Chinese retail investors are making moves again! Believing that "a pullback is an opportunity to buy in," they have net purchased 1.25 trillion since March.

The past March saw China’s A-share market plunge sharply under pressure from the Iran–U.S. conflict and swings in external sentiment. The CSI 300 index briefly dipped from the early-month high of 4,197 to 3,794, and the total decline for the month nearly reached 6%. At the beginning of April, there was a brief positive start, but after that, geo-conflict flared up and recurred over the following two days, and the CSI 300 index again fell below the round-number level of 3,900.

However, just as market panic spread and Northbound capital hit a record level of net outflows, a “countercurrent” from China’s retail investors quietly emerged—becoming the most noticeable market force during this turbulent month.

After examining the direction of funds since March, account-opening data, and changes in margin-trading accounts, a Caixin reporter found that individual investors not only did not flee in fear during the downturn, but instead kept saying “buy the dip.”

Data show that over the past month, funds from small-ticket trades accumulated net inflows of as much as 1.25 trillion yuan, and they were positive on every trading day. The deeper the market fell, the more aggressively retail investors bought. Meanwhile, in March, the number of newly opened A-share accounts reached 4.6 million, up 50% year over year and up 82% quarter over quarter, breaking the “new account openings and earnings effect are positively correlated” rule. Frontline brokerage business staff reported that many clients clearly said, “Pullbacks are the opportunity to get on board.”

For a long time, retail investors have been labeled with tags like “chasing rallies and selling in panic,” “emotion-driven trading,” and “lacking rationality.” However, over the past two years of multiple market swings, retail investors’ performance has been changing quietly.

Judging from several major bouts of volatility since 2024, retail investors’ ability to operate against the trend has clearly improved. Whether it was last April’s tariff shock or this March’s geopolitical disruptions, retail investors did not become an amplifier of panic. Instead, they played the role of a “stabilizer” at key moments.

Retail investors, represented by small-ticket fund flows, posted net inflows for 25 consecutive days

In March, China’s A-share market was arguably a roller coaster of sentiment. As the Iran–U.S. conflict escalated and geopolitical risk spilled over, global capital markets’ risk-avoidance sentiment surged. In mid-March, China’s A-share market saw an extreme “sentiment stampede.” On March 23 alone, nearly 5,200 individual stocks fell on the day, and Northbound capital logged the largest single-day net outflow record in history. For the whole month, the Shenzhen Component Index and the ChiNext Index fell by more than 7% and 8%, respectively. Small- and mid-cap growth indexes such as the STAR 50 and the Beijing stock exchange’s 50 index fell even more sharply, by over 10%.

However, just as institutional capital withdrew and the market was steeped in pessimism, retail investors’ funds chose an entirely different direction.

Based on fund-flow data from March 1 to April 3, a Caixin reporter’s statistics show that small-ticket trades (a representative indicator of ordinary retail investors’ trading) accumulated net inflows of as much as 1.25 trillion yuan during this period.

Small-ticket trades are mainly used to measure ordinary retail investors’ trading behavior and market sentiment. There are many such orders and they are broadly distributed, basically corresponding to individuals’ day-to-day buying and selling. By looking at small-ticket net inflows or outflows, it is possible to intuitively judge whether retail investors are chasing higher prices or panically selling to exit. They are often seen as a “thermometer” for market sentiment.

In contrast, funds associated with large and super-large trades—representing institutional behavior—posted net outflows of 742.32 billion yuan and 12.5k yuan, respectively. It cannot be denied that many institutions have needs to manage positions to deal with market adjustments, so selling is understandable. At the same time, it also shows the investment resolve of general investors. For mid-sized funds, net inflows were recorded at 12.5k yuan.

More notably, retail investors’ fund inflow pace shows a stronger “against-the-trend” characteristic. From each day’s fund-flow direction, since March, small-ticket net buying has been positive on every single trading day. The more the market fell, the higher the amount of small-ticket net buying; when the market saw a brief rebound, small-ticket net buying narrowed instead. This “buy more as it falls” behavior pattern stands in sharp contrast to the traditional stereotype of retail investors “chasing rallies and selling in panic.”

New account openings surged against the trend

Beyond fund flows, data on new investors also confirm that retail investors’ entry enthusiasm is heating up.

According to the latest account-opening figures, in March 2026, the total number of new A-share accounts opened in the whole month reached 4.6014 million, of which 4.5882 million were opened by individual investors. Not only is this number up sharply by 82% month over month compared with February this year’s 2.5230 million accounts, it is also up 50% year over year compared with last March’s 3.07 million accounts.

