT) as well as today's trading (see table) was more than double the previous peak of 8,061 contracts on 12 August 2015. The previous open interest record of 45,950 contracts was earlier this week.
Record High Volume for HKEX's USD/CHN Futures (contracts)
"The trading activity today proved that the RMB Currency Futures are meeting the needs of market participants looking for hedging and risk management tools as the two-way volatility of the RMB increases. This confirmed our belief that we need to be patient and take a long term view in product development, as we need to get ourselves ready for the future trends before all market conditions are right for new products," said HKEX Chief Executive Charles Li.
"Our strategy is always to offer a suite of products and services for different market conditions. As the largest offshore RMB centre, Hong Kong can develop more RMB exchange rate and interest rate products to facilitate the RMB's internationalisaton," Li added.
USD/CNH Futures is one of five RMB Currency Futures contracts traded at HKEX. The others are CNH/USD Futures, AUD/CNH Futures, EUR/CNH Futures and JPY/CNH Futures. Details are available in the RMB Currency Products section of the HKEX website.
HKEX plans to introduce its first RMB Currency Options contract, USD/CNH Options, in the first quarter of this year, subject to market readiness. Details are available in a news release on the HKEX website.
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