Firm volumes overall recover nicely following August “glitch”.
Brokerage firm Knight Capital — which famously nearly went under in early August after a trading glitch in its equities business caused a $400 million loss — announced its volumes for September, and in most key categories things seem to have stabilized. In its Forex ECN unit Hotspot FX, volumes returned to near-normal levels of $25.8 billion daily, up 23% from August’s $21 billion.
Knight Capital’s other businesses were harder-hit by the early-August glitch, and also saw a nice rebound in September. Knight’s main equities market-making business saw a 55% rise in volumes, to $19.4 billion, although that figure was still 29% below last year September.
Knight still reported an (expected) $390 million loss for the third quarter, which of course included a $461 million pre-tax loss related to the trading glitch (or what Knight call a “technology issue). The stock market reacted with a basic yawn, with Knight’s share price (NYSE: KCG) basically unchanged.
For more on historical FX trading volumes see the LeapRate Retail FX Volume Index, sponsored by Leverate. And for more generally on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.