Overall currency hedging volumes so far.....>

OPTIONS: Overall currency hedging volumes so far today are slightly more subdued

than on Tuesday/Wednesday, although Asia-Pac options activity remains a hotspot.

CNY, HKD and TWD activity is well ahead of average for this time of day.

Front-end vols across DMFX remain in normalization mode, with 1m contracts

generally all lower as spot consolidates.

- The upside bias in USD/CNY options trading remains firm, with over $2 in

USD/CNY calls trading for every $1 in puts so far today. 7.20 calls have drawn

particular focus, with over $400mln in notional crossing at that strike. Many of

those trades are consistent with being one leg of a call spread: one of the

larger structures crossing in the late Asia-Pac session was a 7.20/7.30 call

spread eyeing a June 2020 expiry.

- Another curious session for HKD options, with a clear bias toward USD/HKD

downside protection via puts. 7.65 and 7.70 USD/HKD puts traded in size, with

near $1bln crossing across the two strikes which sit lower than the HKMA's

7.75-7.85 trading band. Positions eye late June and late August expiries.