Moomoo Securities Japan, a digital brokerage, plans to expand its business in single-stock options for Japanese equities to capitalize on growing demand from the country¡¯s retail investors.
¡°Investor interest in options is actually much stronger than we had expected,¡± said Francisco Izawa, the head of Moomoo, a subsidiary of Futu Holdings, which is backed by Tencent Holdings. The brokerage hosted an options trading event in Tokyo this month, attracting 3,000 registrations for 500 spots.
The swelling interest reflects a shift in the options market, spurred by the Osaka Exchange¡¯s efforts to boost the trading of derivatives. The market had suffered from a lack of liquidity for years, prompting traders to rely on over-the-counter instruments.
That began to change when market-maker giant Optiver Holding joined the single-stock option market in 2024. Transactions are rising with the trading volume reaching a record 3.4 million contracts in 2025.
On a monthly basis, contracts for single-stock options on the Osaka Exchange hit a record in January.
Moomoo posted a surge in the turnover of single-stock options and the number of participants on the platform last year.
Elsewhere in the derivative market, Japan¡¯s 20-year government bond mini futures contract has also seen growing interest. Liquidity in the derivatives market provides investors with hedging opportunities and more sophisticated trading strategies.
The trend is likely to continue as the exchange seeks to expand its market-making program to around 50 stocks from the current 32. A wider lineup is necessary to capture retail investors¡¯ demand for single-stock options on popular companies, said Izawa, noting their interest changes rapidly.
Izawa, who served as an index volatility trader between 1994 and 2001 at Societe Generale in Tokyo, said Moomoo will introduce a comprehensive trading service for complicated option strategies. That will make it easier to execute strategies including straddles and condors, common trades that use several contracts to bet on volatility.
¡°Japanese investors are very diligent and they study hard and tend to catch up quickly,¡± said Izawa, referring to retail investors. ¡°The market for Japan¡¯s stock options will grow much, much larger.¡±
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