The Industry Spread

Trading Activity Cools Down in April After Reporting Record Industry Wide Trading Volumes in the Q1 of 2018

Following the record-setting forex trading volumes in the first three months of 2018, the industry is now witnessing a slow down in overall trading volumes. For the month of April, several brokerage houses have been reporting declined trading activity as the heightened market volatility have now cooled down.

Cboe Fx (NASDAQ: CBOE)

Formerly, Hotspot Fx reported a 5 percent decline average daily trading volume $36.3 billion in April 2018, compared to $38.1 billion in March 2018. In the month of January and February, the brokerage reported record average daily trading volume of 42.6 billion and $44.3 billion respectively. The April figure is still best compared to the average daily trading volume in 2017 which are at $29.6 billion.

Product wise, the most active and traded Fx pair in April 2018 was EUR-USD at 24.1 percent, USD-JPY at 14 percent, GBP-USD at 9.2 percent, AUD-USD at 8.2 percent, and USD-CAD at 6.9 percent.

Gain Capital (GTX- the institutional arm)

In April 2018, GTX reported total trading activity of $306.5 billion between its ECN-SEF business and Swap Dealer activity which were at $279 billion and $27.5 billion, a decline of 18 percent compared to March which was at $374.5 billion. But on yearly basis, it recorded a 9 percent increase in total volume.

On an average daily trading volume basis, the net decline is 14 percent in April, which is at $14.6 billion compared to $17 billion in March and on yearly basis, the April operating metrics are 4 percent higher.