The largest square in the world is made of pieces of paper. The currency market is 25 times larger than all stock markets combined, with $5300 trillion traded on average each day. The impressive figure is contained in the latest triennial report of the Bank for International Settlements, the most reliable source on the subject. An historical record, which records an increase of 30% compared to April 2010, the date of the last available dossier.
The study underlines the increasingly preponderant dominance of the dollar: the greenback is present in 87% of transactions, two points more than three years ago. The euro-dollar remains the most traded currency pair (24% of the total), but the single currency has lost market shares in the wake of the debt crisis in the eurozone: today it is present in 33% of trading volumes, the lowest level since its inception.
Transactions on the yen marked the highest surge: exchanges grew by 63% and the market share reached 23%, hoisting the Japanese currency on the third step of the podium.
The dossier also highlights the strengthening of emerging countries' currencies. The Mexican peso entered the top ten in eighth place with 2,5% of the market, ahead of the yuan (2,2%). The Chinese currency has grown: three years ago trades were stagnant at 34 billion dollars, today they are 120.
