UP Fintech Q2 2026 Earnings Report

UP Fintech EPS Results

• Actual EPS: N/A
• Consensus EPS: $0.21
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

UP Fintech Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: N/A
• Expected Revenue: $153.93 million
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

UP Fintech Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2026
• Date: 8/26/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 8:00AM ET

UP Fintech (NASDAQ:TIGR), operating under the Tiger Brokers brand, is an online brokerage and financial services company focused on serving investors through digital trading platforms. The company provides access to securities markets and offers tools for trading stocks, exchange-traded funds, options, futures and other investment products, subject to the regulations of the markets in which its subsidiaries operate.

Tiger Brokers’ platforms are designed to support individual and institutional investors with services that may include brokerage accounts, margin financing, market data, research, portfolio management tools and new-issue or initial public offering subscription services. The company also offers mobile and online applications intended to provide market access and investment management capabilities.

UP Fintech was founded in 2014 and has expanded its operations beyond mainland China to serve investors in selected international markets, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Its business is conducted through locally regulated subsidiaries, with the availability of products and services varying by jurisdiction. The company is led by founder and Chief Executive Officer Wu Tianhua and began trading publicly on the Nasdaq Stock Market in 2019 under the symbol TIGR.

UP Fintech Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Record financial performance: Q2 revenue reached $182 million, up 31.4% year over year and 17.7% quarter over quarter, while operating profit rose to $56.8 million. GAAP net income attributable to UP Fintech was $39.4 million, reversing the prior-quarter loss that included a roughly $59.7 million one-time penalty.
• Positive Sentiment: Client assets increased 16.7% year over year to $60.7 billion, supported by more than $1.5 billion of retail net inflows in markets including Singapore and Hong Kong. Hong Kong, Australia/New Zealand and U.S. client assets all posted strong sequential growth, while Q3-to-date assets were up in the high-single digits versus Q2-end.
• Neutral Sentiment: The May 22 regulatory changes led mainland retail users to withdraw about $500 million in Q2, reducing their share of total client assets to below 10% and revenue contribution to 15%-20%. Management said outflows have eased and believes the regulatory impact has largely run its course, with international markets now the primary growth engine.
• Negative Sentiment: Cash-equity take rate fell to 3.6 basis points from 5.9 basis points, reflecting higher trading in low-take-rate AI and semiconductor stocks, rising share prices and increased zero-commission U.S. volume. Management expects some recovery in Q3, but Q3-to-date trading activity and commissions are slightly below the comparable period in Q2 as markets have pulled back.
• Neutral Sentiment: Marketing expense rose 87% year over year, with average customer-acquisition cost increasing to about $450 from $420 in Q1; management expects second-half CAC of $450-$550. The company said the spending is concentrated in Hong Kong and Singapore and is generating higher-quality users, with Q2 average net inflow per new funded account exceeding $25,000, while it had repurchased approximately $5 million of ADS under its $50 million buyback authorization.

Presentation

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to UP Fintech Holding Limited second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today, August 26, 2026. I would now like to hand the conference over to our first speaker today, Mr. Aaron Li, the Head of Investor Relations. Thank you. Please go ahead.

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

Thank you, Operator. Hello everyone, and thank you for joining us for the call today. UP Fintech Holding Limited second quarter 2026 earnings release was distributed earlier today and is available on our website at ir.itiger.com, as well as GlobeNewswire services. On the call today from UP Fintech are Mr. Wu Tianhua, Chairman and CEO, Mr. John Zeng, our CFO, and Mr. Huang Lei, CEO of U.S. Tiger Securities. Mr. Wu will give an overview of our business operations and discuss corporate highlights. Mr. Zeng will then discuss our financial results. They will both be available to answer your questions during the Q&A session that follows the remarks. Now let me cover the safe harbor. The statements we are about to make contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. For more information, please refer to our Form 6-K furnished today and our annual report on Form 20-F filed on April 24, 2026. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. It is my pleasure to now introduce our CEO and Chairman, Mr. Wu. Mr. Wu will make remarks in Chinese, which will be followed by an English translation. Mr. Wu, please go ahead with your remarks.

[Tianhua Wu, Chairman and CEO at UP Fintech]

[Non-English content]

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining the Tiger Brokers second quarter 2026 earnings conference call.

[Tianhua Wu, Chairman and CEO at UP Fintech]

[Non-English content]

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

In the second quarter, we saw meaningful improvement in both commission income and interest-related income compared with the previous quarter and the same period last year. Our total revenue for the quarter reached $182 million, an all-time high, representing a sequential increase of 17.7% and a year-over-year growth of 31.4%. Operating profit reached $56.8 million, up 19.5% quarter-over-quarter and 12.6% year-over-year. GAAP and Non-GAAP net income attributable to UP Fintech reached $39.4 million and $42.8 million respectively, returning to profitability from net loss in the previous quarter. Excluding the impact of approximately $59.7 million one-off penalty incurred in the first quarter, second quarter GAAP and non-GAAP net income attributable to UP Fintech both increased about 20% quarter-over-quarter.

