2018 EDITION

THE MODERN TRADER

Traders aren’t who they used to be.
In this report, you’ll learn who the 13.9 million online traders
are, what the average trader looks like in 2018, and why more
and more women are starting to trade online.

A report by
BROKERNOTES
The Modern Trader

Modern trading isn’t a

man’s world anymore

In the original Modern Trader report, we challenged the common assumption that
traders live luxurious city lifestyles when we uncovered that the majority of traders
earn a modest household income of less than £35k per year. In 2018, the stereotype
continues to fall further from reality. In the last 12 months, the average household
income of online traders has dropped even lower, and our data suggests that less than
5% of modern traders actually live in a major financial city.

4.3 million people have started trading online since we conducted our last report,
bringing the total number of traders to 13.9 million worldwide. Globally, there are now
2.7 million female traders, which means that 1 in 7 online traders are women - an
increase from 1 in 10 just last year.

Over the past five years, we’ve collected data on over half a million online traders,
enabling us to produce one of the most comprehensive studies on traders’
demographics and behaviour. We hope you find the insights we’ve collected and
summarised in this report interesting and informative.

If you have any questions about this report, feel free to contact us at:

[email protected]

BROKERNOTES
Where are the traders?

13.9 million people are

online traders

1 out of 634 people on the planet trade online - but where on Earth are they?

You’d be forgiven for assuming that the majority of traders might live near a financial
centre like London, New York, or Hong Kong - but you’d be wrong.

The Internet has decentralised trading, empowering virtually anyone with an Internet
connection to trade online. Today, over 95% of online traders live outside of a major
financial centre, with almost half of all traders being based in Asia or Africa1.

1. See Appendix A for raw data on the number of online traders by continent/region

BROKERNOTES
Where are the traders?

The UK has the most online

traders in Europe

With more than 730,000 online traders, the UK has almost twice as many online
traders as any other European country2. With a population over 65 million, this means
that over 1 in 100 Brits have traded online.

In the past year, the number of online traders in the UK has increased by 161%,
making the UK the fifth fastest-growing European country by number of traders.

The Number of Online Traders by European Country

2. See Appendix B for raw data on the number of online traders by European country

BROKERNOTES
Where are the traders?

Move over London - the

UK’s new trading hubs

If the entire UK population huddled into London Underground tube carriages, you’d
find approximately three traders on every carriage. But you’d be very unlikely to find
many British traders frequenting the London Underground, as 75% of them live and
work outside of London3.

Where in the UK are the traders?

Outside of London, Greater Manchester has the highest number of traders with over
27,000 people trading online. Bristol, meanwhile, has the highest density of traders in
the UK and the highest proportion of its population trading with 262 traders per square
mile* and 24 out of every 1,000 people being a trader4.

Number of traders

Across the pond, we see that although New York does have the highest density of
traders in the US, we’re recognising a similar trend with only 6% of American traders
living in the financial capital.

3. See Appendix H & I for raw data on the number of online traders (absolute and per square mile) by English county

© Map created with mapchart.net

BROKERNOTES
Who is trading?

Millennials are getting into

online trading

Millennials represent over 58% of all online traders. As shown in the graph below, the
percentage of traders between the ages 25 and 34 has increased year-on-year since
2014, while the percentage of traders over the age of 45 has gradually declined4.

The rising popularity of online trading among millennials is likely the result of an
increase in mainstream marketing of online trading to 20-30 somethings.

Other contributing factors:

• A lower barrier to entry - Trading used to require large amounts of specialised

knowledge. Today, anyone can copy the trading activity of an experienced trader
through brokers that offer social/copy trading.

• The rise of cryptocurrency trading - Over 75% of cryptocurrency traders are aged
18-34, suggesting that cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, are attracting
a younger demographic to online trading.

4. See Appendix C for raw data on online traders by age range

BROKERNOTES
Who is trading?

What does the typical

trader look like in 2018?

While online trading may be the new pastime of choice for millennials worldwide,
there’s one country that is behind the curve; the United States.

