Kabu, a Japanese online brokerage, has published its trading numbers for the month of January, showing a growth in demand for forex, but a month-on-month decline in stocks.
Forex trading volume in January on Kabu’s over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk came in at ¥37.6 trillion from the previous month’s ¥36 trillion. That was an increase of 4.44 percent month-on-month.
Compared with the corresponding month in 2020, FX demand increased by 10.9 percent from ¥33.96 trillion. FX volumes on Kabu peaked at ¥51 trillion last March with the COVID-spurred volatility across the markets. However, none of the platforms, including Kabu could maintain the windfall levels gained in that month.
Kabu’s forex volumes for last month was only behind the numbers that the platform achieved in March 2020.
Securities Demand Took a Downturn
Moving to the securities division, Kabu witnessed a dip in the demand. The monthly trading volume of stocks on the platform went down to ¥27.28 trillion, declining 8.6 percent from the previous month’s volume of ¥29.87 trillion.
The decline in securities trading demand co-related with the slump in the newly opened accounts. Kabu opened 12,226 new accounts in January, compared to 13,485 accounts in December. The total number of securities accounts on the platform now reaches 1,236,222.
A further look into Kabu’s monthly metrics reveals that the assets under custody at the end of January remained above ¥24.9 trillion, while the credit balance stood at ¥2.24 trillion.
Japan is one of the major global forex markets with many established brokers. Last year, all these platforms reported a massive gain in activities. The market data compiled by Finance Magnates recently revealed that GMO Click, another Japanese forex broker, ended 2020 with an average monthly volume of above $1 trillion, a milestone none of its competitors have achieved yet.
