Brokerage Apps See Monthly Active Users Decline Month-over-Month; Increase Investment in Margin Trading Business to Seek Growth

Brokerage App Monthly Active User Data Is an Important Window to Observe Investors’ Willingness to Enter the Market and User Stickiness. According to the latest data from Analysys Qiankun, in February, the number of monthly active users (hereinafter referred to as “monthly active”) of securities apps reached 170 million. Although affected by factors such as the Spring Festival holiday, it decreased by 7.52% month-on-month, but still achieved a steady 2.62% year-on-year growth. Based on recent updates and iterations of brokerage apps, many brokerages are actively expanding their margin trading services to develop potential clients and seize market opportunities.

Looking at the performance of individual brokerages, Huatai Securities’ “Zhangle Wealth” and Guotai Haitong’s “Guotai Haitong Junhong” maintain monthly active user counts in the tens of millions, with February monthly active users at 11.86 million and 10.23 million respectively, remaining in the top tier of the industry. Year-on-year growth for these apps was 6.1% and 5.48%. “Ping An Securities,” “CITIC Securities Xin eTou,” and “China Merchants Securities” had monthly active users of 8.64 million, 7.17 million, and 7.15 million respectively, with growth rates exceeding 3% year-on-year.

In terms of year-on-year growth rates, some small and medium-sized brokerages performed notably well. For example, “Industrial Securities Youli Bao” led the industry with a 21.12% increase in monthly active users. Following were Changjiang Securities’ “Changjiang eHao” and Guoxin Securities’ “Guoxin Jintaiyang,” with respective year-on-year increases of 10.38% and 8.73%.

Regarding this, Zhang Cuixia, Chief Investment Advisor at Jufeng Investment, told Securities Daily: “The month-on-month decline in brokerage app monthly active users in February is a normal seasonal fluctuation, due to factors like the Spring Festival holiday, which results in fewer trading days and reduced trading frequency among users. However, the year-on-year growth in app monthly active users remains positive, reflecting the long-term stability and resilience of user growth in the industry. Looking ahead, as market conditions stabilize and improve, the monthly active users of brokerage apps are expected to continue to rebound, and the long-term positive development trend of the industry will not change.”

A recent focus of brokerage app updates and upgrades can be observed in the context of the booming development of margin trading and the continuous release of investor trading demand. Many brokerages are taking margin trading services as an important lever to optimize app features and attract new customers.

According to the latest data disclosed by China Securities Data Co., Ltd., as of March 16, the total margin trading balance in the market was 2.66 trillion yuan, an increase of over 120 billion yuan from the end of last year. The number of individual investors trading on margin reached 8.0408 million, and the number of institutional investors was 51,400. In the first two months of this year, new margin trading accounts totaled 307,200.

To seize market opportunities and promote the growth of their customer base, many brokerages are actively optimizing and improving their margin trading services within their apps. For example, Zhongcai Securities has set up a dedicated margin trading section on the homepage of its “Zhongcai Tomato Wealth” app, supporting interested users to create simulated trial accounts to understand margin trading rules and processes, optimize position allocation and layout strategies, and develop potential users. Kaiyuan Securities recently launched a margin trading intelligent calculation system on its “Kaiyuan Securities Feimao” app, helping users verify investment strategies in advance, simulate trading costs and profit/loss scenarios, and reduce trial-and-error costs.

Additionally, many brokerages are flexibly adjusting the upper limit of their credit business scale based on actual needs. On February 11, Caida Securities announced that the board approved increasing the company’s credit trading business scale from no more than 100% of the audited net capital for 2024 to no more than 140%. Since last year, brokerages such as Huatai Securities and China Merchants Securities have also announced plans to raise their margin trading scale limits.

“By adding dedicated sections on the app and launching simulated trading systems, brokerages can effectively reduce investors’ learning costs and trial-and-error risks, while transforming a large potential wait-and-see user base into active participants, thereby expanding the customer base and capturing market share,” said Chen Yinhua, Director of the Western Financial Research Institute, to Securities Daily. At the same time, increasing the upper limit of margin trading scale reflects optimism about future market trends and trading demand, which helps brokerages respond flexibly to market fluctuations, better compete in the market, and inject new momentum into their performance growth.