Broad-based currency and instrument growth drove average daily volumes to a record, with Singapore's global market share rising to 11.8% by April 2025.

Record Daily Volumes Surpass SGD 1.5 Trillion in 2024

Singapore’s foreign exchange market crossed a historic threshold in 2024, with average daily trading volumes exceeding SGD 1.5 trillion for the first time. Industry surveys coordinated by the Singapore Foreign Exchange Market Committee (SFXMC) recorded average daily turnover of USD 1.136 trillion in October 2024, which at prevailing exchange rates implies approximately SGD 1.53 trillion. This milestone underscores Singapore’s deepening role as Asia’s dominant currency trading centre and the world’s third-largest FX hub.

The growth trajectory accelerated sharply in subsequent months. By April 2025, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) reported that average daily trading volumes had risen to USD 1.485 trillion, a 60% increase from the USD 929 billion recorded in April 2022. These figures come from the 2025 BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey of global FX and over-the-counter derivatives markets, the most authoritative benchmark for cross-border comparisons. The SFXMC semi-annual study for April 2025 corroborated the trend, reporting total daily turnover of USD 1.273 trillion across derivative and non-derivative transactions—a 12% increase from the October 2024 reading and a 17.3% year-over-year gain for the overall FX market.

Average Daily Volume (USD Trillion) (USD Trillion)Source: Orionmano Industries

Singapore Solidifies Position as Third-Largest Global FX Hub

Singapore’s market share of global FX turnover has risen consistently across the past three BIS triennial surveys. The city-state’s share climbed from 7.7% in April 2019 to 9.5% in April 2022, and reached 11.8% in April 2025—nearly a doubling of its relative footprint in six years. Singapore now ranks behind only the United Kingdom and the United States, and ahead of Hong Kong and Japan, as the largest FX centre in Asia Pacific, according to MAS data.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore attributed the gains to “deeper liquidity in the Asian time-zone to support economic and hedging needs in the region.” In official commentary accompanying the 2025 BIS data release, MAS Executive Director Lim Cheng Khai stated that “broad-based growth across major and regional currencies, as well as FX instruments, reflects Singapore's continued role as a trusted and efficient price discovery hub” and “reinforces Singapore's position as a gateway for global investors into Asia's fast-evolving economies and financial markets.” With the UK and US maintaining dominant positions—London alone accounts for roughly 38% of global FX turnover—Singapore has carved out a distinct niche as the pre-eminent trading venue for the Asian trading day, capturing order flow that would otherwise split across Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Sydney.

Share (%) (%)Source: Orionmano Industries

Broad-Based Growth Across Currencies and Instruments

Volume expansion in Singapore’s FX market was not concentrated in a single currency pair or product type. According to the BIS triennial survey data released by MAS, the US dollar led with a 65% trading volume increase from April 2022 to April 2025, followed by the Japanese yen at 44% and the euro at 36%. Trading volumes in the Chinese renminbi and Australian dollar also posted significant gains, reflecting Asia’s growing weight in global trade and capital flows.

By instrument type, spot, forwards, and swaps together accounted for approximately 90% of Singapore’s FX turnover in April 2025, with volumes across these categories rising between 42% and 61% from the 2022 survey. The SFXMC semi-annual data for April 2025 shows that non-derivative transactions (spot, forwards, swaps) made up roughly 89.5% of daily turnover, while derivatives—primarily options and currency swaps—accounted for 10.5%, or USD 133.3 billion per day.

The most traded currency pair in Singapore remains USD/JPY, with monthly turnover reaching USD 5.7 trillion in April 2025, up from USD 5.3 trillion in April 2024 and USD 6.0 trillion in October 2024. Forex swaps contributed 61.3% of USD/JPY trading volumes in April 2025, reflecting the pair’s deep liquidity for hedging and carry trades amid the yen’s historic depreciation against the dollar. The EUR/USD and USD/CAD also featured prominently in the October 2024 SFXMC survey, with daily volumes of USD 239.8 billion and USD 157.4 billion, respectively.

Outlook

Singapore’s trajectory suggests continued upward momentum. With capital flows into Asian economies accelerating, derivative markets deepening, and regulatory stability reinforced by MAS’s Financial Services Industry Transformation Map 2025, the city-state is well-positioned to sustain its role as the leading Asia-Pacific FX centre. Industry estimates point to the likelihood that Singapore’s global share will exceed 12% in the next triennial BIS survey. The combination of G10 liquidity, growing Asian emerging-market currency trading, and the concentration of regional FX sales and trading desks from all top five global banks provides structural advantages that will likely continue to differentiate Singapore from other regional competitors.