Australia-based research firm Investment Trends has recently published a retail FX report for its home market. The Investment Trends 2015 Australia Foreign Exchange Report is based on a survey of 13,910 online investors including 3,967 active FX traders.
Key findings:
- IG Group Holdings plc (LON:IGG) and CMC Markets Plc (LON:CMCX) continued to dominate the market in terms of primary market share.
- The number of active FX traders remained stable.
- The switching rate remained high.
- The Australian retail FX market shows strong growth potential.
In tune with findings from an earlier Investment Trends report on the Australian CFD market published in the fall of 2015, the latest Investment Trends study shows that IG Group and CMC Markets continue to dominate in Australia by primary market share.
IG retains the top spot amid FX providers in Australia with a 14% primary share, followed by CMC Markets (11%) and FXCM (10%).
CMC Markets and Pepperstone, which recently secured strategic investment from CHAMP Private Equity, were the biggest market share movers in 2015, increasing their primary market shares by 2 percentage points and 3 percentage points respectively.
The number of active traders, that is traders that placed at least one trade in the past 12 months, was 49,000, remaining the same as a year earlier. This brings to a halt a four-year decline in the number of local traders. Furthermore, the Australian retail FX market is now close to half the size of the US, with a markedly smaller population.
The number of traders in the Investment Trends report that were likely to place their first FX trade in the coming 12 months rose by 60% in 2015, pointing to strong growth in the future.
Switching activity accelerated, as during the 12 months to November 2015, 10,000 Forex traders left a provider and kept trading with another. This accounts for 21% of the Australian Forex market, compared with 19% in 2014.
Investment Trends also recognized brokers who get the highest ratings from the clients in certain categories. In 2015, CMC Markets gets the highest rating for platform features and IG Group is at the top for mobile trading.
Mr Tamas Szabo, CEO of IG Australia, commented,
“We are extremely pleased to be named the provider of choice. Our technology, execution and financial stability is being recognised, which is pleasing given the investments we’ve made here”.