PSE online stock traders up 36%

MORE and more investors are embracing online platforms to trade stocks listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange, a market that has surged on the back of the country’s economic turnaround story in the last six years.

The number of online stock market accounts grew by 35.6 percent to 236,669 in 2015 from the previous year’s count of 174,592, mostly held by local retail investors, the PSE has reported.

Since 2010, the number of online accounts has posted a 46.1-percent compounded annual growth rate.

“We expect online trading to continue to drive growth in stock market accounts. We are hopeful that the rate of expansion we saw in the last five years will be sustained especially as more trading participants start offering online trading services,” PSE president and chief executive officer Hans Sicat said in a press statement.

The growth in online stock trading accounts outpaced the 11.2 percent rise in overall stock market accounts – summing up the traditional and online accounts – to 712,549 in 2015. This still represents less than 1 percent of the country’s around 100 million population and about 1.1 percent of the country’s 63.3 million labor force.

Of the total stock market accounts, 95.2 percent are considered as retail and the remaining 4.8 percent are institutional investors. Meantime, 98.5 percent of the total accounts belonged to local investors and 1.5 percent were accounted for by foreign investors.

“The growth numbers remain impressive but we understand we have a long way to go when we compare ourselves with the retail investor participation in other markets. We will continue to remain committed to promoting investing literacy through our free stock market seminars, webinars and market education roadshows to facilitate the expansion of investor participation among Filipinos,” Sicat added.

Retail Investor Demographics

Investors within the 18 to 44 age group accounted for more than half of retail investors while those who are in the 45 to 59 age range covered 27.8 percent of investors and those ages 60 and above comprised 18.8 percent of investors, the PSE said.

There are more males than females among retail PSE investors. Female investors made up 45.2 percent of the total number of retail investors while male investors accounted for 54.8 percent of the count.

Meanwhile, 40.9 percent of retail accounts are held by retail investors whose annual income is less than P500,000. Retail investors with an income of over P1 million accounted for 32.3 percent of total retail investors while the remaining 26.8 percent of investors have an annual income of P500 thousand to P1 million.

In terms of employment, 51 percent of the retail investors are locally employed, 29 percent are self-employed, and 13.3 percent are retired. Overseas Filipino workers account for 2.6 percent of retail investors while 2.4 percent are students and the remaining 1.7 percent are unemployed.

Retail investors are mostly based in the Philippines, making up 96.1 percent of the count while 3.9 percent of investors are based in other countries. Of the accounts in the Philippines, 72.7 percent are from Metro Manila, 15 percent are from Luzon, 5.6 percent are from Visayas, and 2.8 percent are from Mindanao.

The results on the investor demographics were based on submissions of brokers that provided information on gender, age, location and employment.

The PSE encourages individuals or groups who wish to learn investing basics by attending the stock market seminar offered by the exchange every second and last Tuesday of the month in PSE Ortigas and at the PSE Office in Cebu City. Slots may be reserved through [email protected].

For investing inquiries, individuals may call the PSE main office at (+632) 819-4100 or send an e-mail to [email protected].