Trading in U.S. Hot Stock GameStop Restricted by Tencent-Backed Chinese Broker Futu

(Bloomberg) — Futu Holdings Ltd., a fast-growing online brokerage that helps Chinese investors trade overseas stocks, joined Robinhood Markets and other U.S. securities firms in restricting users from buying shares of GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.

New positions in the stocks were prohibited due to “upstream restrictions” but customers can still sell existing holdings, Futu said in a statement on Thursday. The brokerage, backed by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., encouraged users to be “prudent” when trading such stocks.

Brokerages are implementing curbs after the stocks swung wildly on orders from retail investors inspired by WallStreetBets and other online forums. GameStop soared more than 400% in the first three days of this week, attracting interest from traders around the world. It tumbled 44% on Thursday after brokerages began announcing restrictions, triggering a flood of angry responses from customers.

Extreme volatility in the stocks has “generated substantial risk” for brokerages, resulting in the need for stricter requirements on those firms, the Depositary Trust & Clearing Corp., a Wall Street clearinghouse, said on Thursday.

Some overseas brokerages have continued to allow trading in GameStop. South Korea’s major brokerages — Korea Investment & Securities Co., NH Investment & Securities Co., Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. — said on Friday they don’t have plans to impose restrictions.

Contact editor Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com)

Support quality journalism in China. Subscribe to Caixin Global starting at $0.99.