ANALYSIS: ICE hits April trading high, as energy trading shines
2nd May, 2025|Radi Khasawneh
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has seen April trading breach 11 million lots a day on average for the first time, setting an all-time monthly record as its energy and financials segments continue to see activity spike.
Speaking on a call to present first quarter results on Thursday, ICE chief financial officer Warren Gardiner said last month had continued the trend that drove a record first three months for the Atlanta-based exchange group. Overall, futures and options trading at ICE was 11.46 million lots a day in April, up 43% on the same month in 2024 according to figures provided by the exchange. That overshadows March’s 10.35 million contracts a day, the previous monthly high.
Gardiner said that energy average daily volume (ADV) was up 39%, interest rate ADV was up 59%, and equity options ADV was up 11% in the period. Energy ADV across products was just shy of 6 million lots in the period, beating January’s high, while the interest rate complex saw 4.5 million contracts trade a day on average, ahead of the previous month’s high tally.
“More importantly, open interest continues to trend higher, up 8% year-over-year,” Ben Jackson, president at ICE said on a call with analysts. “As we have consistently said, open interest is a helpful guide to gauging the health of our markets and proves to be a leading indicator of volume growth during volatile periods.”
ICE’s energy product suite, which includes its flagship Brent and natural gas contracts, had a standout first quarter, with revenue rising 23% year-over-year on a constant currency basis to $557 million (£418.5 million), according to its results filing.
“For over two decades we have worked closely with our customers to develop a diverse, liquid and globally interconnected energy network,” Jackson added. “Today, as trade dynamics evolve and become increasingly complex, our network provides the critical feedback loop required to address near-term supply and demand imbalances as well as the long-term price signals needed to efficiently allocate the capital necessary to meet forward looking demand.
“This deliberate and long term strategic direction contributed to our eighth consecutive quarter of record energy revenues.”
Chair and chief executive Jeff Sprecher agreed that the segment would continue to benefit from tailwinds going into the rest of the year.
“Going forward the new US administration has pledged to increase energy production, which could further reorder the global energy supply chain and thereby the global risk that may need to be managed on our platform,” Sprecher (pictured) said. “Across ICE’s interest rate markets a mixed inflation picture, ongoing political tensions and shifting trade policies are driving demand for interest rate risk management.”
Sprecher also pointed to the resilience of its equity franchise through the tariff-led sell off during the first quarter. Equity cash and derivatives revenue rose 21% in the period to $119 million according to results.
“At the New York Stock Exchange our cash equity trading volumes increased 20% year-over-year, and our equity options volumes increased 8% year-over-year,” Sprecher said, referring to performance in the first three months. “Collectively, this strength provided 21% growth in our equity trading revenues. Importantly, and against a backdrop of economic volatility, our state-of-the-art technology provided investors with efficient venues to digest global events, make investment decisions and execute trades with unrivalled speed and accuracy.
“We saw equity and equity option trades execute more efficiently in this period than during the volatile Covid outbreak. Handling all-time high volume and messaging rates, our technology systems rose to the occasion twice processing more than one trillion messages in a single day with a median processing time of roughly 30 microseconds.”
Rival CME Group reported an all-time revenue high in the first quarter of 2025, with a 10% year-over-year boost, driven by ADV growth in all asset classes. The exchange also cited open interest growth and the strength of its systems as key factors for the health of its markets.
The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) this week cited continuing market volatility as it picked up a year-on-year boost from its markets division in the first quarter, which includes interest rate derivatives trading and post trade services.
On Wednesday, Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing (HKEX) said it also set a new quarterly record after year-on-year revenue jumped 36% for the first three months of 2025, boosted by a resurgence in derivatives trading.
Deutsche Boerse this week kept its outlook for 2025 unchanged after a positive earnings read for the first quarter, but said it could raise guidance during the course of the year if volatility in financial markets persist.
