Forex Trader

There are 4 million retail forex traders around the globe, from wich 1,6 million living in Asia, 1,4 million live in Europe and only 150,000 live in the USA. These are the confirmed numbers, but there is also less then a million live in other parts of the world, mostly Russia, but I don’t have the accurate data. It’s surprising how a small number of traders lives in the USA, isn’t it!? Well, This is only an indication that US traders, if they trade alone, they tend to trade with the shares, because it’s their tradition. Forex market is much more complex and risky, that’s why I suppose they trade mostly with shares as well. Median age of the retail forex trader is 35, predominantly male with more then 80% globaly. In Europe, they tend (or pretend:) to be a woman, with more then 40%.

From 2008., retail traders have doubled daily volume to $400 bln. That’s aprox 20% of total spot FX volume. On the other side, from 2008. the average trade size has fallen from $1.8 to $1.1 mil.

Here are the main reasons why small/retail traders choose Forex.