Japanese broker GMO Click Securities has released their January volume data and it wasn’t just an all-time record for them, but the highest figure ever reported for a retail Forex broker. During January, GMO reported total volume of $777.8 billion, a 101% increase versus December 2012’s figures. The figures more than secured the largest retail broker by volume top spot.
Before posting the figures we waited for confirmation from the broker to verify that the results were an ‘apples to apples’ comparison and weren’t the result of a different volume calculation methods or the inclusion of another new business division at the broker. Responding to our inquiries, a representative from GMO Click Securities answered that the record volumes were the result of market influences and said “The reason of the doubling of the number from December was trading related. Our trading volume increased by the fall in the exchange rate of the yen, so a lot of customers traded rather than in December. We do not change counting way and do not include influence from merger.”
While a month over month doubling in volume is very rare for an established broker, it does follow similar results that we have seen in Yen crosses for January where the TFX reported a 63% increase and the CME hit all-time volume records in the yen.