Following three months of strong FX trading volumes to start off the year, GTX – the institutional FX arm of retail forex broker Gain Capital Holdings Inc (NYSE:GCAP) – has reported that activity slowed somewhat during the month of April 2018.
GTX reported $306.5 billion of total trading activity in April between its ECN and SEF business ($279.0B) and its Swap Dealer activity ($27.5B), down from $374.5 billion in March, an 18% decline. On a daily average volume basis, activity was down 14% in April, $14.6 billion ADV versus March’s $17.0 billion.
GTX ECN set an average daily volume record of $16.1 billion in February, beating the $13.9 billion record from January by 16%. A total monthly ECN FX volume record of $322.7 billion was also set in February, despite the fewer number of trading days, beating January’s $305.0 billion. Heading into 2018, GTX’s previous record of $279.8 billion dates to August 2017.
| April 2018 | Total Volume | ADV | |
| ECN + SEF | 278,981 | 13,285 | |
| Swap Dealer | 27,500 | 1,310 | |
| Total | 306,481 | 14,594 | |
| % Change vs. March 2018 | Total Volume | ADV | |
| ECN + SEF | 317,738 | 14,443 | |
| Swap Dealer | 56,797 | 2,582 | |
| Total | 374,535 | 17,024 | |
| ECN + SEF | -12% | -8% | |
| Swap Dealer | -52% | -49% | |
| Total | -18% | -14% | |
| % Change vs. April 2017 | Total Volume | ADV | |
| ECN + SEF | 230,546 | 11,527 | |
| Swap Dealer | 50,176 | 2,509 | |
| Total | 280,721 | 14,036 | |
| ECN + SEF | 21% | 15% | |
| Swap Dealer | -45% | -48% | |
| Total | 9% | 4% |
The data presented includes GTX’s swap dealer business which provides “voice” agency execution services, representing about 20% of total volumes.
Outside of the volumes calc, GTX had a busy month in April, adding Bank of Tokyo executive Henry Durrant for FX liquidity management.