One of the leaders in foreign exchange research, Investment Trends, published the results of its “2016 Australia Foreign Exchange Report”. The study includes 13,000 traders and investors from Australia and was conducted in November 2016.

The findings of the report confirm once more the dominant position of IG Group in the country. The remaining 4 brokers in the top 5 are CMC Markets, FXCM, AxiTrader and for the first time, Pepperstone.

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Commenting on the results, the Research Director at Investment Trends, Dr Irene Guiamatsia, stated: “Not only did Pepperstone succeed in achieving growth in a fiercely contested environment, but they did so while delivering high levels of client satisfaction.”

A Growing Market

The Australian retail market for foreign exchange trading is back in shape after years of decline. Volatility pockets around the shocking political developments throughout 2016 have been the biggest driver for the rise. Overall the number of clients of FX brokers increased by about 4 percent to roughly 50,000. The figure includes traders that have opened at least one position throughout the year.

“The Australian FX industry has returned to growth, in a perfect illustration of volatility-at-work,” says Dr Irene Guiamatsia.

“A third of those who started trading FX for the first time during 2016 said they saw opportunities in market movements that convinced them to take the first step.”

New Traders Driving Growth

A record 16,000 new traders entered into the market last year, the highest number since 2011.

Throughout the year only 14 percent of active traders changed their FX broker. The number is much lower when compared to 2015’s 21 percent. The main reason for the stabilization is increasing satisfaction with existing brokers.

Clients of Pepperstone voted the company as the highest rated provider in the ‘Overall Satisfaction’, ‘Customer Service’ and ‘Value for Money’ categories of the survey. OANDA snatched top spot in ‘Mobile Trading’ and ‘Education’, while CMC Markets was singled out as the broker that offers the best platform features.