Monex and TradeStation Record Higher DARTs and Accounts in February

Japanese financial services firm Monex Group has released its monthly performance metrics for its Monex Inc. and TradeStation subsidiaries.

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The first metric listed for the FX Trading (OTC FX) business is the number of trading accounts, which was 245,396, marking an increase of 891 accounts relative to last month’s release at 244,505.

Meanwhile, the number of accounts has risen more substantially over the course of the past 12 months, marking a 4.5% increase (10,641 accounts), from 234,755.

While the total number of accounts is steadily rising, it does not provide a true indication of market participation. The number of active accounts has also remained flat at 64,202 compared to last month’s figure at 64,144.

However, the long-term trend is more concerning, as the number of active accounts has declined by 1.9% YoY, shedding 1,239 active accounts in a 12-month span.

Monex Inc.’s FX trading business has certainly seen improved trading volume since the start of the year. The group saw average daily trade value in February reach $1.63 billion (¥171.8 billion), up 10.2% YoY, from last February’s level of $1.48 billion (¥155.9 billion). The results of the past month are actually down 4.9%, relative to January’s strong performance of $1.71 billion (¥180.7 billion).

TradeStation Data Improved

The number of DARTs at TradeStation Group really took off in February, reaching 148,929 and marking a monthly improvement of 27.7% from January’s results of 116,645. The figure also marks a strong increase YoY of 49.5%, relative to last February’s level of 99,588.

Improved DARTs were likely infused by an increasing number of active accounts for TradeStation Group, which saw a 17.3% rise YoY, to reach 73,024.

Monex is vying to increase its client base and volume, by applying TradeStation’s trading tools and technology across an array of global financial markets. Toward the end of 2016, the group launched the TradeStation platform for its active traders in Japan, in order to facilitate volume and revenues.

TradeStation, which was acquired by Monex Group in 2011 for $411 million, reached a partnership agreement with Interactive Brokers (UK) last month.

Interactive Brokers sought the partnership in order to provide clients with access to TradeStation premium features such as the RadarScreen market monitoring and ranking tool, as well as its charting package.