Posted
originally on May 16, 2011 at the Aite Group Blog
The number of active retail FX traders in Japan rose to 643,000, a
record high, for the quarter ending in March 2011. The 7.7% increase follows
six quarters that each averaged 600,000 active traders. Much of this increased
level of activity that took place did so in a quarter that saw a major
earthquake and a record low level in USD/JPY (U.S. dollar/yen). As with retail
FX’s institutional peers, price volatility attracts retail traders.
But the picture for Japanese brokerages is not too rosy. The level
of volume from active over-the-counter (OTC) traders is up 3% from December
2010, but down 26% from last year’s overall level; the overall number of retail
FX traders in Japan decreased 171,000 for Q1 2011 to 3.49 million. Gaitame.com,
the largest Japanese FX broker, cleaned its books of dormant accounts and lost
a large number during Q4 2010 due to a technical mishap — it decreased its
account count by 204,000 to 326,000.
The number of registrants with the Financial Futures Association
of Japan that offer retail FX has decreased 11%, from 88 firms a year ago to 78
firms today. This consolidation was inevitable given the tough leverage
restrictions imposed by the Japanese regulators last year and still pending for
this summer.
There are plenty of positives coming from a unique Japanese
product for FX traders, called Tokyo FX (TFX). The TFX is an on-exchange
product, but Japanese brokers are able to act as market-makers for it. The
number of retail TFX traders totaled 327,000 at the end of March 2011, with 20%
of them active. The TFX volumes have increased 25% from Q4 2010 and 40% from a
year ago. Better yet, TFX account balances average JPY 569,000 (US$7,000)
compared to JPY 191,000 (US$2,360) for the average OTC FX account.
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