Bloomberg published a long article today, finally revealing the core reason why China has recently started tightening the "overseas stock trading" policies.

The main reason is simply one:
A large amount of capital is flowing out of the country through various channels, and trading US stocks and Hong Kong stocks has become a key focus area.
It is mentioned that many investors now use their annual $50k foreign exchange quota to exchange currency under the guise of "tourism" or "studying abroad," then transfer the money into:
Futu or Tiger Trade
These types of overseas brokerage apps, used to buy US stocks and Hong Kong stocks.
For larger sums, there are also some "offshore foreign exchange" methods.
To put it plainly:
You give RMB to a domestic intermediary,
And another person overseas then transfers the corresponding USD to you.
Essentially, this is a way to bypass normal cross-border capital controls.
In addition, there is another common method:
Buying Hong Kong insurance.
For example:
First use RMB to buy Hong Kong insurance,
Then cancel the policy,
And get foreign currency back.
This also allows funds to "go overseas."
Therefore, the current regulatory focus is no longer just on "restricting account opening."
Instead, it is beginning to systematically tighten the entire chain:
Cross-border brokerages,
Foreign exchange channels,
Offshore capital flows,
Hong Kong insurance channels.
CITIC Securities estimates:
Currently, the scale of Hong Kong assets held by mainland investors through platforms like Futu and Tiger is approximately:
200 billion to 250 billion HKD.
This means that:
A large amount of Chinese capital is continuously flowing into overseas markets.
So, in the near future:
The gray channels for "bypassing restrictions to invest in US stocks" are likely to remain under high regulatory pressure.
Therefore,
Many previously "operable" methods are likely to become increasingly difficult to use.