Japanese foreign exchange brokerage Gaitame announced today it is about to make margin changes in over the counter (OTC) trading – starting April 8, 2016, it will be cutting leverage trading in half. The online broker’s website informed traders that the company will make the changes following the completion of a period of maintenance, reducing 200:1 leverage to 100:1. The broker added that the changes will be revised, and traders will be kept informed of any future developments through the company’s website.

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Gaitame did not explain the planned leverage cutting, and it is unclear whether the move is related to the continuing fall in trading volumes. As December 2015 metrics are about to be published in the coming days, November’s data showed a decline in trading volumes, alongside a slight rise in total accounts numbers.

Trading volumes have declined by 25 percent to ¥18 trillion ($148 billion), while total trading accounts numbers increased by 1800 to 405,109. The total amount of funds deposited at the brokerage has also increased somewhat, marking ¥11.2 trillion from ¥11.1 trillion in October. Nevertheless the figure remained below the record high that was set in July last year, at almost ¥11.3 trillion.