The ecological of the A-Shares market is undergoing profound changes in 2026. Quantitative funds have become an important force roiling the market. Currently, the industry’s management scale has exceeded 1.8 trillion yuan, and quantitative transactions account for 30%-40% of the average daily turnover of A-Shares, even exceeding 50% in small-cap stocks. The market presents a differentiated pattern of “index shock and individual stock activity”.
The capital side presents a “ice and fire” game: on the one hand, long-term funds such as insurance and public funds have become more cautious in allocation due to global inflationary pressure and reduced some positions; on the other hand, benefiting from the new trading rules, quantitative funds have actively laid out fields such as chemicals and micro-cap stocks, driving the CSI 2000 Index to perform better than the Shanghai Composite Index 50.
The regulatory level has also made simultaneous efforts. The new quantitative trading supervision rules have been implemented since April 2026, focusing on frequency limitation, equal rights and penetrating supervision, promoting the market to shift from “competing for speed” to “competing for strategy quality”, and at the same time guiding long-term funds to enter the market to play their role as a “ballast stone”. It is worth noting that foreign capital’s interest in A-Shares has not diminished. Since the beginning of the year, 354 foreign institutions have conducted 1,295 surveys, optimistic about the safety and valuation advantages of Chinese assets.
With the intensive disclosure of financial reports, the core logic of the market has shifted to performance-driven. The profit growth rate of hard technology sectors such as AI computing power and semiconductors is expected to reach 20%-25%, resource sectors such as non-ferrous metals benefit from geopolitical conflicts, and small and medium-sized “specialized, refined, characteristic and innovative” enterprises have ushered in value revaluation. These areas will become the core of subsequent capital focus. Investors need to focus on fundamentals and seize structural opportunities.
