Margin trading for securities has reached a nearly ten-year high with 1.54 million new accounts opened! The total number of accounts has almost doubled compared to 2016.

In 2025, the margin financing and securities lending business in China's capital market grew significantly, becoming a key indicator of market activity. Data shows that in the whole year of 2025, the number of new margin trading accounts reached 1.5421 million. How do you view this number? The number of 1.5421 million accounts set a record high in nearly ten years, an increase of 533,600 accounts compared to 2024, a growth rate of over 52%, and nearly 3.8 times higher than the stage low of 403,400 accounts in 2018. By the end of 2025, the total number of margin trading accounts exceeded 15.64 million, achieving a substantial growth compared to the end of 2024. By the end of 2025, the total margin financing balance in the market increased from 1.85 trillion yuan at the end of 2024 to 2.52 trillion yuan, with an increase of over 36%, showing investors' strong enthusiasm for participating in margin trading. From a temporal perspective, the pace of margin account opening in 2025 was steady, with a significant increase in the second half of the year. In September, a record high of 205,400 new accounts were opened in a single month, with more than 140,000 new accounts opened in August, March, November, and December. This growth trend is a result of the resonance between market demand and broker layout, with the industry's margin trading business focusing on 25%-40% growth throughout the year. Top brokers and regional medium-sized brokers have played to their strengths, with many brokers raising their business scale limits to accommodate demand. The flow of funds shows a clear direction, with technology and high-end manufacturing sectors emerging as the core tracks. Industries such as hardware equipment, semiconductors, and electrical equipment saw a significant proportion of net purchases in margin financing, with technology companies like Eoptolink Technology Inc., and Zhongji Innolight being favored. This allocation of funds aligns well with the direction of national industrial upgrading, showing a strong preference for high-quality core assets by leveraged funds. Margin trading account opening reaches record high in nearly ten years in 2025 In 2025, the activity level of margin financing and securities lending business in the A-share market significantly increased, with the number of new margin trading accounts reaching a record high in nearly ten years. Data shows that the total number of new margin trading accounts in the whole year was 1.5421 million, and by the end of 2025, the total number of margin trading accounts in the entire market exceeded 15 million, reaching 15.6402 million, a substantial increase compared to the end of 2024 at 14.3593 million. Compared with annual data from previous years, the number of new accounts in 2025 far exceeded the levels of the past decade. From 2016 to 2024, the highest number of new margin trading accounts was 1.0452 million in 2020, and the increase in the scale of new accounts in 2025 was approximately 47.5% higher than this peak value, and over 52.9% higher than 1.0085 million in 2024, showing strong growth momentum. Looking at the monthly performance, there was a significant increase in margin account openings in the second half of 2025. September showed the most notable performance, with a record high of 205,400 new accounts opened that month, making it the highest single month of the year. In August, the number of new accounts opened also exceeded 180,000, reaching 183,000. Additionally, the monthly new account openings in March, November, and December all exceeded 140,000, with 144,500, 140,700, and 147,100 respectively, while new account openings in the other months remained above 70,000, maintaining a steady pace of account openings. Brokerage firms show growth in margin trading business The growth of margin trading business is the result of the resonance between market demand and proactive layout of brokerage firms. According to research by Cala Finance, brokerage firms of different sizes showed a significant growth trend in margin trading business in 2025, with industry-wide growth concentrated in the range of 25%-40%. Top brokerage firms stood out particularly well due to their financial strength and customer resource advantages, while regional medium-sized brokerage firms showed rapid growth, with some institutions seeing an increase of up to 30-40%, demonstrating a shared prosperity under a differentiated competitive landscape. Faced with the increasingly heated market demand, brokerage firms have been adjusting their business rules to capture market share. Statistics show that in 2025, at least 8 brokerage firms successively raised the scale limit of their financing business, including Changjiang (000783.SZ), Orient (03958), Huatai (601688.SH), CMSC (06099), and other top institutions, as well as Zheshang (601878.SH), ChinaLin (002945.SZ), and other small and medium-sized brokerage firms. Soochow (601555.SH) took targeted measures to adjust the total credit limit of its financing and margin business to further meet customer needs. It is worth noting that, in order to reasonably control the amount of financing, some brokerage firms have implemented a "flow control" measure. In September, ChinaLin announced that starting from October 13th, the margin ratio for securities traded