China is in the middle of its own day-trading boom, with 2.4 million new investors flooding the market in July | Markets Insider

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• China is in the midst of its own day-trading boom, with more than 2.4 million new investors flooding to the country’s stock market in July, the biggest increase since the 2015 bubble.
• Citing data from China Securities Depository and Clearing, Bloomberg reported Thursday that the number of new brokerage accounts opened in July increased by 57% from June.
• 2.43 million new accounts were opened, with the majority being started by individual traders.
• The boom in Chinese people opening brokerage accounts mirrors what is happening in the US and Europe, where day-trading has boomed in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic.
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China is in the midst of its own day-trading boom, with more than 2.4 million new investors flooding to the country’s stock market in July, the biggest increase since the 2015 bubble.

Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing data from China Securities Depository and Clearing, that the number of new investors opening brokerage accounts hit 2.43 million in July.

This means the number of account openings ballooned by 57% from June, and represents the largest single-month influx of traders since China’s 2015 stock bubble.

Most of these openings represented individual traders coming to the market, Bloomberg said.

China’s Shanghai Composite has risen by 12.1% since the start of the year. This is substantially more than the S&P 500, which, despite its catastrophic coronavirus drop in March, has climbed 5% in 2020, touching fresh record-highs earlier this week.

Read more: A $5 billion chief market strategist shares 5 post-pandemic stocks to buy now for gains as COVID-19 cases level off — and 2 big-tech winners to start cashing out of

The Chinese stock market shed some of its 2020 gains in July after tensions with the US flared up over who is to blame for the COVID-19 outbreak, and new legislation in Hong Kong that brings its autonomy into question.

The row deepened in July when the US ordering the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston and China subsequently ordered the closure of the US consulate in Chengdu  late last month. 

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he personally cancelled US trade talks with China. Both countries were due to review their Phase One trade deal last Saturday but this was postponed.

“I don’t want to talk to China right now” Trump said about the Phase One Deal. 

Read more: A JPMorgan equity chief sees stocks staying rangebound for another year, even if there’s a vaccine breakthrough — but says investors can still get big returns in these 11 regions and sectors

The boom in Chinese people opening brokerage accounts mirrors what is happening in the US and Europe, where day-trading has boomed in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic.

Robinhood, the most popular platform for retail investors has added more than three million new customers this year, and averages more than four million trades a day. Trading celebrities like Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy have fuelled the boom by espousing the supposed ease of making money on day-trading.