Following a ‘gang busters’ November where volumes rose 30%, DMM Securities hit another monthly record in December. During the month, volume rose 5.5% to 373.3 billion. We are still awaiting monthly figures from FXCM which are expected to be released later in the month, but, as it stands today, DMM Securities has solidly grabbed the number two slot of largest global retail Forex broker by volume. The $373.6 billion figure is just below the $377.6 billion number posted by GMO Click earlier this week.
Earlier this year, DMM Securities purchased the forex business from Gaitame Japan which gave the broker an initial boost of clients and volumes. Also helping figures has been end of the year Volatility in the Japanese Yen which caused the currency to become the world’s second most actively traded forex cross behind the Euro. Explaining the record volumes, Shoichi Arai from DMM Securities explained “December 2012 was the best month for 2012 . We bought Gaitame Japan last September, which then added volume. And, the last two months there was a big movement in the Euro and Yen, which led clients to do a lot of trading because we show a narrow spread in the majors like EUR, JPY, AUD, etc.”
In our upcoming Q4 forex report we take a look at the evolving Japanese market and how it is successfully handling new regulations which limited the use of leverage. One of the areas covered is M&A activity. With leading brokers announcing a strong end of the year, the positive effects of consolidation in the local Japanese industry are being revealed.