Despite all its woes over the past year, retail forex broker FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM) continues to produce healthy operational results. January 2016 retail forex volumes at FXCM came in at $331 billion, 2% above December, although 13% lower than last January. LeapRate readers will recall than FXCM’s problems began last January following the Swiss Franc spike, creating a $276 million loss in the form of negative client balances at FXCM.
The FXCM figures follow a series of other positive volume results reported so far in January by other leading retail forex brokerages.
FXCM’s institutional volumes were basically unchanged MoM in January, however are down significantly from last year. LeapRate readers will recall that is due to FXCM transferring last year most of its institutional business to FastMatch, in which FXCM is a partner alongside Credit Suisse and BNY Mellon.
A summary of FXCM’s key customer trading metrics for January 2016 for both its retail and institutional foreign exchange businesses follows:
Retail Customer Trading Metrics
- Retail customer trading volume of $331 billion in January 2016, 2% higher than December 2015 and 13% lower than January 2015.
- Average retail customer trading volume per day of $16.5 billion in January 2016, 12% higher than December 2015 and 9% lower than January 2015.
- An average of 689,635 retail client trades per day in January 2016, 38% higher than December 2015 and 18% higher than January 2015.
- Active accounts of 171,895 as of January 31, 2016, a decrease of 5,952, or 3%, from December 2015, and an increase of 3,454, or 2%, from January 31, 2015.
- Tradeable accounts of 162,636 as of January 31, 2016, an increase of 1,004, or 1% from December 31, 2015, and a decrease of 20,356, or 11%, from January 31, 2015.
Institutional Customer Trading Metrics
- Institutional customer trading volume of $36 billion in January 2016, no change from December 2015 and 51% lower than January 2015.
- Average institutional trading volume per day of $1.8 billion in January 2016, 13% higher than December 2015 and 49% lower than January 2015.
- An average of 40,580 institutional client trades per day in January 2016, 38% higher than December 2015 and 147% higher than January 2015.