U.S. retail Forex assets have been largely stable in 2017, with figures being on the upswing over the past few months. However, retail forex clients’ deposits in the US dropped by 4 percent during January 2018, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s monthly report.
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Although Volatility during the first month of the calendar year was markedly higher, registered brokerages operating in the United States were unable to translate the strong momentum into substantiated gains in deposits.
The four licensed FCMs reported losses of forex obligations for the period ending January 31 – the total amount of retail forex obligations reached $510.6 million during the month, which corresponded to a decline of 4 percent month-over-month from December 2017.
Looking closer at the latest tranche of CFTC data, total futures commission merchants’ (FCM) funds were all negative at all reporting brokerages in the industry. The worst performer for the month was Interactive Brokers which saw an overall drop of $4.4 million to $42.3 million at the end of January 2018, compared to $46.7 million at the end of December, or a decrease by 9 percent month-over-month.
In addition, GAIN Capital saw an overall loss of $9.8 million, or -4 percent, to $239.4 million at the end of January 2018, compared to $249.2 million the previous month. OANDA Corporation and TD AMERITRADE also reported lower figures in terms of retail FX funds, shedding 2 percent and 4 percent respectively.
Looking at the market share of different brokers, the distribution has remained broadly unchanged in January relative to the month prior. GAIN Capital has remained the uncontested leader in terms of market share, commanding a 47.0 percent share. OANDA also solidified its stance as the second largest in the US with 33.0 percent market share – TD Ameritrade and Interactive Brokers retain a 12.0 and 8.0 percent share respectively.
The chart listed below outlines the full list of all FCMs that held Retail Forex Obligations in the month ending in January 31, 2018 – for purposes of comparison, the figures have been included against their December 2017 counterparts to illustrate disparities.
