US forex brokers profitability report Q4 2010 final
I've finally put my hands on FXDD and Advanced Market's numbers and can now post the full and complete report (only thing still lacking is number of FXDD's accounts in Q3 but that doesn't really change anything).
All I can say is - God knows how do Advanced Markets survive in this market or why do they continue being registered as RFED. It seems the number of their retail clients is dismal - a total of 58 in Q4 while their profitability has steadily decreased from 50% in Q1 2010 to 22% in Q4 2010. Advanced Markets also registered the biggest drop in profitability QoQ - whopping 13%, however just like in IG Markets case this number doesn't really mean much when you have less than 100 clients.
You may also notice that Oanda's numbers have slightly changed (profitability decreased from previous report two weeks ago). For unknown reason they seem to have edited their numbers (and of Q3 as well). Oanda still Leads Leads Leads or lead generation are an essential component of marketing and powerful tool by brokers. In its simplest form, leads can be defined as the outreach of customer interest or enquiry into products or services, most often associated with brokerages.These can be created for purposes such as list building, e-newsletter list acquisition, or for sales leads. Amongst marketers, such lists are one of their most important assets and instrumental to sales.There are a variety of methods for generating leads that traditionally fall under the mantle of advertising. However, this may also include non-paid sources such as organic search engine results or referrals from existing customersHow Are Leads Generated?In the FX space, nearly every brokerage has their own list of leads. How exactly these are generated varies to some extent. Most come from a composite of sources or activities.Specific parameters on the Internet such as personal referrals, telephone calls, or even conference attendance either by the company or telemarketers, through advertisements are the most common examples of this.Indeed, content marketing, search engine, and events are all effective ways in bolstering leads over time and account for the highest concentration of lead generation.Leads are also a powerful took by marketers to pursue new clients. This can involve customer relationship management (CRM) technology or follow ups in the form of contacting.The goal of these contacts is the conversion into a client. Simply obtaining a list of leads does not always correlate to business. This is where sales, follow ups, or other methods come into play. Leads or lead generation are an essential component of marketing and powerful tool by brokers. In its simplest form, leads can be defined as the outreach of customer interest or enquiry into products or services, most often associated with brokerages.These can be created for purposes such as list building, e-newsletter list acquisition, or for sales leads. Amongst marketers, such lists are one of their most important assets and instrumental to sales.There are a variety of methods for generating leads that traditionally fall under the mantle of advertising. However, this may also include non-paid sources such as organic search engine results or referrals from existing customersHow Are Leads Generated?In the FX space, nearly every brokerage has their own list of leads. How exactly these are generated varies to some extent. Most come from a composite of sources or activities.Specific parameters on the Internet such as personal referrals, telephone calls, or even conference attendance either by the company or telemarketers, through advertisements are the most common examples of this.Indeed, content marketing, search engine, and events are all effective ways in bolstering leads over time and account for the highest concentration of lead generation.Leads are also a powerful took by marketers to pursue new clients. This can involve customer relationship management (CRM) technology or follow ups in the form of contacting.The goal of these contacts is the conversion into a client. Simply obtaining a list of leads does not always correlate to business. This is where sales, follow ups, or other methods come into play. Read this Term by far in terms of account profitability however this may change in the next report as NFA has recently clarified how the account profitability should be calculated: reports from now on won't include dormant accounts which were paid interest thus making them profitable (more on this here). I know for a fact that many brokers were unhappy with Oanda's numbers and I can only speculate that some of them asked NFA for 'clarifications' on this issue - hence the new ruling.
Total number of active accounts in the US at Q4 2010 was 129,494. Add to that 'dormant' accounts and you probably get around 200,000. You are welcome do deduce how many active retail forex accounts there are worldwide but I'd put them anywhere between 1 and 1.5 million. Recently I've had many inquiries from interested parties who are looking for this ballpark figure for various reasons and for the first time they have a credible (and official) figure to rely on when making their assumptions.
