The APAC operator and trader-base landscape: Singapore, Japan, Australia, and the long tail of Southeast Asian growth markets.
Asia Pacific is the industry's second regional growth story — quieter than MENA but structurally deeper.
APAC funded-account growth ran at 28% in 2024 versus the global 22%, with Singapore and Vietnam leading. Operator strategy in the region is bifurcating between Singapore-headquartered licensed entities and unlicensed cross-border players.
Australia's ASIC engagement and Japan's FSA monitoring are the two regulatory developments operators should be watching.
Key Report Takeaways
- APAC funded-account growth outpaced global by 6 ppts in 2024.
- Singapore is emerging as the regional licensing hub.
- Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia lead trader-base growth.
- ASIC and FSA are the regulators to watch.
- Regional overview
- Singapore as hub
- Australia & New Zealand
- Japan & Korea
- Southeast Asia long tail
- Trader-base demographics
- Operator licensing pathways
- Outlook
Singapore as hub
MAS has not issued bespoke prop firm rules, but its capital markets services license framework is being used by a small group of operators to establish regional credibility. Expect this to scale.
Continue reading the full report.
Full charts, operator-level data tables, and the underlying dataset are available to CobraSight members.
