Top 10 currency traders

Top 10 currency traders [6]
% of overall volume, May 2010Rank Name Market share
1  Deutsche Bank 18.06%
2  UBS AG 11.30%
3  Barclays Capital 11.08%
4  Citi 7.69%
5  Royal Bank of Scotland 6.50%
6  JPMorgan 6.35%
7  HSBC 4.55%
8  Credit Suisse 4.44%
9  Goldman Sachs 4.28%
10  Morgan Stanley 2.91%

Foreign exchange trading increased by 20% between April 2007 and April 2010 and has more than doubled since 2004.[7] The increase in turnover is due to a number of factors: the growing importance of foreign exchange as an asset class, the increased trading activity of high-frequency traders, and the emergence of retail investors as an important market segment. The growth of electronic execution methods and the diverse selection of execution venues have lowered transaction costs, increased market liquidity, and attracted greater participation from many customer types. In particular, electronic trading via online portals has made it easier for retail traders to trade in the foreign exchange market. By 2010, retail trading is estimated to account for up to 10% of spot FX turnover, or $150 billion per day (see retail trading platforms).

Because foreign exchange is an OTC market where brokers/dealers negotiate directly with one another, there is no central exchange or clearing house. The biggest geographic trading centre is the UK, primarily London, which according to TheCityUK estimates has increased its share of global turnover in traditional transactions from 34.6% in April 2007 to 36.7% in April 2010. Due to London's dominance in the market, a particular currency's quoted price is usually the London market price. For instance, when the IMF calculates the value of its SDRs every day, they use the London market prices at noon that day.