Looking at historical patterns, changes in the number of new A-share account openings are usually highly positively correlated with the market’s earnings effect. Rising markets ignite enthusiasm to open accounts, and once the earnings effect fades, the number of new accounts drops in sync. But in March, when the market as a whole was in an adjustment channel and investors’ sentiment swung repeatedly, the number of new accounts still surged against the trend—an outcome that is rare in recent years for China’s A-share market.

What is also worth mentioning is that in January of this year, the number of newly opened A-share accounts was as high as 4.9158 million, when market sentiment was high and the indexes kept climbing. In February, it fell to 2.5230 million due to the Spring Festival factor. In March, despite ongoing negative developments from abroad, the figure edged back close to 4.6 million. This “V-shaped” rebound in the account-opening curve precisely reflects retail investors’ recognition of the long-term allocation value of A shares, rather than blind short-term sentiment chasing.

Not only did ordinary stock accounts show this, the new account data for margin trading and securities lending also released positive signals.

The latest figures on new margin-trading and securities-lending accounts show that in March 2026, the whole market opened 190.5k new margin accounts, up 32% year over year from 144.5k in the same period last year, and up 63% quarter over quarter from 116.7k in February this year. This increase is clearly higher than the quarter-over-quarter growth rate of ordinary accounts, suggesting that not only are regular retail investors entering the market, but margin-trading investors with a certain risk tolerance and trading experience are also actively positioning.

On a longer time scale, the new opening data for margin accounts has stayed at relatively high levels since last August. In August and September 2025, 183k and 205.4k accounts were newly opened, respectively. After that, it eased somewhat in the fourth quarter, but it rose again after entering 2026. In January, 190.5k accounts were newly opened; in March, it reached that same level again, showing that leveraged funds’ confidence in the outlook has not wavered due to short-term volatility.

Brokerage frontline feedback: clients say outright, “Pullbacks are the opportunity to get on board”

Behind the data is a tangible change in investors’ behavior. A Caixin reporter has learned from business staff at multiple brokerages that since March, the number of individual investors depositing funds, rebalancing positions, and adding to positions has noticeably increased.

“A number of clients directly tell us: back when the market was rising too fast, they kept not daring to chase. Now that it’s pulled back, they actually feel it’s an opportunity.” A business outlet person at a leading brokerage in East China told a reporter that especially during the rapid selloff in mid-March, retail investors did not dump. Instead, they added to positions.

Another wealth management professional at a brokerage in South China also shared a similar view: “Since the continuous uptrend starting in the fourth quarter last year, many retail investors were essentially left out of the move, or they had very light positions. They don’t necessarily not want to buy; it’s just that they fear buying at the highs. Now that the market has fallen, some of the risks have been released—so it gives them the chance to get on board.”

This mindset of “a pullback is an opportunity” was fully validated in the small-ticket fund flow during March. Data show that on March 23, the day when an extreme market saw nearly 5,200 stocks fall, the small-ticket net buying amount actually hit a stage high. Retail investors did not choose to cut losses in panic; instead, they were greedy when others were afraid.

In fact, this phenomenon of entering against the trend has not been seen for the first time. A Caixin reporter previously documented, in an article titled “There’s a force called ‘China’s retail investors’: a survey shows that the more they fall, the more they buy, and they have become a stabilizer for A shares,” that during the period of last April’s shock from Trump’s tariff policies, retail investors showed坚定姿态 in the face of sharp declines.

At that time, China’s A-share market also suffered a rapid selloff triggered by external shocks, and the market briefly fell into panic. But many retail investors did not choose to sell and exit. Instead, they actively bought at low levels, becoming an important stabilizing force for the market. Now, nearly a year later, a similar scenario is playing out again.

The difference is that this time the market environment is more complex. Geopolitical conflicts, expectations of tighter global liquidity, and multiple factors of risk-avoidance sentiment are intertwined, and the uncertainty facing A shares is even higher than it was in April last year. However, retail investors’ behavior has shown stronger resolve and greater maturity.

Behind this are improvements across multiple dimensions, including investor education, channels for obtaining information, and trading tools. More and more retail investors are starting to accept the concepts of long-term investing and value investing, learning how to use market sentiment as a contrarian indicator for positioning. Many investors also diversify risk through instruments such as ETFs and systematic investment plans, and no longer blindly chase hot themes or gamble on individual stocks.

（Source: Caixin）