{"version":1,"asset_type":"statistical_series","data_type":"time_series","slug":"bis-otc-derivatives","url":"https://apiardata.com/statistics/bis-otc-derivatives","html_url":"https://apiardata.com/statistics/bis-otc-derivatives/","title":"BIS OTC Derivatives: $844.6T Notional Outstanding","description":"$844.6 trillion in OTC derivatives notional outstanding as of H2 2025, up 20.7% year-on-year, per BIS semi-annual survey data.","domain":"markets","category":"Financial Markets","keywords":["Derivatives","Fixed Income","Financial Markets","Risk Management","Financial Stability"],"publisher":"Bank for International Settlements (BIS)","frequency":"Semi-annual","temporal_coverage":"1998-S1/..","last_updated":"2026-07-25","last_updated_text":"July 25, 2026","data_as_of":"H2 2025","variable_measured":"Notional amounts outstanding of over-the-counter derivatives contracts","measurement_technique":"Semi-annual survey of major OTC derivatives dealers; notional amounts outstanding measured on a net-gross (single-counted) basis; data collected by national central banks and reported to BIS","license":"https://apiardata.com/data-license","is_accessible_for_free":true,"sources":[{"name":"BIS WS_OTC_DERIV2 — OTC Derivatives Statistics","url":"https://stats.bis.org/api/v1/data/BIS,WS_OTC_DERIV2,1.0/H.A.A.A.5J.A.5J.A.TO1.TO1.A.A.3.C?format=csv"},{"name":"BIS Statistics Explorer — OTC Derivatives","url":"https://stats.bis.org/statx/toc/DER.html"}],"meta":[{"label":"Frequency","value":"Semi-annual (June and December)"},{"label":"Coverage","value":"1998–present"},{"label":"Instruments","value":"Interest rate, FX, equity, commodity, CDS"},{"label":"Reporting basis","value":"Net-gross (single-counted)"},{"label":"Last updated","value":"July 25, 2026"}],"kpis":[{"label":"Total Notional Outstanding","value":"$844.6T","unit":"USD trillions (H2 2025)","trend":{"direction":"up","value":"+20.7% vs H2 2024"}},{"label":"Interest Rate Derivatives","value":"79.3%","unit":"Share of total notional (H2 2025)","trend":{"direction":"up","value":"$669.5T outstanding"}},{"label":"Equity-Linked Derivatives","value":"$11.9T","unit":"1.4% of total notional (H2 2025)","trend":{"direction":"up","value":"+14.4% vs $10.4T in H1 2025"}},{"label":"FX Derivatives","value":"$148.7T","unit":"Second-largest category (H2 2025)","trend":{"direction":"down","value":"17.6% of total notional"}}],"series":[{"key":"value","label":"Global OTC Derivatives Notional Outstanding (USD trillions)"}],"observation_count":42,"observations":[{"period":"H1 2005","value":282.7},{"period":"H2 2005","value":299.3},{"period":"H1 2006","value":372.5},{"period":"H2 2006","value":418.1},{"period":"H1 2007","value":507.9},{"period":"H2 2007","value":585.9},{"period":"H1 2008","value":672.6},{"period":"H2 2008","value":598.1},{"period":"H1 2009","value":594.5},{"period":"H2 2009","value":603.9},{"period":"H1 2010","value":582.7},{"period":"H2 2010","value":601},{"period":"H1 2011","value":706.9},{"period":"H2 2011","value":634.3},{"period":"H1 2012","value":627.9},{"period":"H2 2012","value":622.4},{"period":"H1 2013","value":695.9},{"period":"H2 2013","value":710.1},{"period":"H1 2014","value":691.1},{"period":"H2 2014","value":627.8},{"period":"H1 2015","value":551.3},{"period":"H2 2015","value":492.5},{"period":"H1 2016","value":552.9},{"period":"H2 2016","value":482.4},{"period":"H1 2017","value":542.4},{"period":"H2 2017","value":531.9},{"period":"H1 2018","value":594.8},{"period":"H2 2018","value":544.4},{"period":"H1 2019","value":640.4},{"period":"H2 2019","value":558.5},{"period":"H1 2020","value":606.8},{"period":"H2 2020","value":582.1},{"period":"H1 2021","value":610},{"period":"H2 2021","value":598.4},{"period":"H1 2022","value":632.1},{"period":"H2 2022","value":618},{"period":"H1 2023","value":712.9},{"period":"H2 2023","value":667.1},{"period":"H1 2024","value":729.5},{"period":"H2 2024","value":699.5},{"period":"H1 2025","value":845.7},{"period":"H2 2025","value":844.6}],"table":{"columns":[{"key":"period","label":"Period"},{"key":"total","label":"Total (USD tn)"},{"key":"irDeriv","label":"Interest Rate (USD tn)"},{"key":"fxDeriv","label":"FX (USD tn)"},{"key":"equityDeriv","label":"Equity (USD tn)"},{"key":"cdsDeriv","label":"CDS (USD tn)"}],"rows":[{"period":"H2 2025","total":"844.6","irDeriv":"669.5","fxDeriv":"148.7","equityDeriv":"11.9","cdsDeriv":"11.3"},{"period":"H1 