Retail forex broker Alpari has reported its monthly trading volumes for May 2018, which saw a slight downturn in its turnover relative to last month. The latest volumes came despite a recent rebound in the metrics of Western brokers, helped by a rise in politically driven volatility that is looking like the main factor driving the currency market this year.

Just one month after an upbeat performance in April, the latest tranche of turnover volumes at Alpari was pointed lower, paring part of the group’s recent gains. More specifically, this entailed a turnover of $136.1 billion in May 2018, compared to $138 billion in April 2018, or -1.5 percent month-over-month.

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Despite the month-over-month decline, May 2018 did manage to outperform the volumes of the year ago when the group secured a reading of $101.4 billion for May 2017.

Moreover, Alpari said that GBPUSD trading was mitigated, likely due to the chronic uncertainty that characterizes the Brexit negotiations with the EU. Specifically, the turnover of the Cable dropped 7 percent month-over-month. However, the EURUSD, in particular, experienced a surge in trading volumes at Alpari in May 2018, rising 15.0 percent month-over-month.

The boost to volatility from Italy after populists have taken power has helped prop up European brokers even as they battle through a clampdown on the regulation of the sector.

In particular, GAIN Capital’s retail OTC trading volume was reported at $243.3 billion, an increase of 9.4 percent month-on-month compared to $222.4 billion in April. Also during May 2018, Saxo Bank’s average daily FX volume came in at $12.3 billion, up 5.12 percent month-over-month from $11.7 billion in April 2018.