SMN
US forex broker Forex Capital Markets, or FXCM, reported on Tuesday an annual decline in both retail and institutional trading volumes in January 2016, according to preliminary data. The broker’s trading volume from retail operations went down by 13% on the year to $331 billion last month, while that from institutional clients dropped by an annual 51% to $36 billion.
On a monthly basis, the retail volume posted a slight increase of 2%, while the institutional volume stayed flat.
In the retail segment, FXCM reported an average daily trading volume of $16.5 billion in January, which represents an increase of 12%, compared to the previous month. However, the figure is 9% lower when compared to the same month a year earlier.
FXCM’s active retail trading accounts numbered 171,895 in January, posting a decline of 3%, or 5,952, from the previous month, but on the year they grew by 2%, or 3,454. Tradable accounts, or those with enough funds in them to olace a trade, went up by a monthly 1% to 162,636. On the year, retail tradable accounts declined by 11%.
The broker handled 689,635 trades of retail clients last month, or up by 38% on the month and by 18% over the year.
From institutional operations, FXCM saw a trading volume of an average $1.8 billion per day in January. This is 13% higher, compared to December 2015, and 49% lower year-on-year. The average daily institutional client trades numbered 40,580 last month, posting an increase both over the month and on the year of 38% and 147%, respectively,
The broker said the monthly metrics exclude the discontinued operations of FXCM Japan and FXCM Hong Kong, which it sold to its Japanese peer Rakuten Securities in 2015. Two two units continue to operate under the FXCM brand and to use the FXCM trading system, but are no longer part of the FXCM group of companies.
In comparison, Monex Group, a Japanese forex broker, had forex trading volume from global operations of $37.9 billion in January. Meanwhile, GMO Click Securities and FX Prime by GMO Corp., both part of Japanese forex brokerage group GMO Click Holdings, posted in January forex trading volumes of JPY 123.4 trillion and JPY 12.7 trillion, respectively.
FXCM is a registered utures Commission Merchant (FCM) and Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer (RFED) with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It has units registered and regulated with the relevant authorities in the US, the UK, Australia, and France.
The broker offers forex, contracts for difference (CFDs), and spread betting services. It offers 40 currency pairs on the Trading Station and MetaTrader 4 (MT4) trading platforms.
Source: FXCM
