Clear pattern emerging of slow institutional, but decent retail volumes in October.
Thomson Reuters announced their October FX ECN volumes at $120 billion per day — 10% off September’s $133 billion and 23% below last year October’s $155 billion. Thomson Reuter’s anemic October figures follow similar results we’ve seen already from other ECN / institutional FX platforms such as ICAP-EBS (down 17%, reporting its lowest FX volumes since 2005!), and CME Group (FX contracts volumes down 32%, its lowest FX volumes since 2009).
However in the retail FX sector the picture is emerging to be a little different, with FXCM reporting a nice increase in October in both retail (7%) and institutional (15%) volumes. A clear pattern is emerging whereby institutional investors and traders seem to have remained largely on the sidelines in September and October leading up to the U.S. election, even as volatility picked up in the currency markets, drawing retail traders back to the table after a very slow summer.
For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.