Australia based research firm Investment Trends has published an updated report on FX and CFD trading in its home market. Overall, FX trading has dipped slightly down under (in the 12 months leading up to November 2014), with 49,000 investors placing at least one FX trade through an Australian provider, down from 51,000 in 2013 – in line with what’s been seen in other geographies as low volatility was the rule of the day for most of 2014.
Investment Trends found that broker satisfaction reached a record high in Australia, but that trader loyalty should not be taken for granted. The rate of switching from one provider to another dropped from 27% in the 2013 to 19% last year, the largest decline among all countries surveyed. Investment Trends did point out, however, that trader loyalty is likely to have already been unsettled by the upheaval of floating the CHF/EUR pair.
Providers who emphasized and performed well on customer service also performed well on overall client satisfaction. Oanda and AxiTrader led in customer service and satisfaction, followed by FXCM, Pepperstone and IG. Investment Trends cited specifically FXCM’s new pricing structure and AxiTrader’s upgrades to its MT4 platform as being notable contributors during the year to increased customer satisfaction.
As far as mobile trading goes, Australia lags other areas with about 70% of traders using mobile at some point. The Singapore retail forex market leads that category at 88%, the UK market is at 73%.
Investment Trends’ latest survey covered 11,879 traders and investors in Australia.