The Philippine Stock Exchange is essentially admitting it’s losing the fight for retail investors. And its response is to overhaul nearly everything about how regular people can buy stocks.
PSE President and CEO Ramon Monzon announced that the exchange plans to launch a new trading engine, introduce new exchange-traded funds, ease margin trading rules, speed up brokerage accreditation, and roll out derivatives products. The target audience: the millions of Filipino retail investors who have drifted toward crypto trading and online gambling instead of equities.
The numbers tell the story
Crypto platforms in the Philippines reportedly engage over five times as many retail participants as the stock market. Trading volumes in crypto are also reportedly nearly five times that of the PSE.
The new trading engine will lower the minimum shares required per transaction, a clear pivot toward accommodating smaller investors who don’t have large sums to deploy.
