New A-share account openings in October hit their lowest level of the year.
In October, the A-share market trended downward amid volatility, and the number of new accounts also fell to a year-to-date low. According to data from the Shanghai Stock Exchange website, in October 2026, A-shares saw 1.5006 million new accounts, down 35.04% year-on-year and down 27.4% month-on-month. New fund account openings also hit a year-to-date low, dropping below 100,000 to 98,400. Starting in July this year, new account openings for both A-shares and funds have declined month by month. However, because new A-share account openings were relatively high in the first half of the year, rising 60% year-on-year, even as they continued to decline in the second half, the total for the first 10 months of this year still exceeded last year's full-year total. After a sustained decline, the A-share market staged a rebound in the past two trading days. Some brokerages believe a short-term bottom may have formed, the rebound could continue, and the medium- to long-term structural slow bull trend for A-shares remains unchanged.
October A-share new account openings hit a year-to-date low
In October this year, the four major A-share indices repeatedly hit stage lows, with the Shanghai Composite Index briefly falling below 3,600 points. That month, the Shanghai Composite fell 6.33%, the Shenzhen Component fell 15.94%, and both the STAR Composite Index and the ChiNext Index dropped more than 20%. With market risk appetite low, new account openings also declined. In October, new A-share account openings were 1.5006 million, new fund account openings were 98,400, and new B-share account openings were 400, bringing the total number of new accounts to 1.5994 million, a year-to-date low. Among them, individual investors opened 1,490,534 new A-share accounts, down 21.54% month-on-month from 1,899,667 in September and down 35.26% from 2,302,196 in October last year; institutions opened 10,051 new A-share accounts, down 17.55% month-on-month and up 29.86% year-on-year.
The number of new A-share account openings has been declining month by month since July this year. From July to September, new A-share account openings were 2.6554 million, 2.3973 million, and 1.9119 million, respectively; new fund account openings also declined month by month, with 199,000, 168,600, and 138,800 in the same period. The situation for individual investors opening new A-share accounts was similar: from July to September, new account openings were 2,641,968, 2,385,665, and 1,899,667, respectively. This round of A-share market adjustment also began in July, with repeated downward swings. From July to October, total new A-share account openings were 8.4652 million, down 14.15% from 9.861 million in the same period last year.
This contrasts with the first half of the year. In the first half of this year, the A-share market performed well, with the Shanghai Composite up 3.16%, the Shenzhen Component up 19.82%, the STAR Composite up more than 50%, and the ChiNext Index up more than 30%. Correspondingly, new A-share account openings were also higher in the first half, totaling 20.1614 million, an increase of 60% from 12.5978 million in the same period last year. Among them, January had the highest number of new A-share account openings at 4.9158 million, followed by March with 4.6014 million. With relatively high new account openings in the first half, even as they continued to decline in the second half, total new A-share account openings in the first 10 months of this year still exceeded last year's full-year total. Data from the Shanghai Stock Exchange website show that in the first 10 months of this year, total new A-share account openings were 28.6265 million, an increase of 1.1896 million from 27.4369 million for all of last year. As of October this year, cumulative A-share account openings stood at 426.056 million. Among them, cumulative individual investor account openings were 424.6866 million, while cumulative institutional investor account openings were 1.3694 million.
Can the rebound continue?
After a prolonged decline, the A-share market rebounded somewhat in the past two trading days. How the market will perform going forward has drawn intense attention. On November 2, the People's Bank of China, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission held a meeting to roll out market-stabilizing measures. Among them, the third batch of swap facility operations for securities, fund, and insurance companies began implementation on November 3; the stock buyback and increased holdings relending policy shifted from a phased arrangement to a long-term institutional arrangement, with the relending rate lowered to 1%.
Song Yu, chief China economist at UBS Securities, believes financial market support has entered a new stage of coordinated action by three regulatory bodies. This shows a higher level of policy coordination and a stronger determination to stabilize the market. Broader participation, lower financing costs, and longer-term policy commitments should strengthen support for equity demand. If the market remains weak, relevant authorities are expected to introduce further financial market support measures. However, Song Yu does not expect comprehensive policy easing like that of September 2024. He said that because economic growth is basically within a range acceptable to policymakers, the urgency for large-scale comprehensive easing measures is limited. The recent stock market selloff was not due to a new deterioration in economic fundamentals. More comprehensive and broad-based easing could support the stock market, but policymakers are more likely to prioritize support measures targeted at the capital market.
Regarding the recent A-share rebound, the strategy team at Huajin Securities believes that the landing of overseas concerns and the short-term oversold condition are also reasons for the rebound: on one hand, the U.S. midterm elections have ended with a Democratic victory, so short-term overseas concerns have been resolved; on the other hand, A-shares were already oversold in the short term, and a rebound arrived after extremely pessimistic sentiment was released. "A short-term bottom may have formed, and the rebound may continue." The Huajin Securities strategy team's reasoning is that the causes of the rebound may persist, while short-term policy is supportive and liquidity is loose. The strategy team at Soochow Securities also believes that November may bring a repair, because the U.S. midterm elections have concluded, the disruption from third-quarter earnings has ended, and domestic policies continue to intensify, so the market is expected to gradually shift from risk aversion with shrinking volume to a recovery in trading volume. The team believes that the November allocation approach should focus on the intersection of three main lines: "policy catalysts, earnings certainty, and low positions": first, within technology, focus on AI downstream applications and domestic substitution directions; second, varieties that fit the aesthetic of year-end allocation funds, have lighter positioning, and are expected to see incremental flows next year; third, grasp the certainty of the policy bottom and use quasi-dividend utilities to balance portfolio volatility. "In the short term, we recommend buying oversold technology growth and selected cyclical and consumer sectors on dips." The Huajin Securities strategy team believes that in the short term, technology growth and some cyclical industries may be relatively stronger; a Democratic victory in the U.S. midterm elections may in the short term make domestic semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, electrical equipment and new energy, and other sectors relatively stronger; short-term oversold technology growth sectors such as communication equipment, components, semiconductors, and other electronics are also worth watching. In the view of the Huajin Securities strategy team, the long-term structural slow bull trend for A-shares remains unchanged: first, from the long-term framework of profit and credit, the trend of profit recovery remains unchanged, and credit may also stabilize somewhat at low levels; second, the policy willingness to serve the real economy through technological innovation and a technology bull market will not change.
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