GAIN Capital (NYSE:GCAP) has reported its aggregated trading volumes for the month of March 2018. The group’s latest volumes reflect a decline from recent yearly highs at the brokerage, particularly in the retail segment.

GAIN Capital has thus far managed to outperform its volumes readings in every month in 2018 compared with the year prior. Relative to 2017, volatility in 2018 was much higher and sustained, whereas last year was defined by isolated pockets of activity in an otherwise subdued market. In terms of March 2018, most forex pairs were bound to more tightened ranges, despite having an abundance of market drivers.

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Political scandals in the US continued to be a prevalent trend, with markets also potentially gearing up for a trade war brought on by the Trump administration. For GAIN Capital’s part, the latest reading is a slight retreat off of February, which had scored to a 2018 high in terms of retail metrics.

In particular, March 2018’s retail OTC trading volume came in at $262.8 billion, down 7.3 percent month-over-month from $283.5 billion in February 2018. The decline, while in the single digits, is still noticeably higher than almost all readings in 2017. On a yearly basis, March 2018 outperformed its 2017 counterpart ($239.2 billion) by a margin of 9.8 percent.

In terms of its average daily OTC volume, GAIN Capital reported $11.9 billion per day in March 2018, dropping by 16.2 percent from $14.2 billion per day in February 2017. The figure was higher by 14.4 percent relative to March 2017.

Furthermore, the average number of OTC accounts at GAIN Capital also saw a slight retreat, pulling back marginally to 131,764 accounts in March 2018 from 133,545 accounts last month. This marks a 1.3 percent movement compared to the previous month, along with a year-over-year fall of 3.7 percent compared with 136,829 accounts in March 2017.

Institutional space also sees decline

GAIN Capital’s movement in its institutional volumes was more muted, virtually unchanged from its February 2018 reading. March 2018 saw an ECN volume reported at $317.8 billion, down 1.5 percent from $322.7 billion last month. The figure is still 17.0 percent higher on an annual basis, with 2018 continuing to outperform 2017 in the institutional segment after Q1.

Moreover, ECN average daily volume came in at $14.4 billion per day in March 2018, down from $16.1 billion in November, or 10.6 percent. On a yearly basis, the latest figure was higher by 22.0 percent relative to its March 2017 counterpart.

Of note, swap dealer volume did experience some growth in March 2018. GAIN’s swap dealer volume was reported at $56.8 billion, rising 5.6 percent month-over-month off of $53.8 billion in February 2018.