Securities Firms Seize Opportunities and Steadily Expand Stock Options Brokerage Business

This article is reprinted from: Securities Daily

Brokerages seize opportunities to steadily expand stock options brokerage business

Strong leading advantages, small and medium-sized firms seek new clients

By Reporter Zhou Shangyu

On March 23, Securities Daily learned from brokerages that the Shanghai Stock Exchange recently disclosed core operational data for stock options brokerage in February, including key indicators such as trading volume rankings, client numbers, and market share rankings.

In February, the Shanghai Stock Exchange options market operated smoothly overall, with reasonable pricing and effective risk control measures. Meanwhile, the investor base continued to strengthen, and the participant team steadily grew. As of the end of February, the total number of options investors in the Shanghai market was 733,610 accounts (including 730,564 accounts for brokerage clients), with 3,477 new brokerage client accounts added in February, maintaining steady growth. On the institutional participation level, currently 90 brokerages have enabled stock options trading permissions, and 61 brokerages have enabled proprietary trading permissions for stock options.

Looking at the competitive landscape among brokerages, the ranking shifts within the leading camp have become a notable feature in the first two months of this year, with fierce internal competition. Specifically, CITIC Securities, which ranked first in trading volume for stock options in January with a 4.79% market share, fell to second place in February with a 4.97% share; Guotai Haitong overtook with a 5.19% market share in February to take the top spot; Huatai Securities demonstrated stable competitive strength, maintaining third place in both January and February with market shares of 3.57% and 3.59%, respectively.

In stark contrast, some small and medium-sized brokerages have achieved breakthroughs in new client markets by focusing on internet client acquisition, regional deepening, and specialized services. Among them, Founder Securities ranked first in the market share of new stock options brokerage clients for two consecutive months. In January, it led with a 14.64% share; although slightly down to 14.47% in February, it still significantly outperformed peers, with the total account opening market share increasing from 6.8% in January to 6.84% in February. Small and medium-sized brokerages are building their client bases through specialized approaches.

Regarding the current changes in the Shanghai market options brokerage landscape and market characteristics, Zheng Lei, Chief Economist of Samoyed Cloud Technology Group, told Securities Daily: “Leading brokerages should continue leveraging their professional pricing capabilities and comprehensive financial service advantages by providing high-quality research and risk management solutions to consolidate their leadership in stock options brokerage. Small and medium-sized brokerages should fully utilize internet channels through online marketing and optimized customer service to reduce client acquisition costs and improve service efficiency. Additionally, by deepening regional efforts and offering specialized services, they can meet the needs of specific client groups, create differentiated competitive advantages, and achieve breakthroughs in new client markets.”

It is worth noting that in the field of stock options brokerage, the maturity of customer cultivation systems directly impacts customer stickiness and business sustainability. Currently, brokerages generally emphasize full lifecycle customer services, offering one-stop services from account opening, trading, investment consulting, to asset allocation to enhance customer experience and satisfaction. At the same time, brokerages organize online and offline investor education activities to help investors improve risk awareness and investment skills.

Zheng Lei added, “Whether it is leading brokerages or small and medium-sized firms, they need to build layered research and investment services, intelligent risk control, and full lifecycle customer cultivation systems. Through systematic development, they can achieve coordinated growth in trading volume and customer scale, thereby seizing strategic opportunities in the options market’s development period.”