LMAX Group, an independent operator of institutional FX venues for FX and cryptocurrency trading, has announced its financial results for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2019. The Group marked strong growth in revenues and profits, helped in large part by institutional and crypto trading. These gains, however, build on an already successful H1, with virtually all segments pointed higher.
LMAX offers exchange style execution for OTC-traded FX products, such as spot FX. In addition, the company’s portfolio covers several assets classes and markets, including cryptocurrency, precious metals, commodities, and equity indices.
For 2019, LMAX Group posted a total of $59.6 million worth of revenues, which represents a growth of 19.0 percent year-over-year. One of the biggest contributors to this figure was LMAX’s growth in the institutional segment, which saw its revenues swelling by 86% and volumes up 20%. Revenues and turnover in the investment manager segment also doubled, while proceeds from the retail broker segment gained 23 percent year-over-year.
David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Group
The Group’s latest revenues also corresponded to an uptick in FX trading volume across its exchanges, which topped $3.5 trillion in 2019, up 15% from 2018. Moreover, the Group’s spot cryptocurrency exchange, LMAX Digital, traded over $53 billion in 2019, up 14x from the year earlier.
In terms of its bottom-line metrics, LMAX Group reported a 30 percent increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, with 2019 EBITDA coming in at $26.2 million. Operating profit also rose 45 percent to $18.6 million.
LMAX expands to market data while crypto on a spree
The solid turnover on the Group’s FX exchanges comes on the heels of higher volatility in the market and growing demand from a combination of proprietary trading firms and Asian brokers, the company says. The solid results coincide with the surge in crypto trading activity from institutional investors on LMAX Digital, which averaged $250 million per day over the last five months
In June, over $8.6 billion was transacted on the LMAX Digital crypto exchange, marking a new record for the platform. A month earlier, a record high of over $400 million in daily spot volumes was achieved on May 12. These monthly figures are three times more than April’s volumes, which stood at $2.2 billion.
LMAX Digital is the spot cryptocurrency exchange of the LMAX Group, which operates FX execution venues such as LMAX Exchange (institutional FX exchanges and FCA regulated MTF) and LMAX Global (FCA and CySEC regulated brokers).
Business highlights, according to the company’s report, show that market data offering will be a strategic growth area in the next decade as LMAX seeks to leverage its ability to gather Liquidity info from all client segments.
Commenting on 2019 performance, David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Group, said: “2019 was the year that LMAX Group demonstrated the value and resilience of our distinctive ‘all market access’ business model. Access to 100% of the FX market doesn’t just differentiate our business proposition, it’s a source of diversified and consistent revenue streams. A diversified revenue mix ensures the resilience of our financial performance in all market cycles.”
Reflecting on the Group’s future plans, Mercer continued: “We are extremely excited for the year ahead and expect our core FX business to continue its growth trajectory, reflecting the increasing demand from all client segments for firm limit-order liquidity and transparent, precise, consistent execution. We see further opportunities to continue leveraging our technology to launch new exchanges, whether it’s setting up more FX matching engines globally or building exchange infrastructure for trading other asset classes, just like we did with LMAX Digital.”