on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges would be adjusted to 100%, with existing contracts continuing to be executed at the original ratio, as a measure to limit the scale of financing after increasing the upper limit of margin trading scale. In August, Sinolink was the first to adjust the margin ratio to 100% for securities other than those on the North-bound trading link. These measures taken by the two brokerage firms not only reflect a cautious attitude towards business risks, but also indirectly confirm the high demand for market financing. Brokerage financing rates drop below 4% The popularity of margin financing and securities lending business has led to an intensifying competition in interest rates, with the lower limit of industry financing rates further declining. Qualified investors can now apply for a special annualized interest rate as low as 3.5%, a significant decrease from the industry default rate. According to the latest industry data, the default financing rates for margin trading businesses in brokerage firms are generally in the range of 4%-5%. Through negotiations, investors with different capital amounts and trading frequencies can obtain tiered interest rate discounts, with rates below 4% becoming an important competitive edge for top brokerage firms to attract high-quality customers. It was noted that the discounted rates are mainly concentrated among top brokerage firms such as CITIC SEC (06030), Guotai Haitong (02611), and Galaxy Securities (06881). Guotai Haitong offers a special rate of 3.5% for investors opening new margin accounts with a capital threshold of 500,000 yuan or more and committing to an average monthly trading volume of over 200,000 yuan for three months, which can be reduced to below 3.8% for subsequent stable transactions. CITIC SEC offers negotiated long-term rates of 3.5%-3.8% for clients with daily average assets of over 1 million yuan, while Galaxy Securities offers a special rate of 3.5% for clients with a capital amount of over 5 million yuan, and even lower at 2.78% when the capital amount reaches 10 million. It is worth noting that the rates below 4% are special discounted policies that need to be applied through the exclusive channels of brokerage client managers. When determining rates, brokerage firms consider a combination of investor capital size, trading frequency, and account opening channels, with larger capital amounts and more active trading leading to negotiating lower rates. Ordinary investors with capital amounts between 500,000-1 million yuan can also negotiate rates to around 4% through communication with client managers. Clear direction of leveraged fund flow, focus on technology and manufacturing sectors In terms of industry distribution, financing funds in 2025 exhibited distinct characteristics, with technology and high-end manufacturing industries becoming core areas of fund investment. Among the top ten industries in terms of net purchases in financing, hardware equipment ranked first with a financing purchase amount of 171.720 billion yuan and a financing balance of 364.358 billion yuan, making it the most favored area for margin financing funds. Electrical equipment and semiconductors ranked second and third with financing purchase amounts of 79.297 billion yuan and 77.219 billion yuan, respectively, with financing balances exceeding 180 billion yuan. The metals, machinery, automotive and parts, and chemical manufacturing industries also received significant fund allocations, with financing purchase amounts all exceeding 35 billion yuan. The pharmaceutical biotechnology, software services, and banking industries also made it to the top ten, showing that financing funds were focusing on high-end manufacturing while also considering the needs of consumption and finance sectors. The industry distribution indicates that the flow of financing funds aligns well with the direction of national industrial upgrading. In terms of individual stocks, technology companies were the focus of financing purchases. Eoptolink Technology Inc., topped the list with a financing purchase amount of 17.736 billion yuan and a financing balance of 20.326 billion yuan. Zhongji Innolight (300308.SZ) and Victory Giant Technology (300476.SZ) followed closely, with financing purchase amounts exceeding 15 billion yuan each. As a leader in the new energy industry, Contemporary Amperex Technology (03750) had a financing purchase amount of 15.19 billion yuan and a financing balance of 21.622 billion yuan, ranking fourth. Integrated circuit companies such as Cambricon (688256.SH) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (00981), and photovoltaic equipment companies like Sungrow Power Supply (300274.SZ) also made it to the top ten, demonstrating the high recognition of funds for core technology and industry-leading enterprises. In terms of industry affiliation, the top ten stocks are mainly concentrated in sectors such as communication equipment, electronic components, integrated circuits, photovoltaic equipment, and industrial machinery, which align well with the distribution of the top ten industries in net financing purchases, further highlighting the preference for technology and manufacturing sectors. These stocks are mostly industry leaders with strong technological advantages and market competitiveness, making them key targets for investors to amplify profits through leverage. This article is reprinted from Cala Finance; GMTEight Editor: Chen Xiaoyi.