The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has published its latest data collected from Retail Foreign Exchange Dealers (RFEDs) operating under its jurisdiction. The statistics show that the total size of the retail market in 2016 decreased when compared to the figures reported at the end of the previous year.
The retail Forex obligations of the companies amounted to
[gptAdvertisement]$525.7 million. The figure is lower by 3.5 percent when compared to the end of December 2015 and higher by 0.4 percent when compared to November 2016.
Looking at the biggest movements throughout the month, Interactive Brokers is at the top with an 8.8 percent monthly increase of retail forex obligations to $33.5 million. Deposits at other brokerages have been more or less flat, leading to tiny changes.
The final data for 2016, Source: US CFTC
FXCM continues to be the biggest brokerage in the US with OANDA in distant second, closely followed by GAIN Capital. The gap between second and third increased to $6 million in December.
Overall FXCM still has 34 percent of the US retail forex market with OANDA following with 26 percent, while GAIN Capital’s share decreased by one percentage point to 24 percent. TD Ameritrade has about 10 percent of the total, while Interactive Brokers is last with about 6 percent.
US Retail Forex Market Share, Source: CFTC Data
The US foreign exchange market is marking yet another year of declines after losing 1 percent in 2015 and 8 percent in 2014. Back in 2010, in the immediate aftermath of the enactment of the Dodd-Frank act, the size of the market was $742 million.
President Trump and his closest advisors are exploring the option of dismantling certain provisions of Dodd-Frank, that should allow smaller banks to revitalize lending. For the time being, no plans regarding the brokerage industry have been outlined by the Trump administration.
Looking ahead, any hopes that the industry might have for reform might have to wait until the midterm elections in 2018.
