Retail FX volumes flat, but institutional volumes very slow globally in October.
LeapRate’s Retail FX Volume Index, sponsored by Leverate, was fairly flat in October, with global retail FX trading activity down 1% to $177 billion per day. However this marks the fourth consecutive month where volumes remained well below last year’s levels, with the year-over-year declines in the 10%-15% range.
LeapRate’s Retail FX Volume Index is a monthly measure of global trading activity in the retail FX sector.
Sources: LeapRate research, monthly and quarterly volume reports of various Forex ECNs and Forex brokerage firms.
Gerald Segal, LeapRate Managing Director commented, “October’s FX trading activity was fairly interesting, in that retail and institutional trading activity diverged. Despite muted volatility in October after a more tumultuous August and September, retail FX traders generally kept up their trading volumes. However institutional traders stayed mostly on the sidelines, waiting out the results of the U.S. election, negotiations on Greek debt, and of course waiting for more volatility.”
The LeapRate Retail FX Volume Index, sponsored by Leverate, is a monthly measure of activity, stated in billions of dollars per day. It is calculated using proprietary formulas developed by LeapRate. The data input into the model are based on examining monthly and/or quarterly activity levels put out by various retail FX brokerage firms; similar activity levels announced by other FX aggregators such as Forex ECNs (e.g. Thomson Reuters, FXall, ICAP-EBS, Hotspot FX) and FX settlement firms (e.g. CLS Group); as well as anecdotal evidence we encounter as part of our general research activities in the Forex sector.
LeapRate is a leading research and information firm serving the global FX industry. Through its partnership with Dow Jones, LeapRate publishes the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report, a comprehensive review of the retail FX industry. Other LeapRate services include Best-of-the-Web FX Research and our daily FX Research email for traders, the Forex Yellow Pages, Forex Exec Search job listings, and our Approved List of regulated FX brokerage firms worldwide. For more information please see our website at www.leaprate.com.