Monex’s June DARTs Threaten 2017 Highs as TradeStation’s Volumes Falter

Japanese financial services firm Monex Group has reported its latest trading activity and aggregated volumes for the month ending June 2017. The group’s global DARTs continued to undergo a monthly advance, helped slightly by greater movement across the Japanese yen, which had broken out of a previously narrow trading range.

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The latest results followed on the heels of one of the most dormant periods of the year for Japanese brokerages, with volumes almost universally pointed lower in April and May. On its part, Monex Group managed to notch an advance for the second consecutive month, even nearing the highs set back in January 2017.

In June 2017, Monex saw its global Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) edge higher to 271,648, climbing marginally month-over-month from 269,782 DARTs back in May 2017. The figure is the second highest reading at Monex in 2017 since January when the group reported 273,641 DARTs.

Relative to the year prior, the latest figure in June did constitute a decline, with June 2017’s DARTs incurring a retreat of -7.4 percent year-over-year from 293,426 DARTs in June 2016 – of note, June featured a total of 22 trading days compared to just 20 in May.

In addition, Monex Group’s total active accounts swelled to an all-time high of 1,030,217 in June 2017. This was a climb of less than 1.0 percent month-over-month from 1,025,762 in May 2017, however the group’s active accounts are up 1.1 percent year-to-date.

In terms of FX, Monex Inc. saw its average daily trade value fall to $926.3 million per day (¥105.2 billion), down 14.2 percent month-over-month from $1.08 billion per day (¥122.7 billion) in May 2017. DARTs however did capture a monthly growth, en route to a reading of 173,075 in June 2017, compared with 166,308 DARTs in May 2017, or 4.1 percent month-over-month.

FX volumes were pointed lower in June despite a wider trading range of JPY pairs. Indeed, the yen was able to register broader moves against most majors during June 2017, namely the USD and EUR, though volatility was still largely lacking during the month as the summer lull set in.

Continuing with this trend, TradeStation’s DARTs pared all of last month’s gains after striking a 2017 high in May. June 2017 saw just 99,261 DARTs, which corresponded to a drop of 4.9 percent month-over-month from 104,339 DARTs in the month prior. The decline was more pronounced over a yearly basis, dropping by 9.0 percent from 109,117 DARTs in June 2016 – the number of trading days at TradeStation in June was unchanged at 22 days relative to May.