Retail Forex industry volumes driven by ideal trading conditions — a risk-on environment, volatility, and strong volumes in the Far East.

LeapRate’s Retail FX Volume Index, sponsored by Leverate, hit another all-time record in May, rising nearly 7% to $229 billion daily. Forex industry trading volumes continue to sit about 20%-25% above last year’s levels. The increased activity in the retail FX sector was driven primarily by traders in the Far East, who continued to set records in Japan forex trading and elsewhere in the region.

Around the world, retail traders — who typically follow volatility — were encouraged by a risk-on bull market with continually rising equity prices (although that has reversed somewhat in June), and continued volatility in commodities markets following Gold’s mid-April deep swoon.

LeapRate’s Retail FX Volume Index is a monthly measure of global trading activity in the retail forex industry.

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Sources: LeapRate research, monthly and quarterly volume reports of various Forex ECNs and Forex brokerage firms.

Gerald Segal, LeapRate Managing Director commented, “The momentum in retail forex industry volumes which has built up throughout the early part of the year shows no signs of slowing down. May brought record trading volumes for leading industry leaders including GMO Click, FXCM, Alpari and Gain Capital.”

The LeapRate Retail FX Volume Index, sponsored by Leverate, is a monthly measure of activity, stated in billions of dollars per day. It is calculated using proprietary formulas developed by LeapRate. The data input into the model are based on examining monthly and/or quarterly activity levels put out by various retail FX brokerage firms; similar activity levels announced by other FX aggregators such as Forex ECNs (e.g. Thomson Reuters, FXall, ICAP-EBS, Hotspot FX) and FX settlement firms (e.g. CLS Group); as well as anecdotal evidence we encounter as part of our general research activities in the Forex sector.

LeapRate is a leading research and information firm serving the global FX industry. Through its partnership with Dow Jones, LeapRate publishes the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report, a comprehensive review of the retail FX industry. Other LeapRate services include Best-of-the-Web FX Research and our daily FX Research email for traders, the Forex Yellow Pages, Forex Exec Search job listings, and our Approved List of regulated FX brokerage firms worldwide. For more information please see our website at www.leaprate.com.

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