The enthusiasm for market entry remains high! In February, the average daily new accounts on the A-shares market reached 180,000, a 20% year-on-year increase.

Source: 21st Century Business Herald Author: Sun Yongle

In February, new A-share and margin trading account data were released on the same day!

According to the latest data from the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the number of new A-share accounts opened in February reached 2.523 million, down 11% year-on-year from 2.8359 million in February 2025, and down 49% month-on-month from 4.9158 million in January this year.

Meanwhile, the latest monthly data on margin trading disclosed by CSI shows that in February this year, the number of new margin trading accounts reached 117,000, a 20% increase year-on-year, but a 38.6% decrease month-on-month.

With external disturbances increasing and global markets experiencing greater volatility, the contrasting growth rates of these two data points have attracted investor attention.

Institutional experts pointed out that, affected by the Spring Festival holiday, February had only 14 trading days, leading to a decline in both the month-on-month and year-on-year new account openings for A-shares. However, the average daily account openings remained high. Meanwhile, participation of leveraged funds in the market remains strong, with new margin trading accounts continuing to grow year-on-year.

This data signals that the trend of incremental capital entering the market has not changed, providing ongoing liquidity support and emotional buffer for the A-share market during the March Two Sessions window and amid external geopolitical disturbances. The market’s resilience is expected to further manifest.

Average daily account openings reach as high as 180,000

On March 3, the latest disclosure from the Shanghai Stock Exchange showed that in February this year, investors opened 2.523 million new A-share accounts. Of these, 2.5159 million were individual accounts, and 7,100 were institutional accounts.

The 2.523 million new accounts in February represent an 11% decline compared to 2.8359 million in February 2025, and a 49% drop from 4.9158 million in January this year, indicating a significant pullback.

However, another set of data shows that, after excluding the effect of fewer trading days, the average daily account openings in February were about 180,000, significantly higher than the monthly average levels in 2025, indicating that investors’ willingness to enter the market remains strong.

Looking at the full year, the total new accounts opened in January and February 2026 reached 7.4388 million, a 68.84% increase from 4.3937 million in the same period last year.

Tian Lihui, Dean of the Financial Development Research Institute at Nankai University, told 21st Century Business Herald that the month-on-month halving is mainly due to the Spring Festival effect, which is a typical calendar effect. The real indicator of market enthusiasm is the average daily data, which shows about 180,000 accounts, higher than all months in 2025. This suggests that investors’ enthusiasm for entering the market has not diminished; it was just temporarily paused by the holiday.

“Combined with the 20% year-on-year growth in new margin trading accounts, we can conclude that the market in February experienced fewer trading days, but the willingness to invest remained unchanged. The inflow of incremental funds is ongoing, only slowed by holiday disruptions,” said Tian Lihui.

Yu Fenghui, senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, pointed out that in a market with structural differentiation and fewer effective trading days, the core driver for maintaining high average daily account openings is increased investor confidence in the capital market and higher expectations for equity investment returns.

He also noted that with the development of digital channels, online marketing activities by brokerages can continue to attract potential clients even during holidays. Additionally, support from national policies and steady progress in capital market reforms provide more reasons for investors to enter.

Leverage funds remain enthusiastic about entering the market

Latest data from CSI shows that in February, 117,000 new margin trading accounts were opened, a 38.6% decrease month-on-month from January due to the Spring Festival holiday, but still a 20% increase year-on-year, indicating active willingness among leveraged funds to participate. By the end of February, the total number of margin trading accounts across the market reached 15.9025 million.

With investor participation steadily increasing, the scale of margin trading remains high. As of the end of February, the margin trading balance was 2.67 trillion yuan, with an average collateral ratio of 297.82%, indicating overall manageable leverage risk.

In fact, the margin trading balance has been rising since the “9.24” market correction, continuing upward after surpassing previous highs in September 2025, reaching 2.72 trillion yuan in January this year, a record high. Data for February shows a slight pullback.

Behind these changes is the gradual implementation of new financing regulations. On January 14, the Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing stock exchanges simultaneously announced adjustments to margin requirements, raising the minimum margin ratio for investor margin purchases from 80% to 100%, effective from January 19.

Entering February, with the new regulations in place, leverage operations became more cautious, with slower growth in margin balances and narrower fluctuations. Daily margin buy-in amounts and the proportion of margin trading volume to total A-share trading also declined significantly, indicating more rational leverage trading, though overall enthusiasm remains high.

While account openings remained high in February, the spring rally in A-shares continued, showing a volatile but generally upward trend.

Wind data shows that as of the close on February 27, the Shanghai Composite Index closed at 4,162.88 points, up 1.09% for the month, marking three consecutive months of gains; the Shenzhen Component Index rose 2.04%; and the ChiNext Index fell 1.08%.

Market activity remained hot, with trading volume at historically high levels, leaning towards large-cap and cyclical sectors. The average daily trading volume in the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets in February reached 1.84 trillion yuan, with multiple trading days in the latter half of the month exceeding 2.4 trillion yuan, indicating clear signs of incremental capital entering.

Looking ahead, Guojin Securities Chief Economist Song Xuetao believes that the escalation of tensions in Iran mainly affects China’s macroeconomy and A-shares through three channels: energy supply, global supply chains, and shipping security. Modern warfare is fundamentally a competition of industrial capacity, and geopolitical conflicts highlight the importance of supply chain security and resilience. China’s complete industrial system and strong renewable energy power generation capacity give it an advantage amid global supply fluctuations.

Therefore, Song expects that the logic of accelerated exports in manufacturing sectors such as steel, chemicals, automobiles, and ships—similar to the post-Russian-Ukrainian conflict—will continue. In the short term, rising oil prices and shipping costs may impact companies reliant on imported energy and cross-border transportation, but these effects are expected to be short-lived. The medium-term market trend will still depend on domestic economic fundamentals, industrial upgrades, and the long-term trend of manufacturing going global.