[Tianhua Wu, Chairman and CEO at UP Fintech]

[Non-English content]

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

We added 32,600 new funded accounts this quarter, up 12.7% quarter-over-quarter, with the great majority coming from the Singapore and Hong Kong markets. As of the end of the second quarter, our total funded accounts reached 1.32 million, a year-over-year increase of 10.3%. In terms of client assets, retail users in markets such as Singapore and Hong Kong continue to contribute solid net asset inflows, exceeding $1.5 billion this quarter. At the same time, fueled by mark-to-market gains, total client assets stood at $60.7 billion at the end of the second quarter, up 3.1% quarter-over-quarter and 16.7% year-over-year. We are glad to see that client assets grew quarter-over-quarter across all the markets we operate in this quarter, indicating strong growth, resilience and tremendous market potential.

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

In the Hong Kong market, we rolled out more offline promotion activities and expanded our brand exposure, driving local client assets up by nearly 30% quarter-over-quarter and extending the rapid sustained growth in client assets we have delivered since entering the Hong Kong retail market. Client assets in the Australia and New Zealand market and the U.S. market grew by more than 30% and nearly 50% quarter-over-quarter, respectively. This clearly demonstrates that as a global brokerage with internationalization at the core of our strategy and powered by the diversified development of our core business, we continue to earn the trust and recognition of both new and existing users across all the markets, giving us strong confidence in our growth prospects ahead.

[Tianhua Wu, Chairman and CEO at UP Fintech]

[Non-English content]

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

In the second quarter, we continued to focus on localized functions and enhance the user experience while stepping up our brand exposure to deepen user awareness. In the Singapore market, we further strengthened our localized trading capability by launching fractional share trading for Singapore-listed stocks and REITs, which effectively lowered the trading entry barriers, making local investment more accessible and friendly to beginners. In addition, to simplify users' compliance costs and reduce the complexity of tax declaration, we rolled out a dedicated tax reporting tool in Hong Kong, Singapore, and New Zealand. The upgrade is to optimize the end-to-end tax filing experience, enabling users to directly view and download annual tax reference documents through our app and official website, comprehensively covering key tax data including trading profits and losses, dividend income, as well as interest and coupon earnings.

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

In the Hong Kong market, we scaled up our brand investment and localized operations during the second quarter. Our flagship marketing campaign of the quarter was built around SpaceX, amplifying our brand voice through an integrated mix of out-of-home advertising, social media, exclusive new user rewards and advertising placement at Hong Kong Airport. At the same time, we launched Cboe index option trading in Hong Kong and hosted a dedicated launch event for TigerX Cboe index option, alongside a series of investor education initiatives, further enriching the range of trading products available to local investors.

[Tianhua Wu, Chairman and CEO at UP Fintech]

[Non-English content]

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

Our [B2B] business continued to strong momentum in the second quarter of 2026. On the investment banking side, in Hong Kong, we underwrote 14 Hong Kong IPOs during the quarter, continue to cover key sectors such as AI and hard tech, including major AI IPOs like Manycore, DeepZero, and WengeAI, and participating in the offering of intelligent manufacturing and automotive semiconductor companies such as Finemems, Robotphoenix, and SEER. Further consolidating our market influence in listing services for technology and innovation companies. Meanwhile, we continue to expand our A+H listing business, participating in Hong Kong list of leading companies such as Huaqin Technology and Senior Technology. Spanning key industries including smart hardware, new energy materials, and consumer electronics.

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

On the U.S. side, we participated in the distribution of four U.S. IPOs, including DSC Holdings, a digital platform from China automotive industry, and Micware, a Japan automotive software company. Our ESOP business delivered steady growth during the quarter with 50 new clients added. As of June 30, 2026, our total ESOP clients served reached 840.

[Tianhua Wu, Chairman and CEO at UP Fintech]

[Non-English content]

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

Now I'd like to invite our CFO, John, to go over our financials.

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

All right. [Non-English content], Tianhua and Aaron. Let me go through our financial performance for the second quarter. All numbers are in U.S. dollar. Commission income was $78.3 million, increased 21% year-over-year and 17% quarter-over-quarter. Interest income was $79.8 million, increased 36% year-over-year and 24% quarter-over-quarter. Together, total revenue reached $182 million, setting an all-time high, up 31% year-over-year and 18% quarter-over-quarter. Cash equity take rate was 3.6 basis points this quarter, down from 5.9 basis points a quarter ago. The main driver was a quarter-over-quarter increase of roughly $15 billion in trading volume from Tiger Brokers U.S. However, most of this uptick in trading volume didn't translate into commission revenues, as in the U.S., we offer zero commission to local users.

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

Within commission revenue, about 71% comes from cash equities, 24% from options, and the rest from futures and other products. Down to cost. Interest expense was $21.5 million, increased 19% quarter-over-quarter and 24% year-over-year, in line with the increase in interest income. Execution and clearing expense were $6.8 million, an increase of 25% from the same period last year, in line with the increase in commission income. Employee compensation and benefits expense were $50 million, an increase of 39% year-over-year, primarily due to the severance costs associated with Group's reorg of business units. Occupancy, depreciation, and amortization expense were $2.8 million, a slight increase of 3% year-over-year. Communication and market data expense were $16.2 million, an increase of 56% year-over-year due to the increase in user base and IT-related service fees.

