A survey conducted by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) during the period from 16 November 2007 to 15 January 20081 revealed that one in three adults in Hong Kong are stock investors (individuals invested in the HKEx stock market). Retail investors, ie individuals who participate in the stock or derivatives (ie futures and options) markets of HKEx or both, have risen to 35.8 per cent of the adult population, up from 28.8 per cent in 2005, according to the survey.
The Retail Investor Survey 2007 revealed that:
- 35.7 per cent of Hong Kong adults (or 2,022,000 individuals) were stock investors (individuals who at the time of interview were holding stocks, ie HKEx cash, or securities, market products, or had traded them in the 12-month period preceding the interview).
- 32.4 per cent of Hong Kong adults were stockowners who were holding stocks at the time of interview. The median stockholding value was $100,000.
- About 20 per cent of stock investors (or 7 per cent of the adult population) invested in warrants2 (ie were holding warrants at the time of interview or had traded them in the 12-month period preceding the interview).
- 1.6 per cent of Hong Kong adults (or 93,000 individuals) were derivatives investors (individuals who at the time of the interview were holding futures or options traded on the HKEx derivatives market or had traded them in the 12-month period preceding the interview).3
- Collectively, 35.8 per cent of Hong Kong adults (or 2,024,000 individuals) were retail investors who were either stock investors or derivatives investors, or both.
- Among stock investors, 85.7 per cent were stock traders (ie had traded stocks in the 12-month period preceding the interview).
- 58.8 per cent of stock traders were online stock traders who had traded stocks via online media during the 12-month period (up from 38.5 per cent in 2005) while 49.2 per cent of derivatives investors were online derivatives traders who had traded derivatives via online media during the 12-month period (up from 37.5 per cent in 2005).
62.9 per cent of stock traders had traded solely through banks (up from 59.1 per cent in 2005) and 22.6 per cent solely through broker firms (down from 30.8 per cent in 2005). About 48 per cent of derivatives traders had traded solely through broker firms (up from 41.2 per cent in 2005) and 36.7 per cent solely through banks (down from 48.5 per cent in 2005).
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1
The annotations of "Dec 2007" or "2007" are used in text, tables and charts for easy reference only.
2
Warrants include equity warrants and derivative warrants.
3
It should be noted that the statistics on derivatives investors are subject to relatively large error due to the small size of the sample of derivatives investors.
