Overview
Forex trading has experienced substantial rise in recent years, with more forex traders emerging to participate in one of the largest financial markets in the world. The forex market is both liquid and extremely volatile as result of the volume of trades that are executed daily.
Higher liquidity results in lower transaction costs, which is one of the main reasons why so many traders are drawn to the forex market. Traders have access to the forex market 24 hours a day, five days a week, creating potential for a vast number of trading opportunities.
Forex Trading Stats for 2021
Forex Market Size
The forex trading market is currently worth $1.93 quadrillion which is 2.5 x larger than the global gross domestic product (GDP) with more than $5.3 million traded per day in the market. More than 85% of the forex market transactions happen involving the following forex pairs, in the following order:
· EUR/USD
· USD/JPY
· GBP/USD
· AUD/USD
· NZD/USD
· USD/CAD
· USD/CHF
Currency Stats
The US Dollar is still the most traded currency in the world, forming part of 90% of global trades, even in African countries such as Nigeria, with the Nigerian Naira (NGN) being traded in exchange for US Dollars.
Forex Technology
MetaTrader 4 is the most popular trading platform used by Nigerian traders with MetaTrader 5 being the closest competitor. Both these trading platforms are offered by most forex brokers due to their flexibility, high-customization, and user-friendly interface.
More than 35% of traders seek brokers who offer mobile trading platforms, and most traders prefer Android over iOS. More mobile devices are compatible with Android, with most traders making use of Samsung and Huawei.
Trader Stats
There are currently more than 300,000 retail forex traders in Nigeria, with a substantial rise that can be seen in female traders, with 46% more women who have registered trading accounts in the past year.
However, women still only represent 10% of all traders in the world, with 89.1% of all traders being male. There are also more young people joining the trading industry, with the youngest traders between the ages of 25 to 34.
Broker Stats
Amidst all the brokers who offer their services to Nigerian traders, some of the most popular well-regulated brokers include AvaTrade, FXTM, HotForex, Pepperstone, Exness, IG, Plus500, XM, Alpari, and IC Markets.
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Forex trading versus Cryptocurrency
Even though cryptocurrency has achieved more widespread acceptance across the globe, forex trading is still more popular than cryptocurrency in Nigeria.
This is due to a variety of reasons; however, the unregulated nature of cryptocurrency keeps a lot of traders at bay with investment in digital currency, along with the excessive costs involved in trading cryptocurrency as opposed to the low transaction costs that come with forex trading.
Nigeria Foreign Exchange Reserves
The Nigerian forex reserves saw a substantial increase to 36400 USD million in January when compared to the 35360 USD million recorded for December 2020, indicating a substantial increase in forex trading in Nigeria.
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