The typical American trader is in his forties, drives a Chevrolet Impala, and enjoys
catching up on the latest business & economic news. In contrast, Britain’s average
trader is a Vauxhall Corsa driving 27-year old Mancunian, who enjoys watching
football and learning about digital currencies & the latest gadgets5.

Average UK trader: Average US trader:

• Male
• Male

• 27 year old
• 47 year old

• Has a Samsung Galaxy S8

• Has an Apple iPhone 6

• Uses a Windows computer

• Uses a Windows computer

• Lives in Manchester
• Lives in New York

• Interests include football, • Interests include business &

digital currencies & economic news, politics & DIY

technology
• Travels business class

• Travels economy class

• Drives a full-size sedan (e.g.
• Drives a basic low-end Chevrolet Impala)

hatchback (e.g. Vauxhall • Trades forex & stocks

Corsa)

• Trades cryptocurrencies

5. See Appendix C & H for raw data on online traders by age range & English county

6. All other data is based on BrokerNotes web analytics data (sample size: 327,778)

BROKERNOTES
Who is trading?

The average British trader

earns £35,742 PA

Traders come in all shapes and sizes, and their incomes are no different. We found
that, despite their association with high incomes, most online traders earn a modest
household income - averaging £35,742 per year. This is £2,957 lower than the average
household income of a British trader in 2017, which is likely the result of a shift
towards younger traders starting to trade online.

Less than 1% of online traders in the UK have an income above £75,000, while more
than 39% fall within our lowest identified income bracket of £20,000 - £24,9997.

7. See Appendix F for raw data on UK online traders by annual income bracket

BROKERNOTES
Who is trading?

Women are breaking into

online trading

19% of the world’s online traders are female. While this trend is largely being driven by
an increase in the popularity of online trading among women in Asia, the trend can be
seen globally on a smaller scale.

In the UK, 12.5% of traders are female (an increase from 10% in 2017). But some
English counties seem to have a higher percentage of female traders than others.
Herefordshire has the highest percentage of female traders with 21.82% of its traders
being female. Tyne and Wear, on the other hand, has the lowest percentage of female
traders with only 6% of traders being female9.

% of female traders

8. See Appendix H for raw data on the percentage of male to female traders by English county

© Map created with mapchart.net

BROKERNOTES
Who is trading?

Less is more: Do women

make better traders?

We asked 13,613 traders to specify how much money they deposit when opening a
trading brokerage account. Over 50% of female respondents said that they deposit
less than $500, compared to 42% of males9.

The average deposit of a female trader is $1,821, which is $424 less than male
traders. This is particularly surprising as the average household income of a female
trader is more than $5,000 higher than that of a male trader.

Despite smaller deposits, are women better at trading than men?

Numerous studies10 have found that males trade more frequently than females, and that
this hyperactive trading led to a 2.65% reduction in net returns per year, compared to
1.76% for women.

9. See appendix F for raw data on the typical deposit size by gender

10a. Fidelity, https://www.fidelity.com/about-fidelity/individual-investing/better-investor-men-or-women

10b. Barber, B. and Odean, T. (2011). The Behavior of Individual Investors. SSRN Electronic Journal: http://
faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/odean/papers%20current%20versions/behavior%20of%20individual%20investors.pdf

BROKERNOTES
Who is trading?

Forget diamonds, crypto is

a girl’s best friend

What’s driving more and more women to trade online?

One hypothesis is that it might be linked to the rise of cryptocurrencies, and our data
appears to support this theory. In the past twelve months, the percentage of women
traders who preferred cryptocurrencies as an instrument to trade has increased from
41% to 59%11.

What do females trade in 2018? What do females trade in 2017?

Which cryptocurrencies do women trade the most?

Although both genders are heavily trading Bitcoin, women only represent 10% of total
Bitcoin traders. This points to the fact that women are looking to altcoins when
investing in crypto with females accounting for 18% of Dash traders and Ripple also
attracting a higher percentage of female traders.12.

11. See appendix D for raw data on the preferred instrument to trade by gender

12. See appendix E for raw data on the audience of cryptocurrencies by gender

BROKERNOTES
Summary

What does the modern

trader mean for you?

