FCMs report for March 2012 shows increase in US forex assets

by Michael Greenberg
    FCMs report for March 2012 shows increase in US forex assets
    Join our Telegram channel

    Total amount of retail Forex obligations for all reporting US brokers (except Citi, IB, etc) grew by more than $22 million. Despite the unprecedented low Volatility this growth is not surprising: client assets pile up because clients are not trading and not losing money. This formula however isn't perfect - while Q1 2012 volatility was very low clients' profitability actually decreased.

    OANDA's client assets increased by $15 million and FXCM added $4 million while Tradestation and GFT lost about $1.2 million each.

    MB Trading's numbers were reported accurately however CFTC still didn't amend the error from February - last month it reported MB's capital as if being just $3 million which is clearly wrong.

    table.tableizer-table {border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;} .tableizer-table td {padding: 4px; margin: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc;}

    .tableizer-table th {background-color: #104E8B; color: #FFF; font-weight: bold;}

    Adjusted Net CapitalTotal Amount of Retail Forex Obligation
    Feb 2012Mar 2012changeFeb 2012Mar 2012change
    ADVANCED MARKETS 20,514,940 20,447,107(67,833) 1,744,399 1,062,416(681,983)
    ALPARI (US) 26,494,182 24,137,708(2,356,474) 10,150,727 10,785,751635,024
    FXCM 70,970,146 55,176,630(15,793,516) 150,874,105 154,883,6634,009,558
    FOREX CLUB 22,280,354 22,247,374(32,980) 2,929,012 3,055,925126,913
    FX SOLUTIONS 34,112,319 30,750,773(3,361,546) 17,371,314 18,293,758922,444
    FXDD 27,752,368 26,216,219(1,536,149) 37,577,236 38,509,797932,561
    GAIN CAPITAL 49,702,410 52,401,6072,699,197 104,454,746 104,696,531241,785
    GFT 78,757,399 73,334,915(5,422,484) 86,471,012 85,260,204(1,210,808)
    ILQ 22,057,972 21,378,421(679,551) 10,839,362 12,238,6511,399,289
    MB Trading 3,531,864 23,161,70319,629,839 33,090,112 33,217,071126,959
    OANDA 140,526,582 131,735,615(8,790,967) 166,551,287 181,326,50714,775,220
    PENSON 103,472,532 119,103,33715,630,805 32,122,024 32,176,47254,448
    PFG 31,267,263 30,114,931(1,152,332) 31,084,408 33,989,4722,905,064
    RJ OBRIEN 198,224,186 201,906,3353,682,149 2,347,468 2,087,589(259,879)
    TRADESTATION/IBFX 24,223,703 25,395,1241,171,421 69,370,707 68,037,420(1,333,287)
    XPRESSTRADE 23,016,858 22,997,526(19,332) 1,411,493 1,307,017(104,476)
    Totals 876,905,078 880,505,325 3,600,247 758,389,412 780,928,244 22,538,832

    Total amount of retail Forex obligations for all reporting US brokers (except Citi, IB, etc) grew by more than $22 million. Despite the unprecedented low Volatility this growth is not surprising: client assets pile up because clients are not trading and not losing money. This formula however isn't perfect - while Q1 2012 volatility was very low clients' profitability actually decreased.

    OANDA's client assets increased by $15 million and FXCM added $4 million while Tradestation and GFT lost about $1.2 million each.

    MB Trading's numbers were reported accurately however CFTC still didn't amend the error from February - last month it reported MB's capital as if being just $3 million which is clearly wrong.

    table.tableizer-table {border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;} .tableizer-table td {padding: 4px; margin: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc;}

    .tableizer-table th {background-color: #104E8B; color: #FFF; font-weight: bold;}

    Adjusted Net CapitalTotal Amount of Retail Forex Obligation
    Feb 2012Mar 2012changeFeb 2012Mar 2012change
    ADVANCED MARKETS 20,514,940 20,447,107(67,833) 1,744,399 1,062,416(681,983)
    ALPARI (US) 26,494,182 24,137,708(2,356,474) 10,150,727 10,785,751635,024
    FXCM 70,970,146 55,176,630(15,793,516) 150,874,105 154,883,6634,009,558
    FOREX CLUB 22,280,354 22,247,374(32,980) 2,929,012 3,055,925126,913
    FX SOLUTIONS 34,112,319 30,750,773(3,361,546) 17,371,314 18,293,758922,444
    FXDD 27,752,368 26,216,219(1,536,149) 37,577,236 38,509,797932,561
    GAIN CAPITAL 49,702,410 52,401,6072,699,197 104,454,746 104,696,531241,785
    GFT 78,757,399 73,334,915(5,422,484) 86,471,012 85,260,204(1,210,808)
    ILQ 22,057,972 21,378,421(679,551) 10,839,362 12,238,6511,399,289
    MB Trading 3,531,864 23,161,70319,629,839 33,090,112 33,217,071126,959
    OANDA 140,526,582 131,735,615(8,790,967) 166,551,287 181,326,50714,775,220
    PENSON 103,472,532 119,103,33715,630,805 32,122,024 32,176,47254,448
    PFG 31,267,263 30,114,931(1,152,332) 31,084,408 33,989,4722,905,064
    RJ OBRIEN 198,224,186 201,906,3353,682,149 2,347,468 2,087,589(259,879)
    TRADESTATION/IBFX 24,223,703 25,395,1241,171,421 69,370,707 68,037,420(1,333,287)
    XPRESSTRADE 23,016,858 22,997,526(19,332) 1,411,493 1,307,017(104,476)
    Totals 876,905,078 880,505,325 3,600,247 758,389,412 780,928,244 22,538,832
    !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|} !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}