Securities brokers struggle as trading liquidity shrinks

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• Margin lending relative to market capitalization hits a new record: what is happening?

  Total lending at securities firms, including margin loans and advances on sales, is estimated at about VND 455,000 billion at the end of Q3/2026, up VND 10,000 billion from the previous quarter, equal to roughly 5.1% of the market capitalization of the two exchanges and the highest level in history. Meanwhile, HoSE's matched trading value averaged only over VND 13,403 billion per session in September, down more than 60% year on year, and the VN-Index fell nearly 4.7% in Q3. Bùi Văn Huy, General Director of FIDT, says most margin balances are likely in bespoke “deal” loans where shares serve as collateral, though public data cannot precisely determine the share. Balances are concentrated among 18 securities firms with lending above VND 10,000 billion, about two-thirds of which have bank backing. The article also notes that margin balances have grown roughly in line with foreign investors' cumulative net selling of about VND 350,000 billion over roughly the past five years.

  CafeF·25/10, 17:02▼ VNINDEXVNINDEXbrokeragesmargin lending
• A Hidden Risk Behind Record Margin Lending Balances

  According to FiinTrade, margin loan balances at 78 securities firms (covering about 99.6% of industry equity) reached over VND 457,500 billion at the end of Q3/2026, up VND 56,400 billion (14.1%) from the end of 2025 and the highest level in the market’s history. Meanwhile, average daily trading value in Q3 was only about VND 14,800 billion, down 22.6% from the previous quarter and 63.6% from a year earlier. The ratio of margin debt to free-float-adjusted market capitalization was about 14.2%, versus 5.6% in 2020 and 8.8% at the 2022 peak. General Director of FIDT Bùi Văn Huy said most of the current margin volume appears to come from privately negotiated “deal” loans, though public data does not yet show their exact share. He noted that when shares are pledged as collateral, their prices may be affected by the financial condition of borrowing shareholders, and such debt generally does not appear on listed companies’ balance sheets.

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• Gloomy market: how are securities companies faring?

  Market liquidity fell sharply in Q3, with average trading value on HoSE, HNX and UPCoM at 18,625 billion VND per session, down 57.6% year on year. The VN-Index ended the quarter at 1,768.62 points, down 4.9% from the end of Q2. Profits fell at many brokerages, with VNDIRECT's Q3 after-tax profit down about 65% and SSI's down 27%, as brokerage revenue slumped. TCBS led with Q3 pre-tax profit of 2,152 billion VND, up about 6%, helped by margin lending income that rose 55%. VIX's Q3 after-tax profit fell about 93% as proprietary trading swung to a loss, while CVS still posted an after-tax loss of more than 2.6 billion VND, its 17th consecutive loss-making quarter.

  CafeF·23/10, 00:28▼ VNINDEXbrokeragesVNINDEXliquidity
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  Investor deposits at securities companies were estimated at about VND 72,000 billion at end-Q3 2026, down over 12% from the previous quarter and the lowest since end-Q2 2023, marking the second straight quarterly decline. Compared with a record of about VND 131,000 billion at end-Q3 2025, balances have shrunk by about VND 59,000 billion, or roughly 45%. The decline is broad: VPS still leads with VND 12,834 billion but fell 11% in the quarter, TCBS dropped more than 31% to VND 6,225 billion, and SSI stands at VND 5,572 billion, while Vietcap rose over 122% to VND 5,067 billion. Average matched trading value on HoSE was only about VND 14,000 billion per session, down about 23% from the previous quarter and 63% year on year, reflecting more cautious investor sentiment.

  CafeF·22/10, 17:03▼ VNINDEX▼ HCM▼ SSI▼ VCIbrokeragesliquiditycapital flows
• DNSE's nine-month operating revenue up more than 27%

  DNSE Securities recorded nine-month operating revenue of 1,302.9 billion VND, up 27.3% year on year, including 454.6 billion VND in the third quarter alone. Pre-tax profit for nine months was 171.3 billion VND and after-tax profit 135.8 billion VND, while total expenses rose 62%, including a group of provisioning, impairment and borrowing costs that rose 54.9%. The company attributed the profit pressure to lower market liquidity and VN-Index movements, which affected brokerage and proprietary trading and raised provisions for its proprietary portfolio. DNSE's derivatives brokerage market share reached 26.62% in Q3, its highest since entering the market and up 1.24% from the previous quarter, and it reached 2 million securities accounts in September 2026. The company also launched a strategy backtesting tool and DNSE MCP, which connects AI assistants with its investment data and tools.

  VnExpress·21/10, 03:00▲ DSEbrokeragesearningsliquidity
• Why are securities stocks lagging despite high expectations?

  Securities stocks have remained weak despite expectations of gains from FTSE Russell's market upgrade and capital market development. According to VietstockFinance, as of 09/10/2026 the sector index was down 23.46% year-to-date, much deeper than the 2.77% decline of VN-Index, and had lost 39.92% over the past year. About 80% of the 43 sector stocks were more than 20% below their recent peaks, a threshold commonly used to define a bear market. Võ Kim Phụng of Chứng khoán Beta said the sector's earnings depend on liquidity, margin lending and interest rates, and that expected gains were priced in earlier; in Q3/2026, average daily trading value on HOSE and HNX fell 58% year-on-year.

  Vietstock·19/10, 06:02▼ VNINDEXVNINDEXbrokeragesliquidity

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