Going against a trend we have seen from most retail and institutional eFX trading venues, June Retail Forex volumes at FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM) were down 2% MoM at $275 billion.
Brexit-driven volatility in the currency markets drove trading volumes higher in virtually every FX broker and institutional platform which reported so far for June, but not FXCM. Retail Forex volumes were actually down for the fifth month in a row at FXCM, and at $275 billion are the lowest such figure for FXCM since February 2015 (see graph below).
Institutional volumes were up in June at FXCM by 14% to $57 billion.
However retail trading is where FXCM makes the vast majority of its Revenues. With retail volumes declining every month since January at FXCM, that doesn’t bode well for FXCM’s Q2 results which will be announced in a few weeks. Nor, for FXCM’s all-important task of generating excess cash flow to pay down its loan from Leucadia, on which FXCM continues to pay a fairly punitive rate of interest.
The full report from FXCM on June volumes follows:
[divide]
FXCM Reports Monthly Metrics
NEW YORK, July 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FXCM Inc. (NYSE:FXCM) today announced certain key customer trading metrics for June 2016 for its retail and institutional foreign exchange business.
June 2016 Customer Trading Metrics from Continuing Operations
Retail Customer Trading Metrics
- Retail customer trading volume of $275 billion in June 2016, 2% lower than May 2016 and 24% lower than June 2015.
- Average retail customer trading volume per day of $12.5 billion in June 2016, 2% lower than May 2016 and 24% lower than June 2015.
- An average of 585,295 retail client trades per day in June 2016, 6% higher than May 2016 and 4% higher than June 2015.
- Volume from indirect sources was 37% of total retail volume in the second quarter 2016.
- Retail customer trading volume for the second quarter 2016 was $842 billion, 10% lower than the first quarter 2016, and 16% lower than the second quarter 2015.
- Active accounts of 178,444 as of June 30, 2016, an increase of 544, or 0.3%, from May 31, 2016, and an increase of 1,139, or 1%, from June 30, 2015.
- Tradeable accounts of 171,507 as of June 30, 2016, an increase of 657, or 0.4%, from May 31, 2016, and a decrease of 16,862, or 9%, from June 30, 2015.
Institutional Customer Trading Metrics
- Institutional customer trading volume of $57 billion in June 2016, 14% higher than May 2016 and 58% higher than June 2015.
- Average institutional trading volume per day of $2.6 billion in June 2016, 13% higher than May 2016 and 53% higher than June 2015.
- An average of 35,640 institutional client trades per day in June 2016, 23% lower than May 2016 and 165% higher than June 2015.
- Institutional customer trading volume for the second quarter 2016 was $182 billion, 6% higher than the first quarter 2016, and 70% higher than the second quarter 2015.