The average trader is no longer the stereotype that you might imagine working on Wall
Street or in the City of London.

Online trading services have enabled anyone, anywhere, to become a trader. By

democratising who can trade, online trading services are accelerating the level of
diversity among traders to a point where traders no longer fit a stereotypical profile.

This shift in characteristics presents enormous opportunities for technology providers,

brokerages, and other firms interacting with retail clients. Numerous brokerages are
capitalising on the increased online trading activity in emerging Asian countries, while
others proactively adopt cryptocurrencies and modern trading platforms to attract the
younger generations.

Retail trading is undeniably going through a major shift that will only continue to
accelerate as billions of additional people come online over the next decade. The
question to ask is - what could this mean for you?

BROKERNOTES
Appendix

Appendix A: The Number of Online Traders by Continent/Region

Approx. number of online traders

Continent/Region 2017 2018 % change

Asia 3,200,000 4,600,000 43.75%
Europe 1,500,000 3,100,000 106.66%
Africa 1,300,000 2,000,000 53.84%
North America 1,500,000 1,600,000 6.66%
Middle East 970,000 980,000 1.03%
South America 600,000 760,000 26.66%
Central America 335,000 450,000 34.32%
Oceania 190,000 410,000 115.78%

Total 9,595,000 13,900,000 44.86%

*Data source: facebook.com

*Data source: facebook.com

BROKERNOTES
Appendix

Appendix B: The Number of Online Traders by European Country

Approx. number of online traders

% of population that
Rank Country 2017 2018 % change
have traded online
1 United Kingdom 280,000 730,000 160.71% 1.12%
2 Germany 150,000 380,000 153.33% 0.46%
3 France 150,000 280000 115.38% 0.43%
4 Italy 130,000 260,000 73.33% 0.44%
5 Spain 110,000 200,000 106.19% 0.43%
6 Netherlands 97,000 190,000 192.31% 1.11%
7 Romania 65,000 120,000 9.09% 0.61%
8 Poland 61,000 120,000 96.72% 0.31%
9 Sweden 37,000 65,000 124.14% 0.65%
10 Norway 36,000 53,000 152.38% 1.02%
11 Bulgaria 31,000 51,000 70.00% 0.72%
12 Switzerland 30,000 51,000 155.00% 0.60%
13 Austria 30,000 51,000 168.42% 0.58%
14 Portugal 29,000 46,000 70.37% 0.45%
15 Ireland 27,000 45000 80.00% 0.97%
16 Denmark 25000 44000 18.92% 0.77%
17 Hungary 22,000 44,000 41.94% 0.45%
18 Greece 21,000 42,000 40.00% 0.38%
19 Russia 20,000 40,000 11.11% 0.03%
20 Ukraine 20,000 40,000 100.00% 0.09%
21 Czech Republic 19,000 34,000 54.55% 0.32%
22 Belgium 18,000 33,000 135.71% 0.29%
23 Croatia 16,000 25,000 38.89% 0.59%
24 Lithuania 14,000 25,000 56.25% 0.86%
25 Slovenia 12,000 23,000 91.67% 1.11%
26 Slovakia 12,000 22,000 83.33% 0.41%
27 Serbia 12,000 15,000 68.54% 0.17%
28 Albania 8,900 14,000 133.33% 0.48%
29 Estonia 8,400 13,000 8.33% 0.99%
30 Finland 7,300 13,000 54.76% 0.24%
31 Kosovo 6,000 10,000 36.99% 0.55%
32 Latvia 6,000 9,200 53.33% 0.46%
33 Malta 4,500 9,200 104.44% 2.16%
34 Moldova 3,800 6,500 71.05% 0.18%
35 Belarus 2,700 6,100 221.05% 0.06%
36 Luxembourg 2,100 5,200 147.62% 0.91%
37 Iceland 1,900 4300 59.26% 1.30%
38 Montenegro 1,100 3,300 200.00% 0.53%
*13 European countries are not listed above as they have fewer than 1,000 traders

** Data source: facebook.com, population data calculated from the latest national censuses or recent official estimates where available

