Derivatives
Global derivatives: OTC and exchange-traded
The world's largest market by face value, measured by the BIS's three free statistical collections. Over-the-counter contracts carried $844.6 trillion of notional principal at end-2025, 11.7x the 1998 figure, yet their gross market value was $22.8 trillion (2.7% of notional) and counterparty exposure after netting just $3.4 trillion. Interest-rate contracts are 79% of OTC notional; credit default swaps, once a $61 trillion market, have shrunk 82%; and the Triennial Survey clocked FX turnover at $9.51 trillion per day in April 2025.
Data as of 2025-S2 OTC outstanding, 2026-Q1 exchange-traded, April 2025 Triennial (BIS Data Portal)
OTC notional outstanding by risk category
The BIS semiannual survey of dealers in 12 reporting jurisdictions, from 1998-S1 to 2025-S2, in USD trillions. Interest-rate contracts (swaps, FRAs, options) dominate throughout: $670T at 2025-S2, 79% of the all-risk total, against $149T of FX contracts. The six categories shown sum to the survey's own all-risk total (asserted at build; FX here excludes gold, which the survey books under commodities).
Source: BIS, OTC derivatives outstanding (WS_OTC_DERIV2) Semiannual (end-June and end-December positions), all reporting dealers consolidated, adjusted for inter-dealer double counting. Y axis in USD trillions. Methodology
What is actually at risk: market value and credit exposure
Gross market value peaked at $34.9T in 2008-S2, when crisis-era rate moves pushed replacement costs to their record; at 2025-S2 it stood at $22.8T. Gross credit exposure, the same positions after legally enforceable bilateral netting (but before collateral), runs far lower: $3.4T, 15% of gross market value. The distance between the two lines is what netting agreements remove from bilateral counterparty risk.
Source: BIS, OTC derivatives outstanding (WS_OTC_DERIV2) Gross market value: sum of the absolute replacement values of all open contracts at reporting-date prices. Gross credit exposure: gross market value after legally enforceable bilateral netting, before collateral. Methodology
The credit default swap arc
The BIS began collecting CDS positions in 2004-S2. Notional outstanding multiplied nearly tenfold in three years to peak at $61.2T at 2007-S2, on the eve of the global financial crisis; it has since fallen 82% to $11.0T, a shrinkage the BIS's commentaries attribute to post-crisis compression of offsetting positions and the shift to central clearing. Single-name and multi-name (index) contracts are shown separately; index products carry most of what remains.
Source: BIS, OTC derivatives outstanding (WS_OTC_DERIV2) CDS collection starts 2004-S2; nothing is backfilled. Single-name plus multi-name sum to all CDS. Methodology
Exchange-traded futures and options
Notional open interest on organised exchanges, quarterly since 1993-Q1. Interest-rate contracts carried $129.7T at 2026-Q1; FX contracts, which mostly trade over the counter, a comparatively tiny $0.55T. Turnover runs far above open interest: exchange-traded IR and FX contracts turned over a daily average of $27.9T in 2026-03. The BIS exchange-traded set covers FX and interest-rate risk only; equity and commodity exchange contracts are outside it.
Source: BIS, Exchange-traded derivatives (WS_XTD_DERIV) All exchanges, all currencies. Quarterly notional open interest; the short-term interest-rate segment dominates the total. Methodology
FX turnover: the Triennial Survey
Every three years the BIS coordinates the census of FX dealing: the April 2025 round covered dealers in 52 jurisdictions. Global turnover averaged $9.51T per day (final data; the September 2025 preliminary release headlined $9.6T before revision), up 27% from $7.47T in 2022. FX swaps are the largest instrument at 42% of turnover, ahead of spot. Turnover figures include spot, which is not a derivative; the survey measures the whole FX market.
Source: BIS, Triennial Central Bank Survey (WS_DER_OTC_TOV) Daily averages for the April of each survey year, net-net basis (adjusted for local and cross-border inter-dealer double counting). Instruments sum to the total with a small other-products residual (asserted at build). Methodology
Currency shares: the 200% convention
Every FX trade has two currency legs, so when turnover is attributed to currencies the shares across all currencies sum to 200%, and a single currency's ceiling is 100%. On that convention the US dollar was on one side of 89.1% of all trades in April 2025 (2022: 88.4%), a dominance no other currency approaches: the euro is next at 28.5%, then the yen at 16.9%. The renminbi's climb to 8.6% leaves it fifth overall, behind sterling and ahead of the Swiss franc.
Source: BIS, Triennial Central Bank Survey (WS_DER_OTC_TOV) Net-net basis. The euro enters at its 2001 first survey; renminbi turnover was negligible before the late 2000s. A gap in a line is a survey the currency cut was not published for. Methodology
Where FX trades: the top centers
Turnover by the country of the sales desk, April 2025 against April 2022, net-gross basis (the by-country convention: adjusted for local, not cross-border, inter-dealer double counting, so country turnover does not sum to the global net-net figure above). FX dealing stays extraordinarily concentrated: the United Kingdom alone intermediates 37.8% of global turnover.
| Center | Daily turnover 2025, $T | Share 2025 | Share 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom GB | 4.74 | 37.8% | 38.0% |
| United States US | 2.33 | 18.6% | 19.5% |
| Singapore SG | 1.49 | 11.8% | 9.5% |
| Hong Kong SAR HK | 0.88 | 7.0% | 7.1% |
| Japan JP | 0.44 | 3.5% | 4.4% |
| Germany DE | 0.39 | 3.1% | 1.9% |
| Switzerland CH | 0.37 | 3.0% | 3.6% |
| France FR | 0.24 | 1.9% | 2.2% |
Source: BIS, Triennial Central Bank Survey (WS_DER_OTC_TOV) Shares of the all-countries net-gross total. Sales-desk basis: trades are booked where the deal is struck, not where it is settled. Methodology
Related: interest-rate levels and the term premium behind the rate-derivatives complex, on rates; dealer positioning in exchange-traded futures, on positioning; cross-border banking claims, on cross-border. See the full methodology for datasets, cuts, conventions, verification anchors, and the license note.