The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has released its monthly report for December 2017 which covers data for FCMs that are registered as Retail Foreign Exchange Dealers (RFEDs) and those included as broker dealers that hold retail forex obligations in the United States.
The latest data shows a total marginal change month-over-month from November, and even differences amongst each broker were not pronounced.
That should come as no surprise, though the prospect of lighter regulations may soon revive interest in the US market among foreign brokers, or at least help brighten the outlook for the retail industry that has struggled for quite some time under the provisions of the Dodd-Frank legislation.
Retail forex deposits in the US have been largely flat or skewed slightly negatively during December. The FX funds held at registered brokerages operating in the United States came at $530 million in December 2017, lower by 1 percent month-over-month compared with $535 million reported in November.
According to the CFTC dataset, two of the four FX firms listed reported a zero percent change in Retail Forex Obligations, namely OANDA Corporation and TD AMERITRADE.
Meanwhile, FX retail deposits held at GAIN Capital and Interactive Brokers saw a drop of $4.4 million (-2.0 percent) and $0.4 million (-1.0 percent) respectively.
Looking at the market share of different brokers, distribution showed a marginal change in December relative to the month prior. GAIN Capital lost nearly 1 percent in terms of market share, but remains the paramount player in the US with a 47.0 percent share. OANDA also solidified its stance as the second largest in the US with 33.0 percent market share – TD Ameritrade and Interactive Brokers retain a 12.0 and 9.0 percent share respectively.
The chart listed below outlines the full list of all FCMs that held Retail Forex Obligations in the month ending in December 31, 2017 – for purposes of comparison, the figures have been included against their November 2017 counterparts to illustrate disparities.
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