FXCM December forex volumes down seasonally 33% MoM to $235 billion

Retail forex broker FXCM Inc. (NASDAQ:FXCM) just announced certain key customer trading metrics for December 2016 for its retail and institutional foreign exchange business.

Overall, FXCM had its slowest volumes month since February 2015. But it is hard to make any kind of volume conclusions based on December, which is often seasonally slow due to the end-of-month holiday season.

FXCM had a fairly good 2016, at least as far as operations go, with all-important retail forex volumes remaining above $300 billion monthly from September through to the end of the year, save December.

Retail Customer Trading Metrics

  • Retail customer trading volume of $235 billion in December 2016, 33% lower than November 2016 and 27% lower than December 2015.
  • Retail customer trading volume for the fourth quarter 2016 was $893 billion, 2% higher than the third quarter 2016, and 7% lower than the fourth quarter 2015.
  • Retail customer trading volume for the full year 2016 was $3.5 trillion, 8% lower than full year 2015.
  • Volume from indirect sources was 39% of total retail volume in the fourth quarter 2016.
  • Average retail customer trading volume per day of $11.2 billion in December 2016, 30% lower than November 2016 and 24% lower than December 2015.
  • An average of 484,611 retail client trades per day in December 2016, 21% lower than November 2016 and 3% lower than December 2015.
  • Active accounts of 178,782 as of December 31, 2016, a decrease of 650, or 0.4%, from November 30, 2016, and an increase of 935, or 0.5%, from December 31, 2015.
  • Tradeable accounts of 155,353 as of December 31, 2016, a decrease of 575, or 0.4% from November 30, 2016, and a decrease of 6,279, or 4%, from December 31, 2015.

Institutional Customer Trading Metrics

  • Institutional customer trading volume of $25 billion in December 2016, 11% lower than November 2016 and 31% lower than December 2015.
  • Institutional customer trading volume for the fourth quarter 2016 was $77 billion, 20% lower than the third quarter 2016, and 31% lower than the fourth quarter 2015.
  • Institutional customer trading volume for full year 2016 was $527 billion, 1% lower than full year 2015.
  • Average institutional trading volume per day of $1.2 billion in December 2016, 8% lower than November 2016 and 25% lower than December 2015.
  • An average of 34,649 institutional client trades per day in December 2016, 3% lower than November 2016 and 18% higher than December 2015.

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