In 2025, the A-share market exhibited a pattern of volatile upward movement, with the Shanghai Composite Index once breaking through the 4,000-point mark. Against this backdrop, ETFs have become a vital tool for investors to conduct asset allocation and capture structural opportunities, owing to their core advantages of high transparency, low fees, and strong liquidity. Wind data shows that as of December 31, 2025, the net inflow into China's ETF market for the year approached 1.18 trillion yuan. The number of ETFs listed on domestic exchanges increased to 1,402, with the total AUM climbing from 3.7 trillion yuan at the end of the previous year to 6.0 trillion yuan, representing a growth of over 60% compared to the beginning of the year. From broad-based indices to niche sectors, and from domestic allocation to cross-border investment, the ETF product line has become increasingly diverse, providing investors with a multi-layered toolkit to seize market opportunities.
To allow more investors to appreciate the appeal of ETF investing, China Merchants Securities (CMSC) has hosted the "Fortune Cup" ETF Trading Competition for three consecutive years since 2023. The competitions have cumulatively attracted nearly 270,000 participants, with investor education and related content reaching over ten million investors, gradually building a virtuous cycle ETF investment ecosystem. The 2025 "Fortune Cup" ETF Trading Competition officially commenced on April 28. CMSC collaborated with ten major fund companies—E Fund Management, China Merchants Fund, Bosera Funds, JPMorgan Funds, Yinhua Fund, China Universal Asset Management, ChinaAMC, Guotai Asset Management, GF Fund Management, and Penghua Fund (listed in no particular order)—to create an integrated investor education platform focused on learning, exchange, and growth for investors. Statistics indicate that this year's competition garnered over 8.8 million page views, with activity levels increasing by more than 60% compared to the previous competition, demonstrating significant growth.
The overall performance of the A-share market in 2025 was relatively strong, with the gains of major indices further expanding compared to the previous year. The most prominent theme throughout the year was the technology and growth sector, with areas such as AI, semiconductors, robotics, military and aerospace, and innovative drugs performing exceptionally well. Sectors like communications and electronics were among the top gainers, serving as the core engine driving the market upward. Against this market backdrop, the competition participants delivered impressive performances. Data shows that nearly 80,000 people registered for the 2025 "Fortune Cup" ETF Trading Competition. An analysis of heavily weighted sectors reveals that the top-ranked participants primarily engaged in flexible rotation between broad-based ETFs and sector-themed ETFs such as biopharmaceuticals, communication equipment, and semiconductor chips, demonstrating their focus on and tactical adjustments to capture market hotspots.
This year's competition was comprehensively upgraded across four dimensions—"investor education, investment, competition, and service"—to provide investors with all-around, multi-level support and services, assisting them in progressing steadily on their investment journey. (1) Tiered Investor Education: Knowledge Empowerment, Building a Ladder of Growth The competition's "ETF Academy" section was fully revamped and upgraded for 2025. Through easily understandable analytical articles and interactive quiz activities, it provided comprehensive ETF knowledge dissemination from beginner to advanced levels, offering more targeted knowledge support for investors at different stages. During the competition, page views and participation in the investor education quizzes exceeded 1.41 million person-times, indicating significant educational impact. Furthermore, the competition featured three dedicated education zones: the "Beginner's Zone" helped investors thoroughly grasp the basic trading rules and core principles of ETFs; the "Product Introduction Zone" provided in-depth analysis of the characteristics of various ETF types like sector, broad-based, and bond ETFs, aiding investors in discovering products that match their needs; the "Investment Strategy Zone" offered deep dives into thematic industry chains related to ETFs and analyzed the driving logic behind the price movements of different ETF types, helping investors better seize market opportunities. (2) In-depth Content: Gaining Insight, Grasping the Market Pulse In collaboration with the ten major fund companies, the competition launched the "Hot Topics" and "Sector Focus" columns to provide deep interpretations of the latest market trends and investment opportunities. The competition also specially invited fund managers from the partner fund companies, CMSC's chief strategist, and senior wealth advisors to conduct the "Experts Accompany You" event series. These sessions covered basic ETF knowledge, shared market insights, interpreted market dynamics, and explained theoretical frameworks for asset allocation, empowering investors to make wise and rational investment decisions in a complex and ever-changing market environment. Statistics show that during the competition, CMSC hosted a total of 45 live streaming sessions in its ETF series featuring fund managers, which garnered nearly 4.6 million total views and attracted significant attention from investors. The themes of these live streams were closely aligned with current hot industry sectors, extensively