Sochi Olympics + Muted Volatility = A Slow But Steady February in FX Trading.
After beginning 2014 with a bang in January, with retail FX trading volumes posting their second best ever result at $322 billion ADV, the industry saw something of a slowdown in February, although all in all it was still a decent month.
It seems as though many traders were either busy watching the Sochi Olympics, waiting out the Ukraine crisis, or just waiting for volatility to return (which it has in March). The result?
LeapRate’s Retail FX Volume Index, a monthly measure of trading volumes globally in the retail forex sector, fell by 7.8% in February from near-record January’s levels to come in at $296 billion daily — still better than most months in the second half of 2013.
All the major retail forex brokers, as well as all of the leading institutional Forex ECNs, saw volume declines in the mid-single digit / low double digit percentages.
Gerald Segal, LeapRate Managing Director, commented “Overall, Forex brokers should still be thrilled with the start to the 2014 year. January was great, and despite the slight slowdown in February it was still a steady month volume-wise. Retail traders have clearly returned in droves after sitting on their hands much of the fall season.”
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Sources: LeapRate research, monthly and quarterly volume reports of various Forex ECNs and Forex brokerage firms.
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, KCG Hotspot) 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.