2025","total":"845.7","irDeriv":"665.8","fxDeriv":"155.2","equityDeriv":"10.4","cdsDeriv":"11.3"},{"period":"H2 2024","total":"699.5","irDeriv":"548.3","fxDeriv":"130.1","equityDeriv":"8.9","cdsDeriv":"9.2"},{"period":"H1 2024","total":"729.5","irDeriv":"578.8","fxDeriv":"129.9","equityDeriv":"8.7","cdsDeriv":"9.2"},{"period":"H2 2023","total":"667.1","irDeriv":"529.8","fxDeriv":"118.0","equityDeriv":"7.8","cdsDeriv":"8.7"},{"period":"H1 2023","total":"712.9","irDeriv":"573.6","fxDeriv":"118.5","equityDeriv":"7.8","cdsDeriv":"10.1"},{"period":"H2 2022","total":"618.0","irDeriv":"490.6","fxDeriv":"107.6","equityDeriv":"6.9","cdsDeriv":"9.9"},{"period":"H1 2022","total":"632.1","irDeriv":"502.5","fxDeriv":"109.6","equityDeriv":"7.0","cdsDeriv":"9.5"},{"period":"H2 2021","total":"598.4","irDeriv":"475.3","fxDeriv":"104.2","equityDeriv":"7.3","cdsDeriv":"9.1"},{"period":"H1 2021","total":"610.0","irDeriv":"488.1","fxDeriv":"102.5","equityDeriv":"7.5","cdsDeriv":"9.1"},{"period":"H2 2020","total":"582.1","irDeriv":"466.5","fxDeriv":"97.5","equityDeriv":"7.1","cdsDeriv":"8.6"}]},"qa":[{"question":"What does notional outstanding measure and why does it differ from actual risk exposure?","answer":"Notional outstanding is the face value or reference amount on which derivative payments are calculated — it represents the scale of contractual obligations, not the capital at risk. For an interest rate swap with $100 million notional, the actual cash flows exchanged are only the difference between fixed and floating rates on that $100 million, typically a few percentage points per year. Gross market value — the cost of replacing all outstanding contracts at current market prices — is the standard measure of true replacement cost if all contracts were closed simultaneously, and is consistently a small fraction of notional outstanding. Notional figures are widely cited because they track market activity and systemic interconnectedness, but analysts who equate them with loss exposure misstate risk by orders of magnitude."},{"question":"How do the smaller derivative categories — equity-linked and credit default swaps — compare with interest rate and FX contracts?","answer":"Equity-linked and credit default swap notional are both an order of magnitude smaller than the interest rate and FX categories that dominate the OTC market. Equity-linked derivatives stood at $11.9 trillion in H2 2025, up from $7.1 trillion in H2 2020 — a 67.6% increase that outpaced the market's overall growth over the same period. Credit default swaps stood at $11.3 trillion in H2 2025, up from $8.6 trillion in H2 2020, a more modest 31.4% increase consistent with a segment that has been shrinking in relative importance since the post-2008 wind-down of the structured credit boom. Together the two categories account for just 2.7% of total notional outstanding, against 79.3% for interest rate derivatives and 17.6% for FX — a reminder that the size and direction of the aggregate market is overwhelmingly a function of rate and currency hedging activity, not credit or equity derivatives."},{"question":"Why do interest rate derivatives account for nearly 80% of the OTC market?","answer":"Interest rate derivatives — primarily interest rate swaps, forward rate agreements, and cross-currency swaps — dominate the OTC market because they serve the largest hedging need in global finance: managing fixed-versus-floating rate exposure across bond portfolios, loan books, and funding structures. Every bank funding long-term assets with short-term liabilities, every corporation issuing fixed-rate bonds in a variable-rate world, and every sovereign managing public debt duration is a natural participant. The $669.5 trillion IR derivatives notional as of H2 2025 reflects the accumulated stock of multi-year swap contracts: a 10-year interest rate swap for $100 million contributes $100 million to notional outstanding for the full decade of its life."