FXCM’s lowest retail forex volume metrics of 2013 offset somewhat by continued strong institutional sector.

Leading retail forex firm FXCM, a member of LeapRate’s Approved List of global regulated FX brokerage firms, announced surprisingly low September volumes — $285 billion retail and $181 billion institutional. September marks the first month this year that retail forex volumes dropped below the $300 billion level at FXCM (NYSE:FXCM).

September thus comes in at total volumes of $466 billion at FXCM, 10% below August’s $517 billion but still 33% ahead of last year. The growth in total YoY volume at FXCM is thanks primarily to FXCM’s strong sustained growth in institutional volumes. Last September FXCM was doing less than $50 billion monthly volumes with the institutional sector, and toady, as we wrote above, in even a slow month that figure is above $180 billion. FXCM has made a number of serious investments in its institutional business lately, such as the acquisition of institutional FX research shop Faros Trading.

One more observation — it seems as though the second half of 2013 will not be nearly as good as the first half for retail forex brokers worldwide, barring some huge uptick in volumes in the next two and a half months.

For the complete FXCM press release on September volumes click here.

For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.