Research outfit Investment Trends has issued its 2017 CFD Report for its home market of Australia, noting some changes in market share among the leading brokers serving Australian retail traders.
According to the Investment Trends report, UK online trading leader IG Group Holdings plc (LON:IGG) remains the dominant leader down under as well, with 35% of CFD traders using IG for the majority of their trades.
Making a move upward in the Top-5 was Plus500 Ltd (LON:PLUS), which pulled into third spot just ahead of the City Index unit of Gain Capital Holdings Inc (NYSE:GCAP).
Among the domestic providers, Investment Trends noted Pepperstone which moved up into the Top-10 brokers for the first time.
As far as the health of the overall Australian CFD market, Investment Trends noted that the Australian CFD trader population remains unchanged, with 37,000 investors placing one or more CFD trades in the 12 month period studied. A closer look at the industry’s market dynamics reveals the underlying issues behind the stagnation in participation levels.
“High levels of client dormancy are outweighing the industry’s strong client inflows,” explained Dr Irene Guiamatsia, Research Director at Investment Trends. ”The 17,000 individuals who stopped trading CFDs in 2017 represented 46% of the trader population.”
“Australia has one of the highest rates of dormancy relative to other international markets covered by Investment Trends, and this is impeding growth,” added Guiamatsia. Despite lower equities volatility globally, the number of CFD traders in the UK and Spain saw double digit growth in 2017, while the German CFD market grew by 6%.
The Investment Trends study is based on a large-scale survey of more than 12,000 investors and traders conducted in May 2017.