Commerzbank’s Thu Lan Nguyen says the ECB has expanded its EUREP repo facility so all eligible non-euro central banks can access euro liquidity, unless excluded for regulatory reasons. The policy aims to make euros available beyond the euro area, especially during periods of market disruption.
The move follows efforts by EU leaders to strengthen the euro’s role in global finance. The ECB’s approach is to widen access so euros can be obtained when needed.
Euro Liquidity Lines Still Lag The Dollar
Nguyen notes that use of the ECB’s euro liquidity lines has been low when compared with US Federal Reserve arrangements. In 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, outstanding payments from the Fed’s US dollar lines to foreign central banks peaked at around USD 450 billion.
The Federal Reserve also has permanent swap lines with five major central banks: the ECB, Bank of Japan, Bank of England, Swiss National Bank, and Bank of Canada. The comparison shows that, in periods of global market stress, demand concentrates on US dollars rather than euros.
The ECB’s broader goal is to increase the use of euros for cross-border payments, including transactions between third countries.
The European Central Bank is trying to boost the euro’s international appeal by making it easier for central banks to access euro liquidity. However, the simple truth is that when global markets face turmoil, the demand remains overwhelmingly for the US dollar, not the euro. This core dynamic continues to cap any significant ambitions for the euro to strengthen fundamentally against the dollar.
Implications For Eurusd Positioning
Recent data confirms this trend. The latest SWIFT report from January 2026 showed the dollar’s share in global payments holding firm at nearly 47%, while the euro remained stagnant around the 23% mark. Furthermore, the ECB’s own figures for the last quarter of 2025 revealed that usage of its expanded EUREP facility was less than €15 billion, a tiny fraction of the liquidity the US Federal Reserve provides during times of stress.
Looking back from our vantage point in 2025, this pattern is well-established. During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the Fed’s dollar liquidity lines peaked at an enormous $450 billion as institutions scrambled for dollar funding. We saw this same flight-to-safety behavior again during the energy crisis of 2022, reinforcing the dollar’s role as the world’s primary reserve and crisis currency.
For derivative traders, the path forward in the coming weeks should reflect this reality. Any increase in global risk sentiment, whether from geopolitical news or financial market instability, should be viewed as a bearish signal for the EUR/USD exchange rate. This suggests that buying EUR/USD put options or selling futures contracts are viable strategies to position for a stronger dollar during these episodes.
This strategy is not just about the direction of the currency pair but also about its volatility. Because the rush to the dollar in a crisis is so predictable, an effective approach can be to acquire options that benefit from a spike in volatility. This allows a trader to position for a potential sharp, downward move in EUR/USD before broader market anxiety becomes apparent.
