London – 9 March 2026: Confidence across the global derivatives industry continued to strengthen in the first quarter of 2026, driven by expectations that sustained volatility will create opportunities, according to the latest SGX Global Market Sentiment Index Report produced by Acuiti in association with SGX Group.
The index rose to 75 in Q1 2026, up from 71 in Q4 2025, marking the second consecutive quarterly increase and bringing confidence close to levels recorded at the start of 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. Sell-side execution desks also saw rising confidence fuelled by expected volatility in energy markets.
The results, which were collected before the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, indicate that firms increasingly expect volatility to remain a persistent feature of global markets. This volatility has supported stronger trading activity across multiple asset classes.
While most industry segments reported rising optimism, asset managers recorded a decline in confidence, with the proportion of optimistic respondents falling to 51%, down from 61% in Q4 2025.
Asset managers expressed concern about potential sharp declines in asset values, particularly in US equities, alongside the impact of geopolitical instability on longer-term investment flows.
In contrast, trading-focused firms reported stronger outlooks. Proprietary trading firms recorded the largest increase in sentiment as firms expect sustained volatility to create more consistent trading opportunities.
“Even before the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, global uncertainty had created significant volatility across global markets. Many senior executives in our quarterly survey of the derivatives market said that this volatility was now entrenched in the market,” said Will Mitting, Managing Director of Acuiti.
“This has created opportunities for many firms in the derivatives market to provide liquidity to investors seeking to reposition in the wake of an ever-changing outlook.”
Optimism remained high among sell-side firms. 81% of sell-side execution respondents and 84% of sell-side clearing respondents expect business performance to improve over the next three months.
This quarter’s report also explores engagement with Asian fixed income derivatives markets, where participation is expected to increase during 2026. Sell-side firms and proprietary trading firms show the strongest expansion plans for Asian fixed income in 2026.
Japan and China were the main markets in which firms expect volumes to grow this year, with increasing interest also reported in India and Singaporean markets. However, respondents highlighted several constraints on further growth, including market fragmentation, liquidity challenges for buy-side firms and regulatory complexity across jurisdictions.
Download the full report here: https://www.acuiti.io/the-sgx-global-market-sentiment-report-q1-2026/
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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.