In this article, we are going to go through how many forex traders are there worldwide, as well as their locations. Most of us know that trading has advanced drastically, you can basically manage your finances with a mobile phone from home without any additional requirements. It is much easier to become a trader compared to the past. Everything an individual needs are internet access, software, and a broker account, and you are set to start your trading journey.
How many traders are there?
Starting the year 2022 there are over 14 million active online traders, this is according to The Modern Trader study and research documents. Based on the research, you can calculate that there is approximately one trader in every 561 people in the world.
These numbers have started increasing immensely after 1970. The average daily trading volumes increased from approximately 1.2 trillion in 1995 to 5.1 trillion in 2016, which makes it the most significant financial market in the world. However, we must consider that banks and large financial organizations contributed a huge part to the trading volumes. Nowadays the online trading platforms developed by forex brokers are made with such simplicity that anyone can opt to use them since it is easily accessible and easy to use.
How many traders are there per continent?
| Continent/Region | The approximate number of online traders |
| Asia | 4,630,400 |
| North America | 2,170,500 |
| Europe | 2,170,500 |
| Africa | 1,881,100 |
| Middle East | 1,403,590 |
| South America | 868,200 |
| Central America | 484,745 |
| Oceania | 274,930 |
How many traders are there in the EU?
Based on numbers from 2021, there are between 1.5 million and 2 million online traders in Europe with a ratio of traders to internet users of 1:434.
| Rank | Country | The approximate number of online traders |
| 1 | United Kingdom | 405,160 |
| 2 | Germany | 217,050 |
| 3 | Italy | 217,050 |
| 4 | France | 188,110 |
| 5 | Romania | 159,170 |
| 6 | Spain | 140,359 |
| 7 | Netherlands | 94,055 |
| 8 | Poland | 88,267 |
| 9 | Denmark | 53,539 |
| 10 | Russia | 52,092 |
| 11 | Hungary | 44,857 |
| 12 | Bulgaria | 43,410 |
| 13 | Greece | 43,410 |
| 14 | Sweden | 41,963 |
| 15 | Portugal | 39,069 |
| 16 | Ireland | 36,175 |
| 17 | Czech Republic | 31,834 |
| 18 | Norway | 30,387 |
| 19 | Ukraine | 28,940 |
| 20 | Switzerland | 28,940 |
| 21 | Austria | 27,493 |
| 22 | Croatia | 26,046 |
| 23 | Lithuania | 23,152 |
| 24 | Belgium | 20,258 |
| 25 | Slovenia | 17,364 |
| 26 | Slovakia | 17,364 |
| 27 | Estonia | 17,364 |
| 28 | Serbia | 12,878 |
| 29 | Finland | 12,155 |
| 30 | Kosovo | 10,563 |
| 31 | Albania | 8,682 |
| 32 | Latvia | 8,682 |
| 33 | Malta | 6,512 |
| 34 | Moldava | 5,499 |
| 35 | Iceland | 3,907 |
| 36 | Luxembourg | 3,039 |
| 37 | Belarus | 2,749 |
| 38 | Montenegro | 1,592 |
Locations of online traders
Forex trading has become a global business since brokers have received permission from regulators in numerous countries, making them able to promote their services outside of their home country. Based on research one-third of forex traders are based in the Middle East and Asia combined. For Europe and North America, on the other hand, this number exceeds more than one million. Despite the fact that London, in the UK, and New York in the USA are the major forex trading locations, forex traders can be found all over the world.
At present, now that technology has evolved immensely anyone with an internet connection can become a forex trader. Most platforms are free and designed for mobile phone access, making it easier to manage than before when you needed a computer to access the market. There are around 3.8 billion who use the internet worldwide on a daily basis with 1 in 396 being an online trader.
| Continent/Region | Number of internet users | Number of forex traders | Ratio |
| United States | 320 million | 1.3 million | 1:213 |
| Europe | 651 million | 1.5 million | 1:434 |
| Asia | 1.9 billion | 3.2 million | 1:594 |
| Africa | 388 million | 1.3 million | 1:298 |
| Middle East | 147 million | Almost 1 million | 1:152 |
The United Kingdom traders
Statistics indicate that the UK has 46 million people with access to the internet with a number of online traders exceeding 280,000 which makes a user ratio of 1:164. This makes Britain a country with the highest number of traders in Europe. A reason behind a small reduction of traders was regulatory changes in Europe regarding leveraged products. Other countries that don’t allow leveraged products are France and Holland. In addition, Cyprus regulators have restricted leverage to certain customers and Belgium has applied a ban on any type of leverage for forex.
In the UK there were considerations from the Financial Conduct Authority to control the leverage, but in the end, no changes were implemented. This resulted in UK traders being allowed to trade on margins and trading with small deposits, which is a significant positive since the salary of more than 50% of the UK online traders is less than £35,000. The German regulator Bafin, on the other hand, has implemented changes to protect users from acquiring negative balances. This made German forex trading volumes remain quite low, making them slightly more than half of the UK trading volume.
How about you? Are you also a forex trader? If so leave a comment from which location in the world are you trading from.
