Increased Volatility Helps Fx Brokerage and Exchanges to Post Healthy Operational Metrics

Gain CapitalAssisted by the increase in volatility of the Fx market in the month of June, foreign exchange trading venues and exchanges across the world managed to post some healthy operational metrics. After two months of subdued trading activity compared to the first three months of this year, the latest volatility has boosted volumes which will help to translate it into a profitable opportunity for the Fx industry.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI), during the month of June 2018, witnessed total average daily volume of its Foreign exchange products, including spots, forwards, swaps options and non-deliverable forwards (NDF) at $452 billion, an increase of 4.5 per cent month-on-month from $432 billion in May 2018. And, a growth of 17 per cent in the same interval a year ago. 

The trading volumes in the month of June failed to surpass the trading volumes of February and March by few billion dollars which were recorded at $463 billion and $461 billion. The two best months on record for trading volumes.

Thomson Reuters in recent times has started to offer real-time cryptocurrency data and has also launched price data feed for virtual currencies. It has also launched a new version of MarketPsych Indices (TRMI) to include market sentiment data for the top 100 cryptocurrencies to increase transparency and efficiency of the cryptocurrency market.

GAIN Capital Reports 12% MoM fall in Retail Fx volumes

Gain Capital (NYSE: GCAP), the leading retail and institutional fx brokerage has failed to capitalize on the increased Fx market volatility in June 2018. The retail Fx unity, FOREX.com and City Index has posted a combined 12 per cent month-on-month decline in trading volumes coming in at $213.9 billion. 

Glenn Stevens, Chief Executive Officer of GAIN Capital
Glenn Stevens, Chief Executive Officer of GAIN Capital

The institutional trading platform, GTX has also posted a 22 per cent decline in trading volumes coming in at $297.5 billion. Also, this will be the last month Gain will be reporting trading volumes data for GTX as it has been sold to Deutsche’s Boerse’s 360T for $100 million.

Though posting weak trading volumes in June 2018, Gain Capital had posted fairly good numbers in the first half with retail fx trading volumes averaging $246 billion monthly, versus just $206 billion in all of 2017.

Commenting on the numbers, Gain Capital CEO, Glenn Stevens said:

“Operating metrics for the second quarter demonstrate our continued progress in executing on our revenue volatility reduction initiatives. The implementation of our new, AI-driven hedging model, which we began rolling out in March, enables us to optimize our hedging activity and reduce variability in our results. These efforts helped deliver revenue per million of $107 during the second quarter. We are pleased with our progress during the first half of the year and, following the sale of our GTX business, feel we are in an even stronger position to continue to drive growth and profitability as we focus on our core retail business.”