FX Spot, Derivatives drive FX trade rebound to $2.63 billion

Nigeria’s foreign exchange market recorded a rebound in trading activity in the week ended September 25, 2026, with total turnover rising 11.02% to $2.627 billion as spot transactions recovered and forward contracts posted a sharp percentage increase.

Nairametrics’ review of the latest FMDQ FX Market Report for the week ended September 25 shows that total turnover across the FX Spot and Derivatives markets increased by $260.85 million from $2.366 billion in the week ended September 18, 2026.

Average daily turnover rose to $525.43 million from $473.26 million in the preceding week, representing an increase of $52.17 million, or about 11.0%.

FX trading rebounds to $2.63 billion:

FX Spot remained the dominant segment and accounted for most of the week’s increase, while FX Derivatives posted faster percentage growth from a much smaller base.

• Spot turnover rose 10.62% to $2.588 billion from $2.340 billion, an increase of $248.42 million.
• The increase in Spot turnover accounted for about 95.2% of the overall $260.85 million rise in weekly FX market turnover.
• Average daily Spot turnover increased to $517.59 million from $467.90 million in the preceding week.
• FX Derivatives, comprising FX Forwards, surged 46.42% to $39.21 million from $26.78 million, while average daily Derivatives turnover rose to $7.84 million from $5.36 million.
• Spot’s share of total turnover slipped to 98.51% from 98.87%, while the Derivatives share increased to 1.49% from 1.13%.

Spot transactions were roughly 66 times the size of Derivatives turnover during the week, with the latter contributing only about 4.8% of the overall increase despite its 46.42% jump.

FX Forwards stage partial recovery:

The rebound in forward transactions remained small in absolute terms, indicating that hedging activity has only partly recovered from the sharp decline recorded in the preceding week.

• At $39.21 million, FX Forward turnover was only about 9% of the $427.99 million recorded in the week ended September 11. 
• Forward activity had surged 505.79% to $427.99 million in the week ended September 11 from $70.65 million, lifting its share of total FX turnover to 12.62% from 2.93%.
• That earlier surge helped push total FX turnover up 40.45% to $3.39 billion, representing an increase of $976.79 million.

The naira remained relatively stable around N1,330/$ during the latest week, supported by improved FX liquidity and external reserves that have crossed $55 billion, their highest level in more than 18 years.

• Turnover on the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market fell 17.7% week-on-week to $2.25 billion in the week ended September 25, its second consecutive weekly decline, according to CBN data reported by Nairametrics.

Forward contracts allow businesses to agree on an exchange rate for settlement at a future date and are typically used to hedge against currency fluctuations rather than to source dollars for immediate delivery.

Spot trading still dominates FX Market:

Despite the recovery in forwards, spot transactions continued to account for nearly 99% of total FX turnover, leaving the market heavily concentrated in transactions for immediate delivery.

• The modest increase in the Derivatives share to 1.49% shows that the latest rebound has yet to restore forward activity to the levels recorded earlier in September.
• FX Derivatives turnover of $39.21 million remained substantially below the $427.99 million recorded in the week ended September 11.
• Spot turnover of $2.588 billion accounted for 98.51% of combined Spot and Derivatives activity during the week.
• The FX market activity coincided with the CBN’s decision to cut the Monetary Policy Rate by 350 basis points to 23% at the 307th Monetary Policy Committee meeting on September 21–22.

The rate decision came with headline inflation at 15.39% in August.

With Spot trading still accounting for nearly 99% of turnover, market watchers will be looking to see whether the tentative recovery in forward contracts continues in the coming weeks or whether hedging demand remains subdued as the naira stays relatively stable.