Retail FX and CFD Volumes Ease to $30.4 Trillion in Q2 2026

Average monthly trading volume reported by major retail FX and CFD brokers fell to $30.4 trillion in the second quarter of 2026, retreating from the elevated levels recorded at the start of the year.

The figure was 9.3% below the $33.5 trillion reported for the first quarter. Compared with the second quarter of 2025, when monthly volume stood at $30.8 trillion, activity was lower by only 1.4%.

The data therefore points to a pullback from a strong first quarter rather than a broad collapse in retail trading.

Most Brokers Recorded a Quarterly Decline

Among the 21 brokers included in the dataset, 18 reported lower trading volume than in the previous quarter.

The decline was spread across much of the market, suggesting that the lower headline figure was not caused by one or two large firms alone. Softer volatility, changing demand across asset classes and the unusually strong comparison base from the first quarter may all have contributed to the slowdown.

The year-on-year picture was different. Every broker in the top 10 recorded higher volume than in the same period of 2025, even though the market-wide total remained broadly flat.

This indicates that larger firms continued to gain activity while weaker results were concentrated further down the ranking.

Broker Rankings Changed Despite Stable Annual Volume

The limited movement in the overall total concealed a notable shift in market positions.

A broker that ranked fourth in the second quarter of 2025 moved into first place a year later after more than doubling its reported monthly volume. The former leader fell to third.

The reshuffle shows that a stable market total does not mean individual brokers are growing at the same pace. Trading activity can move between firms even when the size of the broader market changes very little.

For retail brokers, platform reach, product range, pricing and client acquisition can materially affect market position within a single year.

Headline Volume Is Not Purely Forex

The $30.4 trillion figure combines foreign exchange with other products offered through retail CFD accounts.

At several of the highest-ranked firms, currencies represented only a small part of reported activity. The leading broker attributed 97% of its volume to products outside FX, while two nearby competitors reported non-FX shares of 99%.

Those products may include equities, indices, commodities and other CFD instruments.

As a result, the ranking should not be read as a measure of the largest retail forex brokers alone. A firm can lead the combined table because of strong activity in stock or index CFDs while recording comparatively limited currency turnover.

Product Mix Is Reshaping Retail Broker Rankings

The figures show that multi-asset CFD trading is becoming increasingly important to the industrys largest volume reports.

For brokers, expanding beyond currency pairs can support trading activity when demand in the forex market slows. For industry analysis, however, combined volume makes direct comparisons more difficult because the underlying product mix varies substantially between firms.

Two brokers reporting similar total turnover may have very different businesses: one may depend heavily on currency trading, while the other generates most of its activity from equities or indices.

The Q2 data therefore presents two separate trends. Retail trading cooled from its first-quarter peak, but the market remained close to its year-earlier level. At the same time, broker rankings continued to shift as non-FX products accounted for an increasing share of reported volume.

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