CFTC data showed that the six licensed retail forex brokers' liabilities to customers rose for the first time in four months in July before falling slightly in August. At the end of August, the six firms' liabilities to retail customers totaled $469.96 million, down $1.61 million, or 0.34%, from July. In July, customer deposits increased by $9.27 million, or 2.01%, to $471.58 million, after standing at $462.31 million in June. Overall, the August total was also the lowest since at least September 2023. It remained below the $506.58 million reported in August 2025, a year-on-year shortfall of 7.23% and the largest since March. It was also below the January level this year, which had itself been at a more than two-year low.

Funding trends diverged sharply across the industry. Gain Capital, a StoneX subsidiary that operates FOREX.com, accounted for most of the July increase. Its customer deposits rose to $204.12 million in July, up $7.03 million, or 3.57%, from June, representing about three-quarters of the industry-wide gain. Its balance was little changed in August, ending at $204.16 million, and still represented 43.44% of total U.S. retail forex customer deposits. Together with OANDA, the two firms held about 71.40% of the market.

Schwab's futures and forex business rebounded in July from a June low, with customer deposits up 3.53% to $56 million. In August, they slipped 0.18% to $55.9 million, still down 8.71% year on year. The business launched CME single-stock futures in August, becoming one of several U.S. brokers to add the contract. IG Group's U.S. forex brand tastyfx saw customer deposits rise 4.10% in July to $49.95 million before falling 1.73% in August to $49.09 million, but the balance remained 13.31% higher than in August 2025, the strongest year-on-year gain among the six firms. Trading.com had $2.85 million in customer deposits in August, down 0.74% month on month but up 11.53% year on year.

OANDA saw customer funds shrink for a third consecutive month. Its customer deposits fell 0.34% in July to $132.45 million and continued to decline 0.81% in August to $131.38 million, the lowest monthly level since at least September 2023. The broker, which was acquired by FTMO, had $148.44 million in customer deposits a year earlier, and its U.S. forex funding has shrunk by 11.50% over the past 12 months. Interactive Brokers moved the other way, with customer deposits falling 4.16% in July to $26.19 million before rising 1.53% in August to $26.59 million, but still down 20.28% from August 2025, the largest year-on-year decline among the six. Interactive Brokers' overall business continued to expand, with customer equity reaching $962.8 billion in August, up 35% year on year, and customer accounts increasing to 5.46 million.

The same CFTC filing also showed that customer funds at futures commission merchants affiliated with cryptocurrency platforms have surpassed those at traditional retail forex brokers. Futures commission merchants under Coinbase and Robinhood held a combined $581.4 million in segregated customer funds in August, more than the total customer deposits at the six forex brokers; Coinbase Financial Markets alone held $346.9 million. Meanwhile, U.S. regulators issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on a retail crypto asset regulatory framework on Oct. 5, proposing that leveraged retail crypto trading be conducted only through futures commission merchants or their clearing banks.