As marketers in the forex sector know only too well, acquisition is tougher than ever before. There’s so much competition, tighter than ever regulations and limits on leverage and incentives.
The battle to catch and retain traders is fierce and survival depends on the ability to stand out from the crowd.
Effective marketing is critical for your survival as a brokerage in 2019. However, trends, techniques, and expectations are evolving and using outdated information can greatly reduce the success of your marketing campaigns.
Leading content marketing agency, Contentworks specialises in marketing for the financial services sector. Here, Creative Director Charlotte pulls the latest forex trading stats that marketers need to know about.
The Forex Market in 2019
- The global forex trading market is worth $1,934,500,000,000
- Over 85% of the global forex market transactions happen on just 7 major pairs GBPUSD, EURUSD, USDJPY, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, USDCHF, USDCAD,
- Forex trading daily volume is 53 times more than the NYSE
- The FX market is 12 x larger than the futures market and 27 x larger than the equities market.
Forex Trading User Numbers
1. Over 43% of forex trades are millennials
43.5% of traders are aged 25-34 years. Often referred to as Digital Natives, millennials are comfortable with new technology and expect their user experience to be personalised, smooth sailing and hassle-free.
They’ll jump ship if unsatisfied so it’s important to captivate this demographic with advanced marketing techniques that appeals to their need for accessibility and almost instant gratification.
You need to be offering slick onboarding, a mobile app and easy deposit and withdrawal processes as a minimum. Of course, millennials also expect online customer support via social media too.
2. Only 15% of traders are over 45
Trader numbers change constantly, but on average, the number of traders over 45 years old is only around 15%. Additionally, the number of older traders is decreasing. Your marketing strategy should account for these varying trader numbers to create campaigns that will get results.
In other words, if the majority of your audience are in the millennial group, you need to be placing marketing material in top ‘hangout’ spots for this demographic.
Avoid missing key opportunities by not knowing who you’re talking to! A key takeaway here is to utilise networks frequented by the under 45s. These include Medium, Instagram and Twitter.
Mobile Forex Trading Statistics
3. Over 35% of traders conduct mobile searches
Besides retaining old traders, the idea behind marketing is to acquire new ones. Over 35%of traders are using their smartphones or tablets to search for a broker. Tailoring your marketing efforts to make them mobile-responsive increases your chances of getting new traders.
It’s worth remembering too that voice search is on the rise. So, with more and more mobile users utilising Siri and Alexa, your content needs to be optimised properly.
4. Mobile trading is likely to double again
A 2018 survey revealed that mobile trading was extremely likely to increase from 18% to 37%. Mobile trading is even more popular now and the trend is expected to continue.
It’s important to note that the big millennial target market has heavy mobile device usage. 43% of them check their phones every 20 seconds. Mobile marketing holds great potential in 2019. Brokers need to be offering mobile friendly trading and education centres.
In-app notifications are great too but don’t overdo it. Nobody likes a notification pest and millennials will be quick to unsubscribe.
5. 3% more traders use Android over iOS phones
More traders prefer Android. 41.8% of traders use iOS compared to 56.1% of traders who have Android devices. In such a competitive industry, knowing how to maximise exposure is essential and that comes from knowing the stats.
If you have an app then be sure to promote it to the correct demographic. We have seen trading apps for iOS only being promoted to all device holders which only results in disappointment.
Around 2 billion people across the globe will be using fintech apps by 2020 making it important to embrace trends as soon as possible.
Social Media Statistics
6. 34% of the millennial target market love social media
34% of millennials use social media to help them make a purchase decision. Additionally, 84% of them trust social proof more than traditional advertising. Are your channels up-to-scratch?
Are you posting new and enticing content that the millennial generation will want to follow? Remember, they can follow whoever they like and silence brands that disinterest them. This is a generation who don’t like to be sold to.
7. Educational tweets get 3 times more engagement
Twitter has always been big for forex trading. How-to tweets that help to educate traders get 3x more engagement than other tweets. It’s also wise to mix up content formats of tweets to increase exposure.
Images get 128% more retweets than videos, but videos get 49% more likes than images. Additionally, tweets with links get 86% more retweets. Of course, in the finance sector you need to be using the right hashtags to get the acquisition you want.
#NYSE, #DOW, NASDAQ, #SP500 plus #Trump, #Brexit , #OPEC and #Fed should all be on your list. Plus of course hashtags for the major pairs. For a full list of useful hashtags click here.
8. Instagram has 1 billion users
Twitter represents just 32% of Instagram’s active monthly users. With 1 billion users, the potential to get more conversions with Instagram is substantial.
Indeed, there are 25 million business profiles on Insta, so your broker really needs to work to stand out. USG (user generated content), Takeovers, Boomerang, AMAs and of course great photos will all help brokers to stand out. Want to do paid advertising? One click on Instagram costs $2.40 on average, while in Japan it’s only $1.48.
Influencer Statistics
9. 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations
Influencers help to instil trust. They can help you reach a big portion of your target audience in less time. 49%of all traders, are won over by influencers.
Traders want brokers that will give them the best returns. They will probably consider influencers’ recommendations when making their choice.
Think about aligning your broker with relevant macro or micro influencers. They could be famous traders, investors or even celebrities or sportsmen or women if the fit is right.
10. 59% of marketers are planning to increase influencer spending
Influencer marketing is a big growth channel for forex trading. 59% of marketers are planning on increasing their influencer marketing spending in 2019. However, your marketing should only use authentic influencers.
52% of millennials now distrust synthetic influencers who just promote to get paid and have no genuine interest in what they are promoting.
Your influencer should be aligned with your brokerage and able to hold their own in the dog eat dog world of social media.
Popular Topics Statistics
11. 4 potential developments are at the top of traders’ lists
Traders believe that four potential developments will have the most impact on the markets in 2019. 55% think the evolution of US trade will impact markets, 12% are banking on Brexit, 24% on the growth of China and 8% on emerging market growth.
Forex markets are volatile and they are affected by current events. Integrating popular news into your trading marketing plan is likely to increase the value of your tweets and campaigns.
Content Statistics
12. 95% of traders still fail
95% of all traders still fail and 80% quit in the first two years. The major cause of failure is lack of sound research. Effective marketing in 2019 must include educating traders. You have to provide unique relatable content that caters to the different levels of traders’ and investors’ experience.
This means a complete education centre complete with videos, FAQs, a glossary and of course links to your support team. Acquiring traders is one thing but you must motivate and retain them with timely, easy to comprehend information and resources.
13. 87% of marketers are using video
The use of video in marketing is growing exponentially. The number of marketers using video is up 6% in 2019 and is now at 87%. Marketers are also getting an average ROI of 83% with video content.
Video content is powerful, particularly live videos and it should be part of your forex marketing strategy. Think about going live from your brokerage, creating a series of trading education videos and perhaps a weekly market update video.
Remember that 85% of viewers will watch Facebook and social feed videos on silent. This means your videos must be annotated with key stats and information.
Technology Statistics
14. 49% of traders believe that AI will improve their trading decisions
The growth of AI is more pronounced in the forex trading sector due to the increased use of robots for trading. Forex marketing should address the growth of AI. 49% of traders believe AI will improve their decision-making.
Furthermore, 62% of traders think AI improves trade execution and 68% believe that it provides more meaningful data Analytics .
Content marketing is critical for brokers wanting to stay ahead of the game this year. Contact Contentworks for financial services content that works hard for your brand. You can catch the team at the iFXEXPO or follow them on Twitter for updates.
