2022 in Forex: Retail Traders More Active despite Lower Deposits

The last two months of 2022 brought mixed results for the FX/CFD industry, with December delivering a complete slowdown to main operational metrics. Finance Magnates Intelligence dives deeper into CPattern data for November and December to see how the retail trading industry finished the year.

After November’s jump in the value of an average single deposit, December data showed an unexpected decline to $1,473 from $2,457. This way the financial industry ended up a whole year lower than it had started, at $1,893.

A visible downtrend was also seen in the case of the average first-time deposit. Its value decreased throughout the whole year from $2,319 to $1,679, marking an annual low in August at $663.34. Both metrics suggest that retail traders were very cautious when sending money to their trading accounts.

A similar pattern could be observed in the case of total monthly values. While the value of both total deposits and total withdrawals fluctuated for the whole year; the general trend was slightly negative. The average total monthly deposit value fell from $12,774 seen in January to $9,073 in December. In the same period, the average total monthly withdrawal decreased from $7,687 to $6,498.

The Activity of the Retail Industry

How retail traders were responding to market changes? Their activity increased in 2022, as the average number of transactions grew from 258 to 288. When it comes to most countries, the Asian region was dominant in activity. At the top of our rank, China was seen four times, while South Korea took the lead three times. On average, Asian traders conduct many more transactions than traders from any other region.

To summarize, the year 2022 was not easy for the FX/CFD industry. While it recovered from the pandemic depression, it was hurt by other factors, including the limited involvement of traders due to higher global inflation. Should 2023 be better? If macroeconomic conditions allow, everything is possible. Finance Magnates will keep monitoring the situation.