2019 Highlights
Total volume traded 23 million lots
Total value traded USD 433 billion
Average open interest 324,803 lots
Highest daily volume 5th August 2019, 220,094 lots
Average daily volume 89,404 lots
Highest trading month August, 3,223,051 lots
Best performing product Indian Rupee Quanto, up 109% Y-O

The Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX) today announced that it broke its annual volumes and Average Open Interest (AOI) records last year, making 2019 its most profitable year since launch. The Exchange traded 23.06 million contracts in 2019 beating its previous record of 22.26 million contracts traded in 2018 with DGCXs wholly-owned clearing house, the Dubai Commodities Clearing Corporation (DCCC) clearing over USD 866 billion in notional value.
DGCX also recorded its highest yearly AOI in 2019 with 324,803 contracts, up from 284,736 contracts in 2018. Open interest refers to the total quantity of excellent contracts at the end of the trading day and is a strong indicator of an Exchanges success.

Les Male, CEO of DGCX, commented: DGCXs second consecutive year of record volumes and all-time high average open interest is testament to our persisted efforts to widen investor participation and enhance liquidity in our contracts. To eclipse our achievements from 2018 is an excellent feat, and demonstrates the effectiveness of our growth strategy to enchantment to a broader range of market users looking for safety and a variety of hedging mechanisms to mitigate their risk.

The excellent performing product in 2019 was DGCXs INR Quanto Futures contract, with the index pricing of the Indian Rupee US dollar currency pair trading over 7.7 million contracts, up 109% year-on-year (Y-O-Y), with AOI up by over 65% over the same period.

DGCXs flagship Gold Futures contract additionally carried out strongly last year, trading over 478,000 contracts, up 107% Y-O-Y. Trading of the precious metal on the DGCX was especially busy in June, with Gold Futures recording month-on-month (M-O-M) average daily volume growth (ADV) of 507.4%, and Y-O-Y ADV growth of 225.5%, as growing geopolitical tensions throughout the globe drove traders towards safe-haven assets.

We are delighted to see persisted growth in our contracts as an increasing range of traders apprehend the cost they provide for hedging functions at some stage in durations of uncertainty. This has been especially apparent over the closing 12 months, in which we noticed substantial world volatility brought on via a collection of remarkable activities consisting of the US-China exchange war, ongoing Brexit negotiations, and the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates for the first time in over a decade, added Male.

Driven with the aid of geopolitical anxiety and demonstrating DGCXs increasing appeal to investors, closing July and August noticed consecutive record volumes with over 2.3 and 3.2 million contracts traded respectively; August marked DGCXs high-quality single month of trading in its 14-year history. The previous single month trading record was set in May 2018 with 2.16 million contracts traded.

DGCX closed the year with industry plaudits, being awarded Exchange of the Year Middle East and Africa at the Future and Options World (FOW) International Awards 2019 for the second year in a row; and Exchange of the Year at the FOW Global Investor MENA Awards 2019.
This year we aim to proceed our growth trajectory and construct on the sturdy platform we established in 2019. We have a giant pipeline of products ready to launch challenge to regulatory approval, which includes Mini-Gold Futures and FX Rolling contracts. We are assured that 2020 will be a momentous year for the DGCX, and we look ahead to the ride beforehand in what guarantees to be an remarkable year marked by using several milestones and achievements for Dubai and the wider UAE, concluded Male.