Australian FX traders exiting market



Falling volatility in the foreign exchange market has seen the number of Australian traders drop 4 per cent in a year, an Investment Trends report shows.
The reduction, from 53,000 to 51,000 in December 2013, was similar to trends seen in other English-speaking nations such as the US and UK, according to the December 2013 Australia FX Report.
Australia still has the second highest number of FXs, behind the UK, which has 72,000.
Another stand out trend was the increasing use of the MetaTrader platform, which saw a 7 per cent rise in main platform usage, up to 48 per cent in 2013.
MetaTrader specialists also saw the highest platform rises, led by AxiTrader, which gained 4 percentage points, to hold a 12 per cent primary share. IG still led in primary share, on 18 per cent.
In terms of satisfaction, FXCM continued to lead, but AxiTrader gained significant ground to lift its standing four places to hold the runner-up position.
Recommended for you
Funds under management at Pinnacle Investment Management are approaching $180 billion, helped by a substantial jump in FUM from its overseas affiliates.
Warakirri Asset Management has partnered with US-based investment manager ClariVest to give Australian retail and wholesale investors access to the firm’s global small companies strategy.
Global X has come out fighting in the race to the bottom for ETF fees with an Australian equity ETF offering fees of just 0.04 per cent per annum, less than half those of the $20 billion Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF.
Betashares has expanded its equity range, launching its latest Australian equity ETF and reducing the management fee on its existing global dividend ETF.