Today, the Financial Futures Association of Japan (FFAJ) has published its over-the-counter (OTC) Forex margin trading figures for August. The results, which measure the trading activity of members of the regulator, yet again showed a decline in trading activity.
The FFAJ is a self-regulatory body established in 1989 to govern the Japanese futures market. In August of this year, the number of members of the regulator remains unchanged from July, coming in at 53.
During the month, the firm reported a total OTC FX trading volume of ¥298 trillion ($2.7 trillion) amongst its members. This is down by 1.07 percent from July’s volume, which reported total trading of ¥301 trillion.
The monthly OTC Forex Trading volumes have been on a downward trajectory since May this year. July’s volumes were down 7.61 percent month-on-month from June of this year. The monthly drop from June to May was even more noticeable, at more than 12 percent.
The total trading volume for USDJPY, cross yen, was ¥258 trillion. Again, this is a 2.8 percent decline from July’s volumes, which experienced a trading volume of ¥265 trillion. On-exchange contracts, on the other hand, actually experienced an uptick in the trading volume of 4.32 percent, coming in at ¥2.5 trillion.
FFAJ Members Increased Trading Activity in Long Positions
Moving on to open positions, in August the trading volume for total open positions were down around 3% month-on-month at ¥6.72 trillion. The trading volume for short positions was also down from July’s volume of ¥2.85 trillion, coming in at ¥2.53 trillion in August. Trading volume for long positions, however, bucked the trend and actually saw an increase of more than 6 percent to reach ¥4.36 trillion.
Earlier this year,Finance Magnates reported that the FFAJ released its quarterly report of member activity. Despite there only being a minute increase in its membership ranks, the Japanese regulator reported substantial increases in on-exchange and over-the-counter futures trading volumes amongst its members.