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

Marketing expense were $18.4 million this quarter, increased 87% year-over-year as we focused on acquiring high-quality users and accelerated the expansion of our wealth management business. General and administrative expense were $9.8 million, increased 45% year-over-year due to an increase in professional service fees. Total operating costs were $103.9 million, an increase of 47% from the same quarter of last year. As a result, our bottom line increased on both GAAP and non-GAAP basis quarter-over-quarter. GAAP net income was $39.4 million, and the non-GAAP net income was $42.8 million, versus a net loss in the previous quarter, and up 20% quarter-over-quarter after excluding the impact of the one-off penalty in the first quarter.

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

As of the close of the U.S. market yesterday, we have cumulatively repurchased approximately $5 million worth of ADS under our buyback plan announced on June 2nd, 2026. We may continue to execute repurchase from time to time under the $50 million share repurchase program announced on June 2nd, 2026. Now I have concluded our presentation. Operator, please open the line for Q&A. Thanks.

[Operator]

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you'd like to ask questions, please press star, one and one and wait for your name to be announced. One moment for our first question. The first question comes from the line of Yoyo Fan of CICC. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

[Yoyo Fan, Analyst at CICC]

[Non-English content]

[Yoyo Fan, Analyst at CICC]

Thanks for taking my questions. This is Yoyo Fan from CICC. I have two questions here. Firstly, we have delivered a strong revenue growth and solid operating profit expansion in Q2. But we noticed that there was also a loss of over $2 million under the others net, this last item. So what's the reason behind and how it would be going forward? We also see that income tax expense was a little bit high in Q2, with effective tax rate at nearly 28%. So what is the reason behind and what should we expect as the normalized effective tax rate going forward? My second question, can you share the run rate of our operating trends since Q3, including metrics like trading velocity, client assets, and new funded account users? These are two questions, thank you.

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

[Non-English content]

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

First, on the roughly $2 million loss in the other line item. This was mainly an FX loss driven by the continual appreciation of the RMB and the corresponding depreciation of the U.S. dollar during the second quarter. It's a non-cash item. In contrast, first of all, we believe a normalized effective tax rate is in the 10%-15% range. The second quarter tax expense was notably above that level for two reasons. Number one is there is a non-cash deferred tax adjustment tied to employee share-based compensation.

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

The share-based award we grant to employees amortized quarterly on a gross basis as part of our compensation cost, covering both vested and unvested portions. For tax purposes, however, only the amortization of the vested award is deductible. The expense from unvested award is non-deductible and gives rise to a deferred tax asset. When our share price dropped after May 22nd, the value of the unvested employee stock pool declined. Thus, the previously recognized deferred tax asset came down accordingly.

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

As a result, we wrote down about $1 million of deferred tax assets this quarter, which was recorded as income tax expense. This is a non-cash item and if the share price recovers going forward, it would reverse and reduce tax expense in that period. The second reason, it is tied to the one-time penalty from May 22nd rectifications. We are still assessing this and for now, purely out of prudence, we have treated the entire penalty as a non-deductible expense in the second quarter, which added about $6 million to income tax expense this quarter. For now, this is a non-cash item. Looking ahead, we expect to keep optimizing our tax arrangement in light of the profitability across the group's various regions. We are consistent with the rules, we will aim to gradually reverse this against income tax expense in the second half. Okay, Tianhua.

[Tianhua Wu, Chairman and CEO at UP Fintech]

[Non-English content]

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

Okay. I will translate regarding the run rate of our third quarter. First, on client assets, Q3 quarter-to-date, both net asset inflow and mark-to-market gain have each contributed more than $1 billion. So client asset has kept up its steady growth. Quarter-to-date, we have seen a high single-digit quarter-over-quarter increase on current assets compared to the end of the second quarter. Second, on trading activity. Quarter-to-date, trading volume and commissions are running slightly below the same point in Q2. This mainly reflects the high base from a strong second quarter, when the market rally kept trading activity elevated. With some pullback in the market heading into Q3, activities have eased accordingly. Last, on new funded accounts, Hong Kong and Singapore remain our key contributors. We expect the number of newly funded users to come in flat or increase versus Q2.

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

As we stepped up our brand activity in both Hong Kong and Singapore in the second quarter, the results have been looking good so far in Q3. On top of that, it is worth noting that so far in Q3, the average net asset inflow per new funded user has risen further versus Q2 to around $25,000, which is in line with our quality-first approach to client acquisition. Thank you. Operator, please move on to the next question.

[Operator]

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Cindy Wang of China Renaissance. Please ask your question.

[Cindy Wang, Analyst at China Renaissance]

[Non-English content]

[Cindy Wang, Analyst at China Renaissance]