A BLEAK 2023 for retail trading platforms looks set to give way to a renaissance in 2024 with elections, falling interest rates and geopolitical volatility potentially prompting renewed interest in online trading.
Both
It raised its 2024 net operating income guidance to between £290m and £310m, having previously guided for somewhere between £250m and £280m.
Shares in
The updates will raise hopes that retail trading platforms will be able to power away from a disappointing 2023.
Online trading platforms recorded exceptionally good years in 2021 and 2022 as people locked at home during Covid with nothing to spend their money on took a punt on an increasingly volatile market.
However, customer activity declined last year as the cost of living pressures rose and volatility eased.
As a result, CMC swung to a loss in its half-year results with chief
Despite posting a 44 per cent drop in profit in its half-year results,
Reflecting the downturn, fellow FTSElisted trading firm
But markets turned a corner at the end of 2023, fuelled by bets that interest rates would soon start to fall and traders are starting to take notice.
A survey from
"Looking into 24, there are some glimmers of optimism - things like when do interest rates start to reduce, a fairly significant number of elections in major economies - all these things are potential catalysts to stimulate activity," Duncan told City A.M.
But he warned that trading platforms are characterised by "an inherent lack of visibility with regards to activity levels."
(c) 2024 City A.M., source