InvestNot yet confirmed elsewhere1 publisher2 min readPublished
Crypto trading commissions at Hong Kong brokers fell 13.5% against the industry's 21% profit gain
Hong Kong brokers' crypto commissions fell 13.5% to HK$99.3 million in the first half of 2026, SFC figures show. Industry net profit rose 21% in the same half, and crypto now makes up about 0.22% of brokers' commission and interest income.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- Brokers took in HK$15.5 million less from crypto trading than the HK$114.8 million they earned in the second half of 2025.
- Combined net commission and interest income across securities, futures, options, leveraged forex and virtual assets rose 13% to HK$45.4 billion from HK$40.1 billion.
- The SFC called the crypto decline notable because it ran against the trend in every other major business line.
- The regulator did not name the brokers behind the virtual asset figures or split them by trading platform.
Why it matters
- cost Crypto's loss offset only about 0.3% of the HK$5.3 billion brokers added in combined commission and interest income, so the industry's results barely register it.
- constraint The figure covers only SFC-regulated brokerage relationships, so on its own it cannot tell brokers or the SFC whether Hong Kong residents traded less crypto or moved that trading to other channels.
- exposure The review's research links the slowdown to investor confidence and liquidity, so a second weak half would hit liquidity in the regulated broker channel before it touched broker earnings.
Brokers' combined commission and interest income includes virtual assets [6], so the crypto line can be taken out of both halves. The rest grew about 13.3% [13], slightly faster than the headline 13%. Crypto's share of the total fell from about 0.29% in the second half of 2025 [12] to about 0.22% [11].
Whether crypto desks are falling behind (or rather, whether one revenue line added up across every licensed broker is) depends on two possible readings. One is a base effect. The second half of 2025 was the stronger half for broker crypto commissions [3], and one weak half after one strong half is too short a record to call a trend. The other is price. A commission total is trading volume multiplied by the fee charged, and the 13.5% fall [1] could come from lower fees on steady volume as easily as from fewer trades.
We think the decline is real and too small to change how brokers run their businesses. At traditional brokers crypto has stayed a sideline, well below equities, derivatives and margin lending [10]. In a half when the industry made HK$51.7 billion of net profit [5], we would not expect a broker to move staff or capital toward a line that shrank.
The counter-case is that the size of the line does not matter. A regulated channel that loses 13.5% of its commissions in one half while the rest of the industry grows [1] may be at the start of a longer decline. We are wrong if the next review shows crypto commissions falling again while the other lines keep growing.
What to watch
- Any SFC breakdown of virtual asset commissions by broker or platform, to show whether the decline is spread across firms or concentrated in a few.
- Broker disclosures of crypto fee cuts during the half, a sign that price and not volume drove the 13.5% fall.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption15
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives
- Insufficient
- Confidence55
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
Commission income from virtual asset trading at local Hong Kong brokers fell 13.5% in the first half of 2026, according to the SFC's latest financial review.
ReportedSupportedSource: Securities and Futures Commission review, as reported by cryptobriefing.comView cited source - [2]
Brokers earned HK$99.3 million in virtual asset trading commissions during the first half of 2026.
- [3]
The first-half figure compares with HK$114.8 million in the second half of 2025, which had set a higher bar.
- [4]
The gap between the two halves is HK$15.5 million in lost commission revenue.
- [5]
Net profit for Hong Kong's securities industry rose 21% to HK$51.7 billion over the same half-year.
- [6]
Combined net commission and interest income grew 13% to HK$45.4 billion from HK$40.1 billion in the prior period; the bucket covers securities, futures, options, leveraged forex and virtual assets together.
- [7]
The SFC review did not name specific brokers tied to the virtual asset figures and did not break the data down by individual digital asset platform.
- [8]
The review flagged the virtual asset decline as notable because it moved against the trend in every other major business line.
- [9]
Broker commission income is only one channel through which Hong Kong residents can access crypto; it captures the activity flowing through traditional, SFC-regulated brokerage relationships.
- [10]
For traditional brokers, virtual asset trading remains a small piece of revenue, far below the core businesses of equities, derivatives and margin lending.
- [11]
Virtual asset commissions were about 0.22% of brokers' combined net commission and interest income in the first half of 2026.
- [12]
Virtual asset commissions were about 0.29% of combined net commission and interest income in the second half of 2025.
- [13]
Excluding virtual asset commissions, brokers' combined net commission and interest income grew about 13.3% half on half.
- [14]
The HK$15.5 million crypto shortfall is about 0.3% of the HK$5.3 billion rise in combined net commission and interest income.
- [15]
Research accompanying the review describes the decline as indicating a potential slowdown in crypto trading through Hong Kong brokers that could weigh on investor confidence and liquidity.
ReportedInsufficientSource: Research accompanying the SFC review, via cryptobriefing.comView cited source
Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- cryptobriefing.comHong Kong brokers’ crypto trading commissions fall 13.5% in first half of 2026
1 article · October 10, 2026
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