Comment by Yohay Elam on May 19, 2011 at 11:08am

I think that the retail forex business in the US is somewhat slowing due to new regulation, but it's growing all over the world.

Comment by Steve W on May 19, 2011 at 1:09pm

Agree with fxpatrocks in terms of the US certainly taking down leverage as a result of regulation is going to make a dent in the profits of brokers, who now need to contend with traders trading smaller lot sizes.  Good for risk and the traders in general, bad for the broker, who is now earning less.

 

Like Yohay said on the worldwide scale, though, the latest BIS Triennial Survey showed nothing short of explosive growth y/o/y....another trillion a day and the retail market has certainly helped the spread, both by trading it and making it more of an issue of awareness for institutions.

Comment by fxretracer on May 19, 2011 at 2:06pm

for the US trader, its over....the only hope is we get Conservatives back in majority and over turn all the job killing regulations that the current Administration has championed. 

Only the best,, brightest and most determined US traders will be making it from here on out...so the upside is at least US traders will likely remain some of the best on the planet.

Comment by Francesc Riverola on May 19, 2011 at 2:42pm

I agree with you guys that the slowdown in the US market is a fact, even though the traffic from the US to our site has grown over 28% last month from same month previous year.

But if I'm not mistaken, at the end of Q1 2011 the broker had 140k active accounts, from those around 20k were from the US (see http://forexmagnates.com/us-forex-brokers-profitability-report-for-... and http://ir.fxcm.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=238885&p=irol-opmetrics)

so the slowdown in the US market should be overcompensated by the growth overseas... but it seems it is not... or am I missing something here?

Comment by Francesc Riverola on May 19, 2011 at 2:53pm

or... is it possible that client reposition rate is too big?

Comment by fxretracer on May 19, 2011 at 2:56pm

they tied the hands of the population with the most disposable income on the entire planet, it might look pretty bad for awhile....

Comment by Steve W on May 19, 2011 at 3:09pm

Yeah I think in terms of # of people yes so as publishers certainly no need for concern, but fthe rule here basically says that if you live in the US, you trade here as well. Most of these brokers have ops overseas and in the US, hence any US clients got pulled to the local business.

It's peculiar though. I certainly can't say for sure but your site growth seems pretty organic and seems like a sign of people responding to your changing times...

This article was based on FXCM, who has been getting hit with lawsuits left and right lately regarding their stock, which here in the US makes for some pretty big headlines. I think this is greatly due to a sign of their reputation...this would be my first assumption.

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