covering multiple promising areas with high growth potential. These included traditional and highly followed sectors like gold, dividends, and brokerages, as well as emerging industries representing technology and the future, such as AI, commercial aerospace, and innovative drugs. The coverage also extended to new energy sectors like photovoltaics and batteries, and basic industries like non-ferrous metals and chemicals. This rich and diverse selection of market-relevant themes provided investors with abundant market analysis and multiple analytical perspectives, fully meeting their investment needs across different fields. Additionally, to further enhance the investment experience and sense of achievement for participants, the competition platform featured an "ETF Selection Tool." This tool compared indices and ETFs across multiple dimensions and provided a series of quantitative data indicators, aiming to help investors gain a comprehensive understanding of the risk-return characteristics of indices and ETFs. This tool can serve as a reference for investors conducting their own analysis. (3) Wealth Advisor Companionship: Professional Support, Embarking on the Investment Journey Together Thousands of CMSC wealth advisors were deeply involved throughout the competition, facing market challenges alongside the participants while providing professional guidance and companionship. The competition specially established a "Wealth Advisor Rankings" list, allowing investors to view the performance records of top-ranked advisors at any time. Concurrently, wealth advisors shared market insights and investment perspectives through the "Advisor's View" column, continuously providing investor education and support. During the event, branch wealth advisors shared diverse investment philosophies: some advocated a core-satellite approach with broad-based ETFs at the core and sector ETFs as satellites, aiming to balance market beta returns with sector alpha opportunities; others proposed sector rotation strategies based on fundamentals and market trends, coupled with a dual-pronged allocation focusing on both "growth" and "defense" to adapt to different market environments; still others emphasized the importance of liquidity management, noting that ETFs with large scale and active trading typically offer better liquidity. These profound and practical insights provided investors with diversified allocation ideas and risk management perspectives for their decision-making reference.
From theory to practice, from entry-level to advanced strategies, and from capturing hotspots to delving deep into specific sectors, the "Fortune Cup" ETF Trading Competition provided investors with an immersive ETF investment experience, allowing every participant to hone their skills and accumulate experience in a real-world setting. After more than half a year of intense competition, the 2025 CMSC "Fortune Cup" ETF Trading Competition has officially concluded. The successful conclusion of the competition not only summarizes past achievements but also marks a new starting point for investors' ETF investment practice. China Merchants Securities remains committed to its core philosophy of "Serving Clients with Sincerity, Creating Value with Professionalism," and will continue to deepen its efforts in investor education and service. Together with the vast investor community, CMSC looks forward to witnessing the vigorous development of the ETF market and embarking on a new journey of wealth creation!
[Risk Warning and Disclaimer] The relevant fund products are issued and managed by fund management companies. China Merchants Securities acts as a distribution agency and does not assume responsibility for the investment, redemption, or risk management of these products. Funds may face various risks during their investment operations, including but not limited to management risk, trading risk, liquidity risk, market risk, operational risk, exchange rate risk, and risks specific to ETF funds, such as systematic risk, index tracking error risk, risk of deviation between the target index return and the industry average return, risk of change in the target index, risk of deviation between the fund portfolio return and the target index return, and the risk of premium/discount to NAV in the secondary market trading price of fund shares. Investors are advised to carefully read the fund's contract, prospectus, and other relevant legal documents, continuously pay attention to the specific risks of the fund, and choose investment products suitable for their own risk tolerance, making independent and prudent decisions. This article is a review of the CMSC "Fortune Cup" competition event, and the data mentioned are historical information. The performance of competition participants and wealth advisors benefited from their grasp of the specific market conditions of that year and represents individual cases under specific market environments, not a universal situation, and does not constitute investment advice. Past performance of a fund is not indicative of its future results. Funds carry risks, and investment requires caution. China Merchants Securities shall not be held liable for any consequences resulting from investors' use of the information in this article for investment operations. China Merchants Securities holds the final right of interpretation for this trading competition. For any opinions or suggestions regarding this event, please call the CMSC customer service hotline at 95565 on trading days.
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