Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
Japanese forex brokerage Money Partners Group (TYO:8732) reported that its May forex trading volume dropped to 68.5 billion currency units (not converted to yen). It is nearly 8% less than this April and is a continuing trend since the start of this year. It is also almost 15% lower than the trading volume of last May.
According to the broker, the decrease in the trading volumes was mostly due to the lower volatility and a smaller number of traders because of the “Golden Week” a string of of four holidays closely spaced together and observed at the end of April and beginning of May in Japan.
At the same time, the number of active client accounts is rising from 276,891 in April to 278,360 in May. The client deposits, though, have remained pretty much at the same levels, reaching almost JPY 59.5 billion, up from April’s JPY 59.4 billion. Over the year, May’s deposits rose 22.2%. The increase came mostly from retail customers, as the deposits of institutional clients actually fell by JPY 383 million, to JPY 10.2 billion.
According to the preliminary report, Money Partners Group’s operating revenue continued its fall and was JPY 468 million, down 1% from April’s JPY 473 million.
In its statement, the broker comments that in the beginning of May the yen reached its lowest price against the dollar in one year and seven months. The intervention of the Japanese government and the expectations on various Japanese and US economic indicators drove its price towards the end of the month. The volatility of the dollar/yen rate was generally lower than in April and as a result, the overall volatility on other major currency pairs also decreased.
Money Partners Group is a holding company which is comprised of forex and contracts for difference (CFDs) broker Money Partners and financial system development company Money Partners Solutions. It serves both retail and institutional clients.
Overall in May Japan’s forex and binary markets fell by double digits. The country’s largest forex brokers GMO Click Securities and Monex also reported drop in their trading volumes for the month.
