

Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The combined trading volume of over-the-counter (OTC) commodity contracts for difference (CFDs) in Japan stayed flattish over the month at JPY 515,4 billion in May 2016, according to data published by the Commodity Futures Association of Japan (CFAJ). Compared to a year earlier, the figure represents a growth of nearly 20%.
The most traded CFD instruments in May was energies with a volume of JPY 369.5 billion in total, posting a monthly drop of 11%. CFDs on precious metals had a volume 17.1% higher in the month to JPY 108.9 billion in May and agricultural products were traded at a volume of JPY 37 billion, which is more than a fivefold increase from April.
In May, CFD transactions numbered 12,757,709, which represents a drop of 19.5% from the previous month. Brokers handled 5,887 CFD account in May, up from 5,659 accounts in April, and their clients’ margin balances stayed flat month-on-month at about JPY 5.0 billion.
The data is collected from the CFAJ’s members. Following are details about Japanese CFD brokers’ monthly metrics for May:
Total CFDs | Energy CFDs | Precious metal CFDs | Agricultural CFDs | |
Trading volume | JPY 515.4 bn | JPY 369.5 bn | JPY 108.9 bn | JPY 37.0 bn |
–sell volume | JPY 253.5 bn | JPY 184.1 bn | JPY 51.7 bn | JPY 17.7 bn |
–buy volume | JPY 261.9 bn | JPY185.3 bn | JPY 57.2 bn | JPY 19.4 bn |
Transactions | 12,757,709 | 8,581,367 | 3,289,408 | 886,934 |
-sell deals | 6,653,188 | 4,180,109 | 1,881,013 | 592,066 |
-buy deals | 6,104,521 | 4,401,258 | 1,408,395 | 294,868 |
In May, Japan’s OTC forex and binary options markets also shrank over the month by double digits, generating volumes of JPY 366 trillion and JPY 30.4 billion, respectively.
Source: CFAJ