FXCM May Institutional Volumes Fall as Retail Takes Small Dip from April

FXCM Inc., the US-headquartered online brokerage operator with global offices and regulated businesses, today announced some of its key customer trading metrics for May 2016.

The company reported that its total retail volumes reached $280 billion in May, down 2% compared to April, as its institutional foreign exchange volumes plunged by 33% to $50 billion in May when compared to the prior month.

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Retail dips 2%

Of the $280 billion in May 2016 that FXCM reported for its retail customer trading volume, the small dip of 2% from April was overshadowed by a 15% Year-over-Year (YoY) decline when compared to May 2015. Average retail customer trading volume amounted to $12.7 billion per day from the retail volume total in May, and down 7% MoM and declining 20% YoY.

However, the number of retail client trades rose 6% to 550,310 per day in May 2016 when compared YoY, yet on a MoM basis was down 6% from April 2016.

Institutional down 33% yet up YoY

Institutional customer trading volumes fell by nearly a third in May, reaching $50 billion compared to April 2016 and lower by 33%, yet were higher by nearly two thirds or 67% when compared YoY to May 2015. Average daily volume (ADV) for FXCM’s institutional segment reached $2.3 billion per day during May 2016, reflecting a 34% decline MoM, and up 64% YoY.

The number of client trades per day for FXCM’s institutional segment in May reached 45,999 trades on average for each day during the month, a decline of 14% from April 2015 although remarkably higher by 325% compared YoY.

While the company focuses on growing its institutional business following the events of the SNB last year and the subsequent changes made to FXCM's institutional businesses in 2015, this division appears to be growing compared to 2015 as the firm just refreshed its FXCMPro site a few months ago, as Finance Magnates reported after visiting FXCM's office.