• After contracting by 4% in the first half of 2010, total notional amounts outstanding of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives rose by 3% in the second half, reaching $601 trillion by the end of December 2010.
• Notional amounts outstanding of credit default swaps (CDS) continued to contract, falling by 1% after the 7% decline in the first half. Gross market values of all OTC contracts fell by 14%, driven mainly by the 17% decline in the market value of interest rate contracts. CDS market values shrank by 19%. 
• Overall gross credit exposure dropped by 7% to $3.3 trillion, compared with a 2% increase in the first half of 2010.

Comprehensive explanatory notes in the release define the coverage of the statistics and the terms used in presenting them.

Full text of "OTC derivatives market activity in the second half of 2010" (PDF, 25 pages, 169 kb)