FX turnover falls to $1.7bn as spot trading drops

Trading activity in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market fell sharply last week, as total turnover across the spot and derivatives segments dropped to $1.70 billion.

Data from FMDQ showed that turnover for the week ended 2 October, 2026, fell by 35.4 per cent from $2.63bn recorded in the previous week.

The decline was largely caused by a sharp fall in spot transactions, which account for most trading in the market.

FX spot turnover dropped by $955.7m, or 36.9 per cent, to $1.63bn from $2.59bn a week earlier.

Average daily spot trading also fell to $408.06m from $517.59m.

As a result, spot transactions accounted for 96.2 per cent of total FX turnover during the week, down from 98.5 per cent previously.

Spot turnover means the total value of FX bought and sold for immediate or near-immediate delivery in the FX market.

The decline suggests that activity in the main segment of the official FX market weakened considerably during the week, despite continued demand for foreign currency.

Total average daily FX turnover fell to $424.24m from $525.43m.

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Unlike the spot market, trading in FX derivatives increased during the week.

Derivatives turnover, mainly made up of FX forwards, rose by 65.1 per cent to $64.73m from $39.21m.

However, the increase was not enough to offset the much larger decline in spot transactions.

Derivatives accounted for just 3.8 per cent of total FX turnover, meaning that most activity in Nigeria’s FX market still takes place through spot transactions.

The decline in trading activity came despite continued demand for foreign exchange.

Nigeria’s gross external reserves increased by $62.17m million to $54.93bn as of 30 September.

The reserves had also risen by $1.11bn in September, suggesting that the country continued to record some improvement in its external liquidity position.

However, the rise in reserves has not completely removed pressure from the FX market.