GMO Click is Latest Broker to Report Weak FX Volumes in April

GMO Click, the retail brokerage unit of Japanese IT giant GMO Internet, has published its trading volumes for the month of April 2019, posting some of the weakest monthly results for the Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term all year.

April has been a difficult month for a lot of trading venues. As Finance Magnates reported, the Cboe, Euronext and the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSX) and a number of other trading providers have reported a slump in volumes for the month.

GMO Click is not immune to this trend, the figures suggest. In fact, despite an uptick in on-exchange foreign exchange (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) margin accounts via Click 365, the monthly transaction volume was 390,769 contracts.

When comparing this against the previous month, which had a transaction volume of 508,264 contracts, April’s figure has fallen by 23.1 percent. It is also down on a yearly comparison by 17.3 percent, as April of 2018 had a monthly transaction volume of 472,436 contracts.

For over-the-counter (OTC) FX margin trading through the FX Neo platform, the results don’t look much better. In the month of April, the total monthly turnover was ¥493.99 billion ($4.5 billion).

Comparing this against March of 2019, which had a monthly turnover of ¥618.4 billion, April’s result has dropped by 20.1 percent. Against the same month in 2018, last month’s turnover is lower by 27.4 percent.

GMO Reports Weak OTC FX Trading in Q1

This decline in trading comes despite the fact that the number of customer accounts increased during the month of April. Specifically, FX NEO accounts rose from 598,758 accounts to 605,313 last month.

Earlier today, GMO Internet released its financial results for the first quarter of 2019. As Finance Magnates reported, the profitability of OTC FX trading, which accounts for more than half of net sales and profit for the Internet Finance unit, was weak and was not strong enough to offset a decline in transaction volume.

According to the report, this dip in transaction volume was caused by a sudden fluctuation in exchange rates in the FX market earlier this year. Overall, net sales for the Internet Finance segment came in at ¥6.4 billion ($58.4 million).