Southeast Asia is becoming a more attractive location for retail brokers, with new market entrants launching locally, obtaining licences or establishing regional offices, established brokers expanding their products, marketing, partnerships and local-language services, and more retail investors entering financial markets.
London's trading industry is coming home!
But although there is evidence of expanding demand and new international interest, there are also indications that growth is uneven across market segments.
Global Brokers Chase Southeast Asia’s Growing Investor Base
A March 2026 report by The Straits Times found that Indonesia's retail investor population had risen from 3.9 million in 2020 to more than 20 million. It identified Robinhood, South Korea's Hanwha Investment & Securities and Singapore-headquartered Doo Financial as being among the international firms expanding or seeking opportunities in the market.
Robinhood announced in December 2025 that it would acquire two Indonesian businesses to establish a local presence, and its initial target was to complete the transactions in the first half of 2026. However, the acquisitions have not been publicly confirmed as completed, and the reported target for a full local app launch is now early 2027.
A September 2026 survey of 1,200 consumers across Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam found that two-thirds already invested and another 26% planned to start within 12 months.
Investment and trading apps are the primary channel for 49% of investors in Thailand, 48% in Indonesia and 44% in Singapore. The most striking contrast lies in the rise of digital wallets and super apps, with 31% of investors in the Philippines primarily managing their investments through a digital wallet or super app, compared with just 3% in Singapore.
Rising incomes, urbanisation and the growth of the middle class are expanding the pool of people able to invest. Younger consumers are also more comfortable using digital platforms and exploring assets beyond traditional savings products.
Indonesia is particularly attractive because of its population size and rapid growth in retail investor numbers. Vietnam and the Philippines offer other sizeable markets, although their regulatory and commercial conditions differ.
In June, Neil Pabari, executive director, retail sales and distribution, Asia Pacific, for CME Group, noted that while young investors in the region are putting money into more traditional assets – such as equities and bonds – they are also showing an openness to alternative assets.
Around three-quarters of cryptocurrency investors in Indonesia are between 18 and 35, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency. In Malaysia, younger investors are also more likely than older generations to hold alternative assets, with almost a quarter of both Gen Z and millennials holding cryptocurrency.
Pabari observed that retail participation in CME Group markets from the wider Asia Pacific region has grown 16% over the last five years, with heightened regional activity this year in precious metals and oil futures.
- The AI Trade Is Crowded: Where Retail Money Can Go beyond Nvidia
- Will ‘Clocking Off’ Become a Distant Memory for Traders?
- How Much of Its Trading Stack Should a Retail Broker Own?
Trading Apps and Younger Investors Drive Demand
App-based onboarding, digital identity verification, electronic payments and low minimum deposits make it easier to acquire and serve customers without a large branch network. This benefits both local stockbrokers and international forex, CFD and multi-asset brokers.
Technology also makes it easier to serve customers across borders, although it does not remove local licensing requirements.
Social media and trading communities are also improving customer acquisition. Younger prospective traders are discovering platforms through online communities, influencers, educational content and peer recommendations. This is enabling brokers to target customers by language, country and trading interests without relying solely on traditional advertising.
Retail investors increasingly want access to overseas equities, indices, commodities, currencies and crypto-related products. Brokers can compete by offering broader market access, different account types, more sophisticated platforms and local funding options.
For FX and CFD brokers in particular, the opportunity is not just to attract first-time traders: it is also to win active clients from established competitors through tighter pricing, better execution and more reliable withdrawals.
Singapore provides a useful example of the overlap and the distinction between these businesses. The MAS capital markets licensing framework covers securities, exchange-traded derivatives, OTC derivatives and leveraged foreign exchange trading, subject to applicable licensing requirements and exemptions.
In other countries, the regulatory treatment of leveraged FX trading can be more restrictive. Thailand's central bank, for example, states that retail speculative FX trading through platforms or websites is not currently permitted under its foreign exchange framework.
The Indonesian moves reported this year illustrate the attraction of establishing a presence in a fast-growing market. They also show why it is important to distinguish a proposed entry from an operational launch.
Growth Comes with Regulatory and Commercial Pressures
Of course, the opportunity is not uniformly attractive. A Deloitte Thailand study published earlier this year refers to a brokerage industry under sustained pressure from declining trading volumes, prolonged margin compression, rising operating costs and rapid shifts in investor behaviour.
These challenges are occurring within a broader capital market context marked by weakened investor confidence, a limited pipeline of high-quality issuers and an underdeveloped private capital ecosystem.
As a result, many brokerage firms – particularly mid-sized and smaller players – are struggling to invest in technology, product innovation, governance and investor engagement at the required scale to remain competitive.
According to Deloitte, the current level of fragmentation, operating within a finite profit pool, has constrained profitability and inhibited reinvestment across much of the sector. Consolidation can therefore play an important role in strengthening balance sheets, improving operational efficiency and enabling investment in scale-dependent capabilities.
So while international brokers want access to new retail customers and local firms are developing digital offerings, established firms may merge, be acquired or leave markets where customer acquisition and compliance costs are too high.
