Mutsamudu, Comoros, September 16, 2026 – A newly released report from digital asset exchange MEXC shows a spike in demand for traditional financial assets ahead of the Federal Reserve’s critical mid-September meeting.
Trading volume for TradFi assets including gold, oil, and equities rose steadily from June to August before spiking on consecutive days as the Fed’s September meeting loomed.
September’s robust demand for traditional assets saw XAUT spot turnover increase sharply on two consecutive days, while oil-linked products recorded simultaneous gains across spot and futures. A number of equity-linked contracts also performed strongly, accruing the bulk of their September volume within the same two-day window.
The rise in TradFi trading appears to correlate with broader macroeconomic risk appetite coupled with the impact of the Fed meeting.
TradFi Nears One-Quarter of Total Futures Volume
The share of total futures trading volume commanded by TradFi assets grew almost twofold between June and August, rising from 11.5% to 22.9% during the two-month window. The share of TradFi assets being traded among all listed futures pairs rose in parallel from 24% to 36.7%.
Indeed, the entire TradFi futures sector recorded strong volume with stock, index, and ETF futures turnover rising from 31.9% in June to 56.6% in August. Individual stock futures accounted for the bulk of this increase, expanding from 18.1% to 29.9% in June and July respectively before peaking at 39.6% in August.
Index and ETF futures claimed 13.8% of TradFi volume in June and 11.3% in July before rising moderately to 17.1% in August.
Equity-Linked Activity Spikes Around September 10-11
MEXC’s September data shows significant demand for a handful of ETF-linked contracts during the first half of the month. September 10-11 accounted for 61.7% of SOXS’s cumulative trading volume over the entire September 1-12 window and 38.81% of SOXL’s volume for the same period.
The underlying SOXS and SOXL ETFs target opposite daily leveraged returns on semiconductor equities.
KORU showed an even sharper single-day concentration, with September 10 accounting for 59.2% of its entire September 1-12 volume. The underlying ETF targets leveraged daily exposure to South Korean equities, encompassing more than merely US semiconductor-linked products.
Taken together, these figures show activity concentrated across multiple equity exposures within the critical pre-Fed window.
Single Stocks Lead TradFi Spot Turnover
Combined trading volume of tokenized individual stocks and index and ETF products as a share of total TradFi spot volume also rose sharply over the summer. In June, they accounted for 52.5% of total TradFi volume, but by August this figure stood at 72%.
Tokenized individual stocks accounted for the bulk of this increase, rising from 45.4% to 63.5%, representing an impressive 18% gain. Index and ETF products rose more modestly, from 7.1% to 8.6%, suggesting that the shift in spot-market composition was focused primarily on single-name equity exposure.
Gold Spot Surges in September After an Uneven Summer
Gold futures trading volume across XAU, XAUT, and PAXG increased 8.7% month over month in July and 31.1% in August. Gold spot trading volume, incorporating GOLD (PAXG), GOLD (XAUT), GLDON, IAUON, GGBR, and XGZ, declined 21.16% in July but countered this by rising 13.3% in August.
As a result, August gold futures turnover was 42.6% higher than June, despite the reported gold spot basket remaining 10.7% below its June level.
Against that background, XAUT spot recorded two consecutive volume spikes in September. Turnover increased by a whopping 357.8% on September 10 compared to the previous day, then rose a further 177.8% on September 11.
The latter increase is particularly notable because it occurred on an already elevated trading base. This result pertains to XAUT specifically, it should be noted, and thus doesn’t represent a September growth figure for the entire gold spot basket.
Oil Spot and Futures Rise in Lockstep Ahead of the Fed
Elsewhere within the TradFi sector, oil futures trading volume across USOIL and UKOIL rose 62.7% month over month in July before declining by 34.6% in August. Oil spot trading volume in OIL (USOON) increased a mere 5% in July but spiked by 56.2% in August.
On September 11, however, the increase in oil futures volume occurred in parallel across both products. USOIL and UKOIL contract turnover rose by 59.1% and 48.4% respectively from the previous day, while OIL (USOON) spot turnover increased by 198.5%. Spot might have recorded the largest percentage gain, but futures activity also expanded substantially.
TradFi Trading Ramps Up Ahead of the Fed
An analysis of MEXC’s summer and September data for traditional financial instruments shows some clear trends. TradFi gained a larger share of total trading during this period, while selected products recorded concentrated bursts of activity shortly before the September FOMC meeting.
The overlap across gold, oil, and equity-linked contracts makes the September 10-11 window the clearest near-term finding in the report.
Following the Fed’s decision, the key test now will be whether current volume levels can be maintained and whether activity remains elevated across asset classes. A reversion to the mean would support September’s spike being a temporary event-related burst. Sustained activity, on the other hand, would provide stronger evidence that TradFi’s growing role in digital asset trading is more than merely a passing macro trend.
(MEXC notes that the observations in this report reflect trading activity on the MEXC platform during the stated period and are not intended to represent broader market trends.)
About MEXC
Founded in 2018, MEXC is a leading global multi-asset trading platform built as your 0-fee gateway to infinite opportunities. Serving users across 170+ markets, MEXC provides simple and efficient access to crypto, stocks, tokenized assets, derivatives, and a growing range of TradFi-linked opportunities through one account and one gateway.
With 0 trading fees, deep liquidity, broad asset coverage, and a high-performance trading experience, MEXC is designed for retail users who want to discover earlier, act faster, and trade with fewer barriers. As crypto and traditional finance continue to converge, MEXC is committed to making global opportunities more accessible, helping users trade freely and MEXCmize every opportunity.
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