Forex is the largest financial market in the world. According to some estimations, its total size is approximately $2.4 quadrillion, about 30 times the combined US stock and bonds market.
The most recent forex trading statistics indicate that the market isn’t slowing down any time soon and continuously reaches new heights in terms of daily turnover and volume. Read on to find out more about the exact figures and sums of money being traded on it.
Top 10 Forex Trading Statistics and Facts
The average daily turnover of forex trading has increased by 432.19% between 2001 and 2019.
The average forex trading volume is currently at $7.5 trillion per day.
The US forex market has a daily average turnover of $1.912 trillion.
The top nine most commonly traded currency pairs include trading US dollars.
The US dollar is included in 88.5% of daily trades.
The trading volume of the top ten forex trading services accounts for 66% of all forex trading done globally.
With a daily average volume of $22.68 billion, IC Markets is the largest online forex trading platform.
91.5% of US forex traders are male, and only 8.5% are female.
Between 72% and 84.60% of online forex traders lose money.
29% of retail forex traders achieve capital gains.
General Forex Statistics
The average daily turnover of forex trading has increased by 432.19% between 2001 and 2019.
The triennial figures show that the forex market increased its average daily turnover for the most part of the previous two decades. At the turn of the new millennium, it had already passed the $1 trillion mark, averaging at $1,239 billion.
It continued growing over the years, reaching $1,934 billion in 2004, $3,324 billion in 2007, $3,972 billion in 2010, and $5,356 billion in 2013 before dropping to $5,066 billion in 2016.
In 2019, the average daily turnover of forex trading was $6,595 billion.
(Statista)
The average forex daily trading volume is currently at $7.5 trillion.
The latest data indicates that the average daily turnover on the forex market has increased by 14%, compared to the daily volume of $6.6 trillion in 2019.
FX swaps account for more than half, or 51%, of the global turnover, while spot trades for 28% and outright forwards for 15%. These trades are usually done through swap free forex brokers.
The largest portion, or 46%, of forex trading was done with reporting dealers, 22% with non-reporting banks, 11% with institutional investors, 7% with hedge funds and PTFs, and 6% with non-financial customers.
(BIS)
The US forex market has a daily average turnover of $1.912 trillion.
Foreign exchange market statistics reveal that the UK market, with a daily average turnover of $3.755 trillion, is the biggest forex market in the world.
The US market is the second-largest, while the Singapore forex market is in third place with a daily average turnover of $929 billion.
The Hong Kong and Japan markets round up the top five, with a daily average turnover of $694 billion and $433 billion, respectively.
The combined daily turnover of these five markets accounts for 78% of the total trading activity worldwide.
(BIS)
Forex Trading Facts
The top nine most commonly traded currency pairs include trading US dollars.
It is a well-known fact that the US dollar is the most popular currency among forex traders, and data from April 2022 best illustrates its dominance.
Namely, the USD/EUR pair is the most commonly traded on the market, accounting for 22.7% of its average daily turnover.
Data further reveals the following pairs have the largest shares of the average daily turnover:
USD/JPY - 13.5%
USD/GPB - 9.5%
USD/EME - 6.6%
USD/CAD - 5.5%
USD/AUD - 5.1%
USD/CHF - 3.9%
USD/HKD - 2.4%
USD/SGD - 2.3%
According to the latest forex trading statistics, the EUR/GBP pair is the tenth most traded pair and the most commonly traded pair that doesn’t include the US dollar, accounting for 2% of the average daily turnover.
(BIS)
The US dollar is included in 88.5% of daily trades.
The euro is the second most traded currency, involved in 30.5%, while the Japanese Yen is in third place, involved in 16.7% of the average daily turnover.
Data on FX trading volume by currency shows that 17.8% of daily trades include trading a currency from emerging market economies (excluding the Chinese renminbi and Russian rouble), and 12.9% involve trading the UK pound.
(BIS)
The trading volume of the top ten forex trading services accounts for 66% of all forex trading done globally.
Data from 2022 reveals that Deutsche Bank is the worldwide leading forex trading service, with the largest market share, or 10.89%, of global forex trading.
UBS has the second-largest share of 9.69%, while JP Morgan’s trading volume accounts for 8.67% of all forex trades.
Forex trading data further reveals that 7.66% of global forex trading is done through State Street, and XTX Markets has the fifth-largest forex trading volume globally, with 7.14%.
The collective market share of these five trading services is 44% of all forex trades.
(Euromoney)
With a daily average volume of $22.68 billion, IC Markets is the largest online forex broker.
The most recent findings suggest the Australian finance giant sees the largest volume of forex trades globally, while the American company forex.com is second-best, with a daily forex market volume of $18.6 billion.
XM is in third place with an average daily volume of $16.08 billion, followed by Saxo Bank with $14.76 billion, and HF Markets, with $13.8 billion.
The remaining online brokers in the top ten list by volume include Oanda, with $12.84 billion, AvaTrade, with $9.36 billion, IG Markets, with $8.16 billion, Pepperstone, with $8.04 billion, and FX Pro, with $7.8 billion.
(Compare Forex Brokers)
Forex Traders Stats
91.5% of US forex traders are male, and only 8.5% are female.
In addition to being predominantly male, demographic data also shows that 67.1% of forex traders in the USA are White.
Asian traders account for 12.1%, Latino traders for 11.1%, and Black traders for only 5.4% of the total.
Moreover, 58% of US forex traders are older than 40, 28% are between 30 and 40, and 14% are between 20 and 30.
(Zippia)
Between 72% and 84.60% of online forex traders lose money.
Retail forex trading statistics from the official websites of numerous brokers disclose the percentage of traders who lose money trading forex with them.
Research indicates that out of the top ten online brokers, forex.com has the smallest percentage of traders losing money at 72%, while FX Pro has the largest, at 84.60%.
Please note that not all top ten online brokers disclose the percentage of their traders losing money. Here is the list of those that do:
Forex.com 72%
IG Markets - 75%
Saxo Bank - 76%
Oanda 76.6%
IC Markets - 77.16%
FX Pro - 84.60%
Pepperstone - 74.60%
(Forex, IG, Saxo, Oanda, IC Markets, FX Pro, Pepperstone)
29% of retail forex traders achieve capital gains.
Even though nearly one-third of forex traders increase their capital, forex trading success statistics indicate that only 1% remain continuously profitable for longer than four quarters.
(Compare Forex Brokers)
The Summary
If the amount of money traded daily on the forex market were presented as a country's GDP, it would be the world’s third-largest economy. An insane amount of money changes hands every day, and most of the traders lose, some turn profits, and only a handful create wealth.
It might sound discouraging to some, but those are the forex facts that the relevant data points to. Nevertheless, this doesn’t stop the millions of traders who fight against the odds hoping they will be successful. In the end, you can’t win if you don’t gamble.
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