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

Nigeria's foreign exchange market experienced a rebound in trading activity during the week ending September 25, 2026, with total turnover rising by 11.02% to $2.627 billion. According to the latest FMDQ FX Market Report, this increase was driven by a recovery in spot transactions and a sharp rise in forward contracts. In total, the FX Spot and Derivatives markets saw an increase of $260.85 million from the previous week's figure of $2.366 billion.

Average daily turnover climbed to $525.43 million from $473.26 million, marking an 11.0% rise. Spot transactions remained the dominant segment, accounting for most of the week's increase, while FX Derivatives posted faster growth, though at a much smaller scale. Spot transactions amounted to roughly 66 times the size of Derivatives turnover, with the latter contributing only about 4.8% of the overall growth, despite a 46.42% jump.

The rebound in forward transactions remained modest, suggesting that hedging activity has only partially recovered from the significant decline in the previous week. The naira maintained a relatively stable exchange rate of around N1,330/$ during the latest week, buoyed by improved FX liquidity and external reserves that reached their highest level in over 18 years.

Forward contracts, which allow businesses to agree on an exchange rate for future settlement, are typically used to hedge against currency fluctuations rather than to source immediate dollars. Despite the forward contracts' recovery, spot transactions continued to dominate, accounting for nearly 99% of total FX turnover.