The number of active retail brokerage accounts barely changed in Q2 2026, even as trading activity fell from the first-quarter level. Finance Magnates Intelligence estimates the tracked account base at 7.39 million.
The full broker-by-broker analysis is now available on the FM Intelligence portal. It examines which firms added accounts, which moved down the ranking and how trading intensity changed across the quarter.
Accounts and Activity Move Apart
Active accounts decreased just 0.4% from Q1 2026. Average monthly trading volume fell faster on the matching dataset, reducing monthly volume per active account by 7%.
The aggregate result does not describe every broker. Several firms expanded their account totals while others reported declines, and the names with the largest client books were not always those recording the highest volume per account.
FM Intelligence calculates the ratio from aggregate monthly FX and non-FX volume and estimated active accounts. It measures activity associated with each account, not revenue, profitability or the number of unique traders.
Broker Rankings Tell a Different Story
The account ranking adds another layer to the Q2 broker volume figures published earlier by Finance Magnates. Two brokers exceeded $2 trillion in average monthly volume, but scale in trading activity did not translate directly into the largest account base.
The DataLab report shows the leading brokers by active accounts, the largest quarterly gainers and decliners, and the firms where account growth moved in the opposite direction to trading volume. It also compares Q2 2026 with both Q1 2026 and Q2 2025.
The comparison uses the account tables from the Finance Magnates Intelligence Quarterly Industry Reports and excludes Japan to keep the three periods on the same basis. Non-public broker figures may be reported by firms or estimated by FM Intelligence.
Read the full Q2 2026 active accounts analysis and broker ranking on the FM Intelligence DataLab.
This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.
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