Table is now sorted by profitability. Enjoy.
I've finally put my hands on FXDD and Advanced Market's numbers and can now post the full and complete report (only thing still lacking is number of FXDD's accounts in Q3 but that doesn't really change anything).
All I can say is - God knows how do Advanced Markets survive in this market or why do they continue being registered as RFED. It seems the number of their retail clients is dismal - a total of 58 in Q4 while their profitability has steadily decreased from 50% in Q1 2010 to 22% in Q4 2010. Advanced Markets also registered the biggest drop in profitability QoQ - whopping 13%, however just like in IG Markets case this number doesn't really mean much when you have less than 100 clients.
You may also notice that Oanda's numbers have slightly changed (profitability decreased from previous report two weeks ago). For unknown reason they seem to have edited their numbers (and of Q3 as well). Oanda still Leads Leads Leads or lead generation are an essential component of marketing and powerful tool by brokers. In its simplest form, leads can be defined as the outreach of customer interest or enquiry into products or services, most often associated with brokerages.These can be created for purposes such as list building, e-newsletter list acquisition, or for sales leads. Amongst marketers, such lists are one of their most important assets and instrumental to sales.There are a variety of methods for generating leads that traditionally fall under the mantle of advertising. However, this may also include non-paid sources such as organic search engine results or referrals from existing customersHow Are Leads Generated?In the FX space, nearly every brokerage has their own list of leads. How exactly these are generated varies to some extent. Most come from a composite of sources or activities.Specific parameters on the Internet such as personal referrals, telephone calls, or even conference attendance either by the company or telemarketers, through advertisements are the most common examples of this.Indeed, content marketing, search engine, and events are all effective ways in bolstering leads over time and account for the highest concentration of lead generation.Leads are also a powerful took by marketers to pursue new clients. This can involve customer relationship management (CRM) technology or follow ups in the form of contacting.The goal of these contacts is the conversion into a client. Simply obtaining a list of leads does not always correlate to business. This is where sales, follow ups, or other methods come into play. Leads or lead generation are an essential component of marketing and powerful tool by brokers. In its simplest form, leads can be defined as the outreach of customer interest or enquiry into products or services, most often associated with brokerages.These can be created for purposes such as list building, e-newsletter list acquisition, or for sales leads. Amongst marketers, such lists are one of their most important assets and instrumental to sales.There are a variety of methods for generating leads that traditionally fall under the mantle of advertising. However, this may also include non-paid sources such as organic search engine results or referrals from existing customersHow Are Leads Generated?In the FX space, nearly every brokerage has their own list of leads. How exactly these are generated varies to some extent. Most come from a composite of sources or activities.Specific parameters on the Internet such as personal referrals, telephone calls, or even conference attendance either by the company or telemarketers, through advertisements are the most common examples of this.Indeed, content marketing, search engine, and events are all effective ways in bolstering leads over time and account for the highest concentration of lead generation.Leads are also a powerful took by marketers to pursue new clients. This can involve customer relationship management (CRM) technology or follow ups in the form of contacting.The goal of these contacts is the conversion into a client. Simply obtaining a list of leads does not always correlate to business. This is where sales, follow ups, or other methods come into play. Read this Term by far in terms of account profitability however this may change in the next report as NFA has recently clarified how the account profitability should be calculated: reports from now on won't include dormant accounts which were paid interest thus making them profitable (more on this here). I know for a fact that many brokers were unhappy with Oanda's numbers and I can only speculate that some of them asked NFA for 'clarifications' on this issue - hence the new ruling.
Total number of active accounts in the US at Q4 2010 was 129,494. Add to that 'dormant' accounts and you probably get around 200,000. You are welcome do deduce how many active retail forex accounts there are worldwide but I'd put them anywhere between 1 and 1.5 million. Recently I've had many inquiries from interested parties who are looking for this ballpark figure for various reasons and for the first time they have a credible (and official) figure to rely on when making their assumptions.
Table is now sorted by profitability. Enjoy.