KUALA LUMPUR, 5 DECEMBER 2019 – Malaysians are more optimistic about the future of the global financial markets than their Singaporean and Taiwanese counterparts, according to a survey commissioned by eToro, the world's leading social trading platform, and conducted by research company YouGov. The study, titled ‘Financial trading trends in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan’, surveyed the retail investors aged between 18 - 55 years old.
The findings revealed that 32% of Malaysians believe that the global financial market will grow compared with only 20% of Singaporeans and 12% of Taiwanese. A large part of this Malaysian optimism may be attributed to the positive economic growth in the region - an average of 4.6% growth in the first three quarters of 2019. Such encouraging growth is supported by private sector activity, particularly household spending, which is supported by a continued expansion in employment and income.
In line with the positive financial market climate, the study also showed that Malaysian traders are actively searching for new and alternative ways to increase their income level, with over 31% of them searching for opportunities in new asset classes.
The study reveals that 73% of Singaporeans and 50% of Taiwanese people prefer online trading as compared to traditional banking. As for Malaysian traders, 48% still prefer trading through banks, with online trading platforms coming in a very close second with 47% and 30% through stockbrokers.
“Although banks are still popular, there is a growing demand for online trading platforms that can provide users with the opportunity to explore multiple asset classes all in one platform,” said Paul Familiaran, eToro’s Head of Southeast Asia Region.
Paul observed that not only are more people moving towards online trading, family members and friends are seen as the main sources when it comes to financial advice - with only a handful using financial advisers.
“Social trading is disrupting traditional financial services. Social trading makes trading and investing more accessible, more transparent and more fun. eToro was created as a place where people can share ideas.
“Today, we are a global community of over twelve million registered users who share their investment strategies; and anyone can follow the approaches of those who have been the most successful. Due to the simplicity of the platform users can easily buy, hold and sell assets, monitor their portfolio in real time, and transact whenever they want. They can also choose how they invest either trading directly, copying another trader or investing in a portfolio,” said Paul.
When asked to name their favourite asset to invest in, 62% of Malaysians choose stocks, 23% chose forex, and 21% of Malaysians cryptoassets.
“It is positive to see Malaysians diversifying their investment portfolios to include new asset classes, with crypto being one of the many ways to do so. Diversification is key. The eToro platform enables people to invest in the assets they want, from stocks, commodities, currencies and ETFs to cryptoassets - all in one place,” Paul added.
