CFTC Releases Data: Interactive Brokers' Retail Forex Deposits in March 2023 Rose the Most

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has published its monthly report for March 2023, revealing a month-on-month increase of 1.79 percent in retail FX deposits compared with the prior month.

The CFTC has published its monthly report, 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, namely Gain Capital Group LLC, IG US LLC, Interactive Brokers LLC, OANDA Corporation, CHARLES SCHWAB Futures & Forex LLC and Trading.com Markets.

According to the CFTC dataset, the FX funds held at the six registered brokerages hit $513.4 million in March 2023, a month-on-month rise of 1.79 percent compared with the $504.4 million reported in February 2023. Excluding Trading.com Markets, the retail FX deposits of the five established brokers reached $512.5 million.

The chart listed below summarizes all the data of the six brokers during the latest 12 months. For purposes of comparison, the month-on-month change of the recent months has been outlined to illustrate the disparities.

Interactive Brokers Continued Its Growth Trend

In March 2023, Interactive Brokers' retail FX deposits experienced a rise during this month, increasing by 12.65 percent from $25.6 million in February 2023 to $28.9 million in March 2023.

Gain Capital saw an increase of $4.8 million to $196.9 million, compared to $192.1 million at the end of February 2023, or 2.5 percent higher month-over-month. OANDA experienced an increase of $4.2 million to $166.6 million, compared to $162.4 million in the month prior, reflecting a 2.6 percent rise.

Three of the six FX firms listed notched decreases in Retail Forex Obligations, this time was IG US, CHARLES SCHWAB and Trading.com Markets. IG US’ Retail Forex deposits in March decreased nearly 4 percent over a monthly basis to $51 million from $53.1 million in the last month.

CHARLES SCHWAB also saw an decrease of 1.62 percent to $69.1 million, compared to $70.3 million in the month prior. Trading.com Markets’s retail FX deposits experienced a 1.88 percent decline to $943,044 from last month’s $961,117.

Interactive Brokers Gained in Market Share 

Looking at the market share of these brokers, distribution changed slightly in March 2023 relative to the month prior. 

For the rise in retail forex obligation, Interactive Brokers increased in market share of 1 percent with a current share of 6 percent.

Gain Capital remained the leader in terms of market share, commanding a 38 percent share, unchanged from the prior month. IG US and CHARLES SCHWAB both lose in market share of 1 percent with a current share of 10 percent and 13 percent respectively.

Both OANDA and Trading.com Markets’ market share kept unchanged from the last month. OANDA acquired 32 percent share in this month and Trading.com Markets retained the last one of less than 1 percent.