London – 21 November 2025: Business confidence across the global derivatives industry increased in Q4 after two consecutive quarters of the declining optimism, the latest SGX Global Market Sentiment Index, published today by SGX Group and Acuiti, has found.
The Q4 2025 index of industry sentiment rose to 71, up from 68 in Q3, as firms look ahead to a busy end of the year across equity, fixed income and energy markets. However, optimism remains well below its high in Q1 2025.
The SGX Global Market Sentiment Index is a quarterly benchmark of business confidence across the global derivatives industry, based on a survey of senior executives in Acuiti’s global network, covering proprietary trading, asset management, hedge funds, clearing firms and sell-side execution desks.
Sell-side clearing firms continued to top the index, buoyed by strong interest rate activity in several countries – most notably Japan – and elevated interest rates. Sell-side execution desks also saw rising confidence fuelled by expected volatility in energy markets towards the end of the year.
Meanwhile, proprietary trading firms recovered from a drop in confidence last quarter, with the strongest optimism seen among low-latency and algorithmic firms. Confidence among senior hedge fund and asset management executives remained relatively flat quarter-on-quarter.
“Overall as we head towards the end of the year, the derivatives market is in a bullish mood as expected levels of volatility in the market will drive volumes and the need to hedge and reposition,” said Will Mitting, Managing Director of Acuiti.
“We have seen an uptick in optimism as a result of the uncertainty in the market. However, there remains caution in some areas over the rising risk of a correction in global stock prices, particularly among some asset managers that are more exposed to directional market trends.”
This quarter’s report also takes a deep dive into how firms are approaching investment in Asia’s derivatives market and finds growing interest in seizing the unique opportunities that are on offer across the continent.
Of those firms that trade in Asian derivatives markets, two-thirds have increased their exposures during 2025. China and India dominate the list of countries that firms see opportunities within but Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan and South Korea also feature prominently – reflecting the diversity of the region.
Download the full report here: https://www.acuiti.io/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2025-Q4-SGX-Sentiment-Survey.pdf.
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For more information, contact:
For Acuiti:
Will Mitting
Tel.: +44 (0) 203 998 9190
Email: willmitting@acuiti.io
About Acuiti
Acuiti is a management intelligence platform that provides senior professionals in the derivatives industry with high-value insights into industry-wide performance and operations. Our platform allows an exclusive network of senior industry executives to share and source information on day-to-day challenges, giving their management teams greater transparency and analysis to make informed decisions and benchmark performance. Network members include senior executives at banks, non-bank FCMs, brokers, proprietary trading firms, hedge funds, and asset managers.
About Singapore Exchange (SGX Group)
SGX Group seeks to serve as the world’s most trusted and efficient international marketplace, operating equity, fixed income, currency and commodity markets to the highest regulatory standards. As one ecosystem with global relevance and influence, we offer multiple growth avenues to our stakeholders through listing, trading, clearing, settlement, depository, data and index services. We are committed to lead on climate action by developing a world-class transition financing and trading hub through SGX FIRST (Future in Reshaping Sustainability Together), our multi-asset sustainability platform. Headquartered in AAA-rated Singapore, we are globally recognised for our risk-management and clearing capabilities. Find out more at www.sgxgroup.com.