CFTC releases Q2 2011 financial data - overall retail forex deposits are $9 million lower
- CFTC requires all its members to submit their own capital reports and for members (RFEDs and FCMs) the amount of retail forex obligations. For some reason this report wasn't made public since April and now CFTC made available the monthly reports for May, June and July. This allows us to track the amount of retail forex obligations for all US retail forex brokers.

CFTC requires all its members to submit their own capital reports and for members (RFEDs and FCMs) the amount of 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 trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. 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 trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. Read this Term Obligations Obligations In finance, an obligation is a financial responsibility where the terms of a contract must be met. Should an obligation between parties fail then the party who is at default may face legal action. In this scenario, the guilty party will not only have to agree to pay the set amount to fulfill the contractual arrangement but may also be responsible for covering all legal proceedings cost. Routine payments or outstanding debt of any kind are considered financial obligations, so if someone owes you or will owe you money that is considered an obligation. Different Types of ObligationsBonds, banknotes, and coins are examples of obligations because they assure users that they are accredited with the face value of that item. Obligations play a considerable role in personal finance and should be included in every budget. While every budget is different from one another, individuals can use the Financial Obligation Ratio (FOR) that is published quarterly by the Federal Reserve Board as a good reference point on how to best structure individual budgets. For those in the process of retirement planning, obligations should be scrutinized with a wide scope.These should include typical financial obligations such as mortgage payments and healthcare expenses that may incur. In trading, obligations are dealt in the form of put options and short selling or they may refer to the selling of shares on the next trading day after they were purchased in delivery. When obligations fail to be met and legal proceedings have begun, the severity of the punishment set forth is primarily determined by the terms of the contract although juror and judge intervention may lessen the obligations that must be met to fulfill the contract. In finance, an obligation is a financial responsibility where the terms of a contract must be met. Should an obligation between parties fail then the party who is at default may face legal action. In this scenario, the guilty party will not only have to agree to pay the set amount to fulfill the contractual arrangement but may also be responsible for covering all legal proceedings cost. Routine payments or outstanding debt of any kind are considered financial obligations, so if someone owes you or will owe you money that is considered an obligation. Different Types of ObligationsBonds, banknotes, and coins are examples of obligations because they assure users that they are accredited with the face value of that item. Obligations play a considerable role in personal finance and should be included in every budget. While every budget is different from one another, individuals can use the Financial Obligation Ratio (FOR) that is published quarterly by the Federal Reserve Board as a good reference point on how to best structure individual budgets. For those in the process of retirement planning, obligations should be scrutinized with a wide scope.These should include typical financial obligations such as mortgage payments and healthcare expenses that may incur. In trading, obligations are dealt in the form of put options and short selling or they may refer to the selling of shares on the next trading day after they were purchased in delivery. When obligations fail to be met and legal proceedings have begun, the severity of the punishment set forth is primarily determined by the terms of the contract although juror and judge intervention may lessen the obligations that must be met to fulfill the contract. Read this Term. For some reason this report wasn't made public since April and now CFTC made available the monthly reports for May, June and July. This allows us to track the amount of retail forex obligations for all US retail forex brokers.
Important to note: the numbers here only include capital held at the reporting US subsidiaries whereas most brokers have several overseas subsidiaries which cater to non-US clients.
There is a decrease in overall obligations but it's hard to know whether this means that less traders trade with US forex brokers or whether some non-US clients moved to overseas subsidiaries of these brokers.

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CFTC requires all its members to submit their own capital reports and for members (RFEDs and FCMs) the amount of 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 trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. 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 trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. Read this Term Obligations Obligations In finance, an obligation is a financial responsibility where the terms of a contract must be met. Should an obligation between parties fail then the party who is at default may face legal action. In this scenario, the guilty party will not only have to agree to pay the set amount to fulfill the contractual arrangement but may also be responsible for covering all legal proceedings cost. Routine payments or outstanding debt of any kind are considered financial obligations, so if someone owes you or will owe you money that is considered an obligation. Different Types of ObligationsBonds, banknotes, and coins are examples of obligations because they assure users that they are accredited with the face value of that item. Obligations play a considerable role in personal finance and should be included in every budget. While every budget is different from one another, individuals can use the Financial Obligation Ratio (FOR) that is published quarterly by the Federal Reserve Board as a good reference point on how to best structure individual budgets. For those in the process of retirement planning, obligations should be scrutinized with a wide scope.These should include typical financial obligations such as mortgage payments and healthcare expenses that may incur. In trading, obligations are dealt in the form of put options and short selling or they may refer to the selling of shares on the next trading day after they were purchased in delivery. When obligations fail to be met and legal proceedings have begun, the severity of the punishment set forth is primarily determined by the terms of the contract although juror and judge intervention may lessen the obligations that must be met to fulfill the contract. In finance, an obligation is a financial responsibility where the terms of a contract must be met. Should an obligation between parties fail then the party who is at default may face legal action. In this scenario, the guilty party will not only have to agree to pay the set amount to fulfill the contractual arrangement but may also be responsible for covering all legal proceedings cost. Routine payments or outstanding debt of any kind are considered financial obligations, so if someone owes you or will owe you money that is considered an obligation. Different Types of ObligationsBonds, banknotes, and coins are examples of obligations because they assure users that they are accredited with the face value of that item. Obligations play a considerable role in personal finance and should be included in every budget. While every budget is different from one another, individuals can use the Financial Obligation Ratio (FOR) that is published quarterly by the Federal Reserve Board as a good reference point on how to best structure individual budgets. For those in the process of retirement planning, obligations should be scrutinized with a wide scope.These should include typical financial obligations such as mortgage payments and healthcare expenses that may incur. In trading, obligations are dealt in the form of put options and short selling or they may refer to the selling of shares on the next trading day after they were purchased in delivery. When obligations fail to be met and legal proceedings have begun, the severity of the punishment set forth is primarily determined by the terms of the contract although juror and judge intervention may lessen the obligations that must be met to fulfill the contract. Read this Term. For some reason this report wasn't made public since April and now CFTC made available the monthly reports for May, June and July. This allows us to track the amount of retail forex obligations for all US retail forex brokers.
Important to note: the numbers here only include capital held at the reporting US subsidiaries whereas most brokers have several overseas subsidiaries which cater to non-US clients.
There is a decrease in overall obligations but it's hard to know whether this means that less traders trade with US forex brokers or whether some non-US clients moved to overseas subsidiaries of these brokers.
