During the third quarter, Taiwan’s stock market experienced intense fluctuations reminiscent of a “market giant,” which has driven many institutional and individual investors away. According to statistics from the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the number of institutional and individual investors saw a decline for the first time in three quarters, dropping to 3,519 and 32,400 respectively. Conversely, retail investors remained undeterred by the ongoing ETF demand, with their numbers increasing for the third consecutive quarter, surpassing the 5.5 million mark to reach an all-time high of 5,516,100.
In early September, the market experienced a sharp drop, which adversely affected investor confidence. The stock exchange reported on the 15th that the trading volume turnover rate for September decreased to 8.99%, down from 11.69% in August. The proportion of day trading also fell, dropping to 34.32%, a decrease of 3.13 percentage points. Additionally, the average daily number of day traders declined from 126,400 to 109,800, a reduction of 16,600 traders. However, the proportion of ETF trading value increased from 7.61% in August to 8.2% in September, reflecting a rise of 0.59 percentage points.
Regarding investor characteristics, the volatility in the Taiwan stock market led to a decrease in the trading value by individual investors to 52.43% in September, down from 53.26% in August. Foreign investors’ trading value also fell slightly from 35.42% in August to 35.12% in September. Overall, the total number of trading accounts dropped to 3.7459 million, which is a decrease of 500,000 accounts from August.
Moreover, the amount invested by long-term retail investors through systematic investment plans decreased to NT$14.811 billion in September, a reduction of NT$14.47 million compared to August, although it remains the third-highest figure on record.
The stock exchange data indicates that in the third quarter, the total number of institutional and individual investors decreased by 4,448. Among them, the number of high-value individual investors (trading over NT$500 million) declined to 3,519, a drop of 646. Meanwhile, the number of individual investors with trading volumes between NT$100 million and NT$500 million fell to 32,400, down by 3,802. In contrast, individual retail investors trading below NT$100 million recorded an increase, rising to 5.5161 million, an increase of 286,000 individuals.