BROKERNOTES
Appendix

Appendix C: Online Traders by Age Range

Year 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

2014 15.30% 39.34% 23.62% 11.52% 6.77% 3.42%
2015 15.83% 41.22% 23.94% 10.12% 5.83% 3.06%
2016 16.94% 42.02% 23.62% 9.37% 4.07% 2.12%
2017 18.26% 44.05% 24.16% 9.21% 4.16% 2.02%
2018 14.74% 44.07% 25.00% 9.80% 4.40% 1.98%

* Sample size: 412,916 traders

** Data source: BrokerNotes’ web analytics

Appendix D: Preferred Instrument to Trade by Gender

2017 2018
Instrument Male Female Male Female
Forex 23.87% 25.81% 20.65% 21.99%
Stocks 13.13% 14.77% 9.99% 10.38%
Indicies 7.30% 8.43% 4.34% 4.19%
Commodities 8.42% 9.65% 3.71% 4.36%
Cryptocurrencies 47.27% 41.34% 61.31% 59.08%
* Sample size: 70,746 traders (7,946 female + 62,800 male)

** Data source: BrokerNotes’ web analytics

Appendix E: Cryptocurrency Audience by Gender

Cryptocurrency Male Female

Bitcoin 89.09% 10.91%
Ethereum 89.12% 10.88%
Ripple 89.34% 10.66%
Dash 81.66% 18.34%
Litecoin 87.9% 12.10%
* Sample size: 31,987 traders

** Data source: BrokerNotes’ web analytics

BROKERNOTES
Appendix

Appendix F: Deposit Size by Gender

Deposit size # of Males # of Females % of Males % of Females

Under $500 5,072 832 42.40% 50.36%

$500 - $1,000 2,817 368 23.55% 22.28%
$1000 - $10,000 2,816 304 23.54% 18.40%
$10,000+ 1,256 148 10.50% 8.96%

* Sample size: 13,613 traders

** Data source: BrokerNotes’ web analytics

BROKERNOTES
Appendix

Appendix G: UK Online Traders by Annual Income Bracket

% of UK Traders
Annual Income 2017 2018
£20,000-£24,999 21% 39.32%
£25,000-£29,999 17% 24.58%
£30,000-£34,999 14% 6.88%
£35,000-£39,999 14% 8.06%
£40,000-£49,999 16% 10.22%
£50,000-£74,999 17% 10.03%
£75,000+ 1% 0.90%

* Samples size: 508,600 traders

** Data source: facebook.com

BROKERNOTES
Appendix

Appendix H: The Population of Traders in English Counties by Gender

# of traders % of traders
English County Total Male Female Male Female
Greater London 147000 130000 17000 88.44% 11.56%
City of London 33000 30000 3000 90.91% 9.09%
Greater Manchester 27000 24000 3000 88.89% 11.11%
West Midlands 22000 19000 3000 86.36% 13.64%
West Yorkshire 17000 15000 2000 88.24% 11.76%
Kent 13000 12000 1000 92.31% 7.69%
Bristol 11000 9600 1400 87.27% 12.73%
Hertfordshire 11000 9500 1500 86.36% 13.64%
Merseyside 11000 9500 1500 86.36% 13.64%
Essex 11000 9300 1700 84.55% 15.45%
Berkshire 10000 9000 1000 90% 10.00%
Tyne and Wear 10000 9400 600 94% 6.00%
Nottinghamshire 9300 8300 1000 89.25% 10.75%
South Yorkshire 9000 8000 1000 88.89% 11.11%
Leicestershire 8200 7200 1000 87.8% 12.20%
Surrey 7500 6600 900 88% 12.00%
Oxfordshire 7200 6400 800 88.89% 11.11%
Derbyshire 6900 6100 800 88.41% 11.59%
Dorset 6600 5800 800 87.88% 12.12%
Warwickshire 6400 5700 700 89.06% 10.94%
East Sussex 5500 4900 600 89.09% 10.91%
Cheshire 5400 4900 500 90.74% 9.26%
Northamptonshire 4800 4200 600 87.5% 12.50%
Buckinghamshire 4800 4200 600 87.5% 12.50%
Cambridgeshire 4400 3900 500 88.64% 11.36%
Devon 4400 3900 500 88.64% 11.36%
County Durham 4200 3700 500 88.1% 11.90%
Gloucestershire 4000 3500 500 87.5% 12.50%
Bedfordshire 3900 3400 500 87.18% 12.82%
Norfolk 3800 3300 500 86.84% 13.16%
Suffolk 3500 3200 300 91.43% 8.57%
Wiltshire 3000 2700 300 90% 10.00%
West Sussex 3000 2600 400 86.67% 13.33%
Cornwall 2700 2400 300 88.89% 11.11%
North Yorkshire 2700 2400 300 88.89% 11.11%
Hampshire 2700 2400 300 88.89% 11.11%
Staffordshire 2600 2400 200 92.31% 7.69%
Lancashire 2400 2100 300 87.5% 12.50%
Worcestershire 2300 2000 300 86.96% 13.04%
Lincolnshire 1800 1600 200 88.89% 11.11%
Shropshire 1500 1300 200 86.67% 13.33%
Somerset 1400 1200 200 85.71% 14.29%
Herefordshire 1100 860 240 78.18% 21.82%
Cumbria 810 700 110 86.42% 13.58%
East Riding of Yorkshire 810 730 80 90.12% 9.88%
Isle of Wight 690 570 120 82.61% 17.39%
Northumberland 580 540 40 93.1% 6.90%
Rutland 380 320 60 84.21% 15.79%

