China's A-share market is witnessing a significant uptick in investor participation, with new stock trading accounts surging 71 percent year-on-year to 1.96 million in July alone.
The trend is particularly pronounced among younger investors, who now account for about 60 percent of new accounts at some brokerages.
At a Galaxy Securities branch in Beijing's Chaoyang District, a recent college graduate surnamed Fan was opening his first trading account.
"I plan to invest 30,000 to 50,000 yuan to try it out," he said.
While most investors now open accounts via mobile apps, older clients and institutions still visit branches for in-person services.
The brokerage reported its number of active accounts, those with deposited funds and actual transactions, has nearly tripled over the past year.
"Since late July, we've seen a very noticeable shift - clients are now actively approaching us. Currently, investors under 30 years old account for about 60 percent of our total new account openings," said investment advisor Zou Ye from Galaxy Securities.
Shanghai Stock Exchange data shows total new A-share accounts reached 14.56 million in the first seven months of 2025, up 36.88 percent year on year.
The market's margin trading balance, reflecting investor sentiment, hit a decade-high of 2.01 trillion yuan by Aug 6.
Margin trading, which allows investors to borrow funds to buy stocks (financing) or borrow shares to sell short (securities lending), has seen growing participation.
Veteran investor Mr. Wang, with two decades of market experience, noted the program now covers over 3,700 stocks compared with just 800 a decade ago.
"Compared with ten years ago, there are now significantly more stocks eligible for margin trading with much broader coverage. As a veteran investor with over 20 years of experience, I typically trade less frequently. But with the current favorable market conditions and positive policies, I'm looking to increase my positions and capitalize on this market opportunity, primarily using margin financing," Wang said.
"With the recent market rally, investor participation has become more active. Our branch has seen a 38 percent month-on-month increase in new margin trading account openings since August," said Zhu Songjun, director of Ping An Securities Beijing Branch.
As of Aug 6, China had 7.54 million individual margin traders and 50,074 institutional participants.
"This reflects a recovery in investors' risk appetite, indicating their optimistic outlook on the market and willingness to increase investment exposure through leverage. The improved trading activity and accelerated capital inflows have created more accommodative market liquidity conditions, providing strong support for the stock market's upward movement," said Zhang Junhuan, associate professor of finance at the School of Economics and Management of Beihang University.
China's stock market sees surging investor interest
