DUBAI, UAE – Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) Thursday announced its full-year market statistics for 2022, reporting 8.239 million contracts with a value of US$162.01 billion during the year, representing growth of 16 percent and 8.24 percent from 2021, respectively.
The DGCX is the largest and most diversified derivatives exchange in the Middle East.
With inflation rising steadily over the course of 2022, investors increasingly turned to gold, with DGCX reporting a 78 percent increase in the volume of gold contracts traded on the exchange compared to the previous year.
Throughout the year, DGCX saw steady trading in Indian Rupee, as market participants looked to hedge their exposure to one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
DGCX also saw volume growth for the Yen, Australian, and Canadian Dollars and increased investor interest in the Euro and British currency.
Ahmed Bin Sulayem, CEO of DGCX, said, “During 2022, DGCX delivered significant double-digit growth across multiple metrics in the face of continued economic challenges around the world.”
He said, “Within this context, with participants focusing on currencies and gold, DGCX launched physical gold and spot gold contracts. DGCX also made history by being the first UAE exchange to list Israeli Shekel Futures, delivering even greater product diversity and liquidity for traders.”
He added, “As we look to 2023, DGCX will continue to expand its operations by building new partnerships and providing investors and market participants with products and services that are highly innovative and add value.”
2022 Milestones
In 2022, DGCX launched new Physical Gold Futures and Spot Gold Contracts as part of its strategic focus on becoming the region’s de facto gold pricing standard.
The two products provide traders and financial institutions with the ability to use physical gold as collateral to access affordable sources of short-term lending, backed by the guarantee provided through the Exchange clearing house.
The move followed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between DGCX and the precious metals firm, FinMet to expand the DGCX product offering and market participation.
The first transaction was completed in September 2022 between DGCX member Paloma Precious DMCC and a leading UAE bank and in November 2022, SAM Precious Metals (SPM) received the required approvals to trade their gold and silver bars for the first time on DGCX.
DGCX also saw its recognition as a third-country CCP (TC-CCP) by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) renewed in 2022, a move that reflects its adherence to international regulatory standards and reaffirms its alignment with the most stringent risk management and governance frameworks.
DGCX also announced its intention to list Israeli Shekel Futures from June 2022 as part of its strategic focus on diversifying its FX product offering and fast-growing currency segment.
The listing of Israeli Shekel Futures also represents a significant step in building on the UAE’s strategic relationship with Israel.
The announcement was swiftly followed by DGCX’s participation in the region’s largest derivatives-focused conference, FOW Trading Israel, organized by Futures & Options World (FOW).
As the second-largest futures trading hub after the United States, Israel represents an important market for DGCX as it sets out to deliver strong currency volume growth over the coming years.