* Samples size: 463,270 traders

** Data source: facebook.com

BROKERNOTES
Appendix

Appendix I: Traders Per 1,000 Population & Sq Mi in English Counties

English County Population Traders per 1,000 Area (sq mi) Traders per
population square mile
Greater London 8,778,500 17 606 243
City of London 9,400 3,511 1.12 29,464
Greater Manchester 2,782,100 10 492 55
West Midlands 2,864,900 8 348 63
West Yorkshire 2,299,700 7 783 22
Kent 1,820,400 7 1,443 9
Bristol 454,200 24 42 262
Hertfordshire 1,176,700 9 634 17
Merseyside 1,406,400 8 250 44
Essex 1,802,200 6 1,417 8
Berkshire 896,800 11 487 21
Tyne and Wear 1,128,800 9 210 48
Nottinghamshire 1,136,000 8 834 11
South Yorkshire 1,385,000 6 599 15
Leicestershire 1,031,300 8 832 10
Surrey 1,176,500 6 642 12
Oxfordshire 683,200 11 1,005 7
Derbyshire 1,042,000 7 1,013 7
Dorset 771,900 9 1,024 6
Warwickshire 556,800 11 763 8
East Sussex 837,000 7 692 8
Cheshire 1,048,100 5 904 6
Northamptonshire 733,100 7 913 5
Buckinghamshire 799,200 6 723 7
Cambridgeshire 849,000 5 1,309 3
Devon 1,177,900 4 2,589 2
County Durham 859,600 5 1,033 4
Gloucestershire 900,800 4 1,216 3
Bedfordshire 664,500 6 477 8
Norfolk 892,900 4 2,080 2
Suffolk 745,300 5 1,500 2
Wiltshire 706,300 4 1,346 2
West Sussex 843,800 4 770 4
Cornwall 556,000 5 1,375 2
North Yorkshire 1,145,700 2 3,341 1
Hampshire 1,829,500 1 1,455 2
Staffordshire 1,120,300 2 1,047 2
Lancashire 1,485,000 2 1,187 2
Worcestershire 583,100 4 670 3
Lincolnshire 1,073,300 2 2,693 1
Shropshire 486,300 3 1,346 1
Somerset 948,900 1 1,610 1
Herefordshire 189,300 6 841 1
Cumbria 497,900 2 2,612 0
East Riding of Yorkshire 597,900 1 956 1
Isle of Wight 139,800 5 150 5
Northumberland 316,000 2 1,936 0
Rutland 38,600 10 147 3

* Samples size: 463,270 traders

** Data source: facebook.com

BROKERNOTES