Futures market explodes! Trading volume, funds, and profits all rise, with multiple records broken

Since the beginning of 2026, against the backdrop of volatile global geopolitical conditions intertwined with domestic growth-stabilizing policies, China’s futures market has turned in a particularly impressive set of results.

Regardless of trading scale, market funds, or industry profits, all have shown clear upward momentum. Among them, the total amount of funds jumped to 2.67 trillion yuan, setting a new historical high; net profit in the first two months reached 2.7555 billion yuan, achieving a doubling year on year; and the number of effective clients surpassed the 3 million mark.

Net profit in the first two months nears 3 billion yuan

Judging from industry operating conditions, futures company performance has rebounded markedly.

Data from the China Futures Industry Association show that as of the end of February 2026, there were 150 futures companies nationwide, distributed across 29 regulatory jurisdictions. In February, operating revenue was 3.171 billion yuan and net profit was 980 million yuan. In January, operating revenue was 4.828 billion yuan and net profit was 1.775 billion yuan.

Although in February, due to seasonal factors such as the Spring Festival holiday, agency trading volume and operating revenue contracted compared with January, the overall performance in the first two months can be described as “astonishing.”

Overall, in the first two months of 2026, futures companies nationwide achieved cumulative net profit of 2.7555 billion yuan, already approaching the 3 billion yuan threshold. In the same period last year, the figure was only 1.062 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year doubling—an increase as high as 159%. The industry’s profitability has improved significantly, reflecting a dual drive from increased market activity and optimized business structure.

From the trading side, agency trading volume in February reached 5.5544 trillion yuan, with agency trading volume of 528 million lots, continuing to run at a high level. The sustained expansion of transaction scale has provided futures companies’ brokerage business with a stable source of income, further consolidating the industry’s fundamentals.

Both total funds and number of clients break records

If the profit data reflects the industry’s “ability to make money,” then market scale indicators directly reflect the appeal and development potential of the futures market.

The latest data from the China Futures Market Monitoring Center show that since 2026, amid a complex and ever-changing external environment and domestic policies that are steady and progressive, China’s futures market has demonstrated strong resilience and vitality. Recently, the size of funds, trading, and client numbers across the whole market have all broken historical highs.

As of late March, total funds across the whole market at one point climbed to 2.67 trillion yuan, up 24.19% from the end of last year, setting a new historical high. At the same time, cumulative trading volume and trading value reached 2.268 billion lots and 226.17 trillion yuan, respectively, increasing year on year by 40.43% and 59.23%, respectively—showing a strong growth momentum.

Of note, the highest single-day trading volume on the market broke 72 million lots, indicating a significant increase in trading activity.

In terms of investor structure, the number of effective clients exceeded 3 million for the first time, up 8.52% from the end of last year, meaning more funds and participants are accelerating their entry into the futures market.

Insiders point out that “all three lines rising”—funds, trading, and client scale—does not only show the market capacity expanding rapidly, but also reflects a continued improvement in the futures market’s importance in asset allocation and risk management.

Wang Jun, Chief Expert at GF Dahu Futures, believes that while the total amount of funds in the futures market has risen, and this year China’s futures companies’ profitability has improved significantly, the core is the result of a convergence of multiple positive factors. Specifically, there are four major reasons:

First, ongoing external geopolitical conflicts and sharp fluctuations in global commodity markets have greatly boosted real-economy enterprises’ demand for risk management. With the Iran-related geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Iran staying tight, and European energy prices surging, price volatility in energy, nonferrous metals, and other products has intensified. This has led upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain to cluster into the market to carry out hedging and directly driven the rapid rise in margin scale.

Second, domestically, the economy is steadily progressing. Enterprises’ awareness of operation and risk management has continued to strengthen. The number of effective clients has surpassed 3 million. Both individual and institutional investors’ participation has increased in parallel, bringing continuous incremental funds to the market.

Third, market trading activity has improved significantly. Year on year, trading volume and trading value increased by more than 40% and nearly 60%, respectively. Higher trading brings more funds to settle, and it also drives revenue growth for futures companies’ brokerage, asset management, and other businesses, forming a positive feedback loop between funds and profitability.

Finally, in a complex macro environment, the hedging value of commodity assets against inflation and volatility has become more prominent. Institutional and wealth funds have increased their allocation to commodity futures. Meanwhile, the futures market’s product range has continued to expand, extending the market’s coverage and depth. This attracts greater allocation of institutional funds such as public funds, private funds, and QFII, further lifting the overall market’s total fund size. Together, these factors push market funds to set new highs again.

Price volatility intensifies, testing the market’s resilience

It is worth noting that behind the market boom, there is also more severe price volatility. Since March 2026, impacted by the escalation of the Middle East situation—especially the U.S.-and-Iran conflict—global commodity prices have shown significant fluctuations, with sectors such as crude oil and chemicals leading the gains.

Data show that since March, crude oil futures prices have cumulatively risen by 56.33%, and the average gain in energy and chemicals sectors has reached 27.15%. With external shocks increasing in size, the futures market faced considerable pressure from volatility at one point.

However, judging from operational conditions, according to a series of data disclosed by the China Futures Market Monitoring Center, China’s futures market as a whole shows strong ability to withstand shocks.

First, the market-wide position size has remained stable. Current open interest is 39.9835 million lots, with little change compared with late February, and no obvious abnormal volatility has occurred. Second, industrial clients actively use futures instruments to hedge risks. Their share of open interest has increased compared with February, reflecting stronger demand for hedging.

In addition, from the perspective of trading structure, the position shares of general legal-person investors, special legal-person investors, and natural-person investors have all remained relatively stable, with no structural imbalance. This means that market participants maintain rationality even amid severe volatility, and overall market operations remain stable and orderly.

Looking ahead, amid the continued uncertainty in the global economy and the increasing disruption from geopolitical conflicts, volatility in commodity prices is likely to remain at a high level. To a certain extent, this is beneficial for increasing trading activity in the futures market.

That said, industry insiders also generally believe that merely relying on growth in trading volume cannot support the industry’s long-term, high-quality development. In the future, futures companies need to keep making efforts in risk management businesses, institutional service capabilities, and international layout, among other areas, to promote a transition in revenue structure from a “pass-through model” to a “service model.”

Layout: Wang Yunpeng

Proofreading: Ran Yanqing