4.6 million new retail investors face the "late cold snap": individuals buy more as prices fall, institutions fight and retreat simultaneously

Despite increased market volatility, the enthusiasm for opening A-shares accounts in March 2026 remains undiminished.

In March, 4.6014 million new A-share accounts were opened, with the market experiencing volatility and decline throughout the month, the Shanghai Composite Index fell a total of 6.51%, and the ChiNext Index declined by 3.79%.

Regarding institutional sentiment, the ETF market saw a total net inflow of 8B yuan in March, but it is noteworthy that risk-averse preferences among funds significantly increased. After a net outflow of 2.11B yuan in February, outflows further expanded in March, with net outflows exceeding 60 billion yuan.

Number of new account openings increased by 50.10% year-on-year

According to the latest data from the Shanghai Stock Exchange, new account openings in March rebounded significantly, with daily average account openings remaining high. The number of new A-share accounts in March 2026 reached 4.6014 million, a 50.10% increase from 3.0655 million in March 2025, but still about 310k fewer than the nearly 4.92 million total accounts opened in January.

There were 22 trading days in March, with the daily average of new accounts approaching 210k, up from an average of 180k in February, maintaining a high level of account openings.

In terms of user structure, in March, individual investors opened 4.5882 million accounts, while institutional investors added 13.2k accounts. Individual investors remain the main force entering the market.

While enthusiasm for opening accounts remains high, the A-share market in March showed clear adjustments and structural differentiation. In terms of market performance, after experiencing volatility in the first half of March, the Shanghai Composite Index fell below 4,000 points in the second half, with a total decline of 6.51% for the month; the ChiNext Index performed relatively well but still declined by 3.79% overall.

In terms of sector performance, against the backdrop of geopolitical conflicts, the oil and gas sector became the best-performing asset in March 2026. Previously popular sectors such as power grids, chemicals, non-ferrous metals, and gold experienced corrections.

Institutions continue to adopt a risk-averse style

Observing ETF fund flows to gauge institutional fund movements, during the market’s volatility and decline in March, the SPDR Oil & Gas ETF (CSI Oil & Gas) by Harvest surged by 36.28% in a single month, the China Securities Energy & Chemical ETF by CCB increased by 34.59%, and the SPDR Oil & Gas ETF by Franklin Templeton rose over 31%, leading the market; most other sectors performed poorly, with only bank ETFs showing slight recovery. Defensive assets such as soybean meal, dividend low-volatility, and innovative drugs gained over 2% in the month.

Along with the divergence in gains, funds rapidly withdrew from previously popular sectors, with ETFs related to non-ferrous metals, chemicals, and media leading in net outflows. The Southern CSI Non-Ferrous Metals ETF had a net outflow of 5.54 billion yuan in a single month, the Penghua Chemical ETF outflow was 20.45B yuan, and the GF Media ETF outflow was 310k yuan. These products experienced significant declines during the same period, as funds continued to exit to avoid risks.

After large outflows in February, the core broad-based indices of the A-share market saw further selling by funds in March, with the outflow scale significantly expanding. The Huaxia A500 ETF had a net outflow of over 8.3 billion yuan, the E Fund ChiNext ETF outflow was 210k yuan, the Southern CSI 500 ETF outflow was 180k yuan, and the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF outflow was 13.2k yuan, with broad-based products experiencing concentrated redemptions.

The Hong Kong stock direction also saw a shift in funds. Previously in February, although Hong Kong-related ETFs experienced market adjustments, they still attracted substantial bottom-fishing funds. However, in March, funds that had previously bottom-fished Hong Kong assets gradually exited. According to Wind data, the Franklin Templeton Hong Kong Stock Connect Internet ETF had a net outflow of over 7.4 billion yuan in March, and the GF Hong Kong Stock Connect Non-bank ETF saw an outflow of over 4.2 billion yuan.

Over the past month, overall institutional fund flows continued the risk-averse trend, with short-term bond ETFs like Huafu Tong achieving two consecutive months of net inflows exceeding 10 billion yuan, and the CSI Science and Technology Innovation Bond ETF by Harvest and the City Investment Bond ETF by Huafu Tong net inflows of 5.96B yuan and 3.63B yuan respectively. Low-risk assets remain safe havens for funds.

Within the overall defensive pattern, some industry-themed ETFs still attracted contrarian investments. The Huaxia Power Grid Equipment ETF, despite falling 6.74%, had nearly 9 billion yuan in net inflows; the Huaxia Gold ETF received 7.61B yuan in inflows; and the Huaxia Sci-Tech Innovation 50 ETF saw inflows of 3.7 billion yuan, indicating that funds still maintain some enthusiasm for high-growth or inflation-hedging sectors like power grids, gold, and technological innovation.