Assuming data is to be believed, GMO Click did $756 billion of spot FX volume in January.
We have often been (and remain) somewhat skeptical of volume and related data we see coming out of Japan. However, even if somewhat exaggerated, GMO Click’s January is one for the books. The company (which is publicly traded via parent GMO Internet Inc., so data reported should be reliable) reported that spot FX volume in January totaled ¥68.06 trillion, or $756 billion — which as far as we can tell would be a record month for any retail FX firm anywhere. (Global industry leader FXCM’s best-ever month was October 2011, at $513 billion).
GMO Click has made some add-on acquisitions lately (mainly FX Prime), but in any event the $756 billion figure — or about $33 billion daily — is absolutely amazing, more than double GMO Click’s next best month dating back to 2009, when Japanese regulators began to lower leverage allowed in several steps down to 25x.
Clearly, the newly-installed Japanese government’s pledge to encourage growth by taking action to lower the Yen has brought much more action and volatility to the Yen pair trades, and brought back many traders to the Japanese market. It will be interesting to see if this dynamic is temporary — going away again when Yen volatility abates — or if it has brought back new life to the Japanese retail FX market, still reeling from the lower volatility actions of the regulators.
For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.