},{"question":"How has post-2008 financial reform changed counterparty risk in OTC derivatives?","answer":"The 2008 financial crisis exposed catastrophic weaknesses in bilateral OTC derivatives clearing. AIG's near-default on $440 billion in credit default swap protection triggered the largest government bailout in US history, primarily because contracts were entirely bilateral with no central margin buffer. The G20 Pittsburgh agreement in 2009 mandated central clearing for standardised OTC derivatives through central counterparties (CCPs), implemented via Dodd-Frank in the US and EMIR in the EU. By H2 2025, central counterparties clear the substantial majority of standardised interest rate derivatives notional, and CCPs now stand as the dominant counterparty in the market. The shift has concentrated systemic risk in a handful of CCPs — LCH, CME, Eurex — rather than eliminating it, making the resilience of CCP margin and default fund frameworks the primary systemic risk question in derivatives markets today."},{"question":"How do hedge funds and banks use OTC derivatives for portfolio management?","answer":"Banks use interest rate swaps to manage the duration mismatch between fixed-rate loan assets and floating-rate deposit liabilities, and FX forwards to hedge cross-currency funding. Corporations use cross-currency swaps to convert foreign currency bond issuance into domestic currency obligations. For hedge funds, OTC derivatives offer bespoke exposure to interest rate curves, credit spreads, FX forwards, and volatility surfaces that cannot be replicated with standardised exchange-traded futures. A global macro fund might hold a receiver swaption on 10-year USD rates as a recession hedge, or enter a credit default swap index (CDX) position to express a view on high-yield credit spreads. The bilateral, customisable nature of OTC contracts is their primary advantage over listed derivatives — and the source of the counterparty risk that central clearing reforms have partially, but not fully, addressed."},{"question":"How big is the global OTC derivatives market?","answer":"The global over-the-counter derivatives market is $844.6 trillion in notional amounts outstanding as of H2 2025, according to the Bank for International Settlements' semi-annual survey of major derivatives dealers. That figure is up 20.7% from $699.5 trillion a year earlier and roughly level with the $845.7 trillion reported for H1 2025. Interest rate derivatives make up the bulk of the market at $669.5 trillion (79.3% of total notional), followed by foreign exchange derivatives at $148.7 trillion, equity-linked contracts at $11.9 trillion, and credit default swaps at $11.3 trillion. Notional outstanding measures the reference amount underlying contracts rather than money at risk. The sum actually exposed to counterparty default, once contracts are marked to market and netted, is a small fraction of the headline figure, so notional is best read as a measure of market activity rather than of systemic loss potential."},{"question":"What was OTC derivatives notional outstanding in 2024?","answer":"OTC derivatives notional outstanding was $729.5 trillion in H1 2024 and $699.5 trillion in H2 2024, according to BIS data. The decline between the two halves of the year reflects a pullback in interest rate derivatives notional, which fell from $578.8 trillion in H1 2024 to $548.3 trillion in H2 2024 as swap positioning eased ahead of the following year's rate-cutting cycle. Foreign exchange derivatives held roughly steady across the year, at $129.9 trillion in H1 2024 and $130.1 trillion in H2 2024. The H2 2024 total of $699.5 trillion is the base against which the H2 2025 figure of $844.6 trillion is compared, producing the 20.7% year-on-year increase reported for the most recent period."},{"question":"What is the most recent OTC derivatives notional outstanding figure available?","answer":"The most recent published figure is $844.6 trillion, covering H2 2025 (period ending December 2025), released by the BIS as part of its semi-annual OTC derivatives statistics. BIS publishes this series twice a year, for end-June and end-December reporting dates, with a multi-month lag between the reporting date and publication. The prior release, H1 2025, showed notional outstanding of $845.7 trillion, meaning the two most recent halves are essentially flat after the sharp expansion recorded earlier in 2025. A 2026 notional figure is not yet available: the next scheduled release covers H1 2026 activity. Until then, $844.6 trillion (H2 2025) is the latest official BIS notional outstanding figure for the global OTC derivatives market."}]}