FXCM's April trading volumes slide, quarterly trade volumes up YOY

Recent unprecedented lack of volatility didn't skip the 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 tradi 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 tradi Read this Term market's flagship FXCM. Just like most other forex brokers FXCM too reports a steep drop in trading volume however on a bright side the number of accounts and total equity kept growing. Swissquote reported a 35% decrease in trading volumes few days ago.

Interesting to note that the biggest drop was in institutional volumes which is consistent with other reports of institutional brokers (except FXall), it seems that retail forex trading is less affected by lack of volatility than the institutional one.

First Quarter 2012 Highlights:

• US GAAP revenues of $102.6 million, up 8% versus the same period in 2011
• Adjusted Pro Forma EBITDA of $24.9 million, down 2% versus the same period in 2011
• Adjusted Pro Forma net income of $12.5 million, down 9% versus the same period in 2011
• Adjusted Pro Forma fully diluted earnings per share of $0.17, down 6% versus the same period in 2011
• US GAAP net income of $2.9 million, up 4% versus the same period in 2011
• US GAAP fully diluted earnings per share of $0.16, unchanged versus the same period in 2011
• Customer equity of $1,136 million, up 47% from same period in 2011 and up 8% from December 2011
• Active accounts of 171,296, up 22% from the same period in 2011 and up 5% from December 2011

FXCM a leading online provider of foreign exchange, or FX, trading and related services, today announced for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, revenues under US GAAP of $102.6 million, compared to $94.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, an increase of 8%. Adjusted Pro Forma EBITDA for the first quarter 2012 was $24.9 million, compared to $25.5 million for the first quarter 2011, a decrease of 2%. Adjusted Pro Forma Net Income was $12.5 million for the first quarter 2012, compared to $13.7 million for the first quarter 2011, a decrease of 9%. Adjusted Pro Forma fully diluted earnings per share for the first quarter 2012 of $0.17 on a fully exchanged, fully diluted basis, compared to $0.18 per share for the first quarter 2011, a decrease of 6%. U.S. GAAP net income was $2.9 million for the first quarter 2012, compared to $2.8 million for the first quarter 2011, an increase of 4%. U.S. GAAP earnings per share for the first quarter 2012 was unchanged at $0.16 per fully diluted Class A share, compared the first quarter 2011.

Adjusted Pro Forma results assume the conversion and exchange of all FXCM Holdings, LLC Units into FXCM Inc. Class A common stock, resulting in the elimination of the non-controlling interest and the corresponding adjustment to the entity's tax provision. In addition, Adjusted Pro Forma results eliminate certain non-recurring charges and certain equity based compensation expense.

"FXCM delivered strong growth in the quarter despite a weak trading environment in foreign exchange. Customer equity grew by 8% to $1.1 billion from year-end 2011 and is up 47% from March 2011. We achieved near record volumes in our retail business with over $985 billion in customer volume -- some $15.2 billion a day -- in part because of the strength in our Japanese business," said Drew Niv, Chief Executive Officer.

"Our institutional business had a near record with $398 billion in customer volume. We are most pleased with these results as we have begun to roll out our own internally developed institutional Trading Platform Trading Platform In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company’s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company’s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real Read this Term which we believe will make us more competitive in the very large institutional foreign exchange market."

FXCM's share price is currently trading at $10.64.

In addition, FXCM Inc. today announced certain key operating metrics for April 2012 for its retail and institutional foreign exchange business. Monthly activities included:

April 2012 Operating Metrics

Retail Trading Metrics

• Retail customer trading volume of $248 billion in April 2012, 27% lower than March 2012 and 15% lower than April 2011.
• Average retail customer trading volume per day of $11.8 billion in April 2012, 24% lower than March 2012 and 15% lower than April 2011.
• An average of 324,813 retail client trades per day in April 2012, 18% lower than March 2012 and 1% higher than April 2011.
• Tradeable accounts of 202,539 as of April 30, 2012, an increase of 2,407 or 1% from March 2012, and an increase of 36,391 or 22% from March 2011.

Institutional Trading Metrics

• Institutional customer trading volume of $103 billion in April 2012, 36% lower than March 2012 and 65% higher than April 2011.
• Average institutional trading volume per day of $4.9 billion in April 2012, 33% lower than March 2012 and 65% higher than April 2011.
• An average of 13,608 institutional client trades per day in April 2012, 48% lower than March 2012 and 101% higher than April 2011.

"April was one of the lowest months of volatility in foreign currencies seen in the past five years and our operating metrics reflected that," continued Niv. "However, with the strong start to the year that we have seen in customer equity and account growth, we believe we are well positioned should the trading environment improve."