Market metrics for the month of August show that Oanda shed 1% of their customer funds on deposit, Gain shed 3%, and Interactive Brokers shed a whopping 18%.
On the plus-side, TD Ameritrade increased customer funds on deposit by 2%, and IG Markets (still a tiny player in the overall U.S. market) gained a massive 29% in customer funds.
The result of all this put-and-take is that —
Oanda continues to nip at the heels of Gain, challenging for the No. 1 spot in market share.
Gain (at 39% market share) and Oanda (at 37%) together have more than 3/4 of the market.
IB and TDA have most of the remaining 1/4 of the market, with IG Markets (at 2%) still establishing a foothold in the U.S., but growing faster than the other four U.S. brokers.
HERE is this month’s report from Finance Magnates.
And here is the FM graphic, showing the CFTC’s August numbers, compared to July —
Both TDAmeritrade Forex and IG Forex make their accounts unavailable to residents of Ohio and Arizona. Residents of those states are left with those who are loosing customers: Gain Capital and Oanda. What a bunch of non-sense all these regulations have created in USA. And the loser is: retail forex trader.
You referred to Gain Capital and Oanda as both losing customers.
That was true for the period August 1 thru August 31 of this year.
But, over a longer time-frame, customer funds held by Gain have been shrinking, while customer funds held by Oanda have been increasing.
Here is a table showing the CFTC’s numbers for Gain and Oanda at August 31 of 2017, 2018, and 2019. Figures shown are retail FX customer funds on deposit in U.S. dollars.
I did not see the longer time frame numbers so I based my post on shorter frame. With that said, here are my thoughts:
Interactive Brokers: I think they have zero interest in maintaining retail trader accounts. Last time I spoke to them, their retail trader accounts only allowed 1:1 leverage and charged $2 commission per trade. Commissions - Forex | Interactive Brokers
Such arrangement certainly looks like a sure try at sending a message that retail trader is not welcomed. I am grad they receive what they ask.
Gain Capital: I have tried out their demo several times. Their mobile platform on MT4 is ok. Their own mobile platform was a bit too basic, only allowed minimum lot sizes of 1000 and allowed no nano lots. If trader entered 2 positions, they were “merged” into 1. I personally found such set-up not useful to me at all, so opening a live account was not an option. They have free withdrawal for initial deposit by any profit is charged a wire fee and wire is the only way to withdraw profit.
Oanda: Decent platform, allows Nano lots, allows trader to see what each position earns. By far, the best trading set-up. Now, they charge interest rate swaps by the second. I can have a position open for 15 minutes, I will get the swap charge when I close it. There is also swap charge once a day for any position held overnight. I find by the second swap fees a bit excessive.
These are the only brokers available to all in USA. TDAmeritrade and IG Forex deserve no reviews for excluding Ohio and Arizona. I thought we parted ways with Jim Crow business model a while back, but it turns out, we are back with it.
In terms of average daily volume (ADV), retail FX trading at Gain declined 10% month-over-month from August to September 2019, and declined 4% year-over-year from September 2018 to September 2019.
In the article linked to, below, Finance Magnates reports transaction volumes as monthly totals, and also as daily averages. The daily averages (ADV’s) are the figures to focus on, due to the difference in the number of trading days from one month to the next. There were 21 trading days in September 2019, compared to 22 trading days in August 2019, and 20 trading days in September 2018.
Here is the Finance Magnates article —
[Note: The 14% figure in the title is based on monthly total trading volume, not average daily volume.]
Here is an excerpt regarding the departure of Gain founding partner Samantha Roady —
“Last week, Gain parted ways with head of its retail business Samantha Roady who had been with the company since 1999. CEO Glenn Stevens took over Roady’s responsibilities including day to day operations at its two key brands FOREX .com and City Index.”
Here is a Finance Magnates article from August 15 announcing Samantha Roady’s departure —
