Mainland margin lending tripled in last year, now equal to 8.2% of floating stock

Margin lending in China has more than tripled to more than RMB1.7 trillion (US$274.6 billion) in the past year, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from WIND Information Co. Research by Macquarie Securities Group shows margin debt equal to 8.2% of the stock available to be freely traded, easily exceeding a peak of 6% reached in the late 90’s by Taiwan, now the second-highest level globally in recent memory. Trading funded by margin loans accounted for 25% of daily volume on the ChiNext market in Shenzhen where Chinese startups trade, and turnover from margin-financing accounts makes up 15% of daily trading volume in the total mainland market, according to UBS estimates.