US Forex brokers profitability report for Q3 2011 - OANDA back on top, profitability up

Finally all US retail Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term brokers have updated their profitability stats and the result is surprising - overall profitability is up. This is despite the very volatile quarter forex markets have experienced which typically leads to high losses to forex traders. Apparently forex traders coped with this Volatility Volatility In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders Read this Term better than I had expected.

Overall result is that most US forex brokers improved in profitability with FXCM jumping as much as 8% in clients' profitability - perhaps with the removal of positive slippage. OANDA is now the most profitable broker with 35.5% of its clients being profitable in the past quarter. This calculation excluded Advanced Markets which saw profitability jump by no less than 23.8% but considering it had only 45 account - it is insignificant and skews up the data.

Overall American market growth is simply disappointing as all US retail forex combined have added only 111 accounts in the third quarter of 2011. There are 108,490 active retail forex accounts held with American forex brokers.

* - Average profitability change excludes Advanced Markets

** - Weighted change excludes Advanced Markets and is a more accurate estimate of the average change for the whole market.

Q2 2011 report can be seen here.

Q1 2011 report can be seen here.

Q4 2010 report can be seen here.

Q3 2010 report can be seen here.

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