Japanese Retail FX Brokers and the Undaunted Leveraged Investor
Report Summary
Japanese Retail FX Brokers and the Undaunted Leveraged Investor
FX trading volume and currency investing are holding steady in Japan as the consolidating brokerage sector endures headwinds.
Boston, July 17, 2012 – A new report from Aite Group examines the impact of retail foreign exchange trading on Japanese and global markets, defines emerging trading characteristics, details the investing patterns of Japanese retail investors, and evaluates the top 20 Japanese FX brokers by deposits, accounts, trading volume, and revenue.
The Japanese market for self-directed currency traders is the most developed retail FX market in the world. Despite headwinds from Europe, recent natural disasters in Japan, and 2010/2011 leverage restrictions aimed at cooling this sizzling market, Japan’s retail FX average daily volume reached an estimated US$91 billion in June 2012. Nevertheless, and despite generalized growth in accounts and deposits, the brokers that will ultimately thrive are those that have the right scale and the ability to sustain profitable operations in a low-spread, soft-volume growth environment.
“Japanese account holders are increasing their average account sizes, but are not necessarily trading as much as they used to, in effect hurting brokers,” says Javier Paz, senior analyst with Aite Group and author of this report. “Brokers must balance their need to earn income and gain scale against the needs of their clients, who make leveraged carry trades to earn the daily swap rate.”
The report evaluates 20 FX brokers active in the Japanese market: Central Tanshi FX Co., CyberAgent FX, DMM.com Securities, FX Prime Corporation, FX Trading Systems Co., FXCM Japan Securities, Gaitame Japan Co., Gaitame Online, Gaitame.com, GMO Click Securities, Himarawi Securities, Hirose Tusyo Inc., Kabu.com Securities, Money Partners Co., Money Square Japan, Monex FX Co., Rakuten Securities Inc., SBI Securities Co., Traders Securities Co., and Ueda Harlow. Other FX brokers mentioned in the report include Alpari Japan, Ava Trade Japan Co., CMC Markets Japan, FOREX.com Japan, Global Futures & Forex, IG Markets Securities, Kakaku.com Financial, OANDA Japan Co., and Saxo Bank FX Securities.
This 30-page Impact Note contains 19 figures and two tables. Clients of Aite Group’s Wealth Management service can download the report.