Vietnam now has 7.87 million registered stock trading accounts with local brokerages, according to data from the Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation. In May, 132,220 new accounts were opened or 4,265 per day on average, but this is not necessarily a good thing.

There is a lot to unpack here.

Firstly, this is the total volume of accounts and Vietnamese investors can open accounts at more than one brokerage. With this in mind, in September, MB Securities closed the inactive accounts it had on file totalling 543,753 accounts. This was just one securities firm. 

Furthermore, Vietnam’s Stock Market Development Strategy specifically targets 9 million accounts by 2025 and 11 million accounts by 2030. With this target in mind, and the clock ticking, it seems unlikely more securities firms will take the same action as MB Securities with these targets putting the emphasis on quantity rather than quality.

This is all the more pertinent in that stock market manipulation is increasingly common in Vietnam, with individuals opening multiple accounts, at multiple brokerages, under multiple names to drive up the price of local stocks.

That is to say, that this news, that the number of accounts has increased by upwards of 100,000 in just one month, should probably be more of a cause for concern than celebration. That said, these are mostly domestic accounts, with the process for opening a trading account in Vietnam quite a bit more difficult for foreign investors.

See also: How to Open a Trading Account in Vietnam: Technical Guide 2024