US forex brokers profitability report for Q4 2011 shows steep drop in number of US accounts amid increase in traders' profitability

• Number of Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term accounts held with US forex brokers drops by more than 11,000 to all time low of 97,206
• Clients' profitability is up 6.4% on average, second consecutive quarter that profitability is improving
• OANDA is still the most 'profitable' broker although just 0.1% above GFT

US retail forex industry is now showing obvious signs of slow down with number of non-discretionary retail forex accounts held with US based reporting brokers down to record 97,206. This is the lowest count reported since Q3 2010 when first such report was released. Reasons can be many but without any doubt extreme regulatory climate has made it extremely difficult for American brokers to attract new clients. In fact only Forex Club and Tradestation have reported growth in number of accounts they hold.

American brokers now face very high compliance and regulatory costs on one hand while on the other they are not competitive as leverage, FIFO and hedging requirements forced foreign clients look elsewhere. American traders themselves were forced to either comply with those requirements or simply exit the market (and hopefully for NFA the futures lobby: go back to trading futures). There might be other explanations to this such as seasonal slowdown and relatively low Volatility Volatility In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, or stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Trad In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, or stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Trad Read this Term. Brokers may have been moving foreign traders to their foreign subsidiaries - as same trader in a foreign subsidiary is more profitable than in the American one due to the reasons mentioned above. However regulation without any doubt had a huge impact on this industry's slowdown.

FXCM in the past published a study about profitability of traders during low volatility times which may explain the rise in average profitability.

OANDA is still the most 'profitable' broker with 39% of its clients being profitable in Q4 2011. GFT is just 0.1% with profitability of its clients jumping 13.7%. PFG's profitability jumped 14.6% and Interbank's 10.0%. Amazingly profitability of all brokers improved in Q4 2011. Seems that traders in general were happier this quarter.

See the Q3 2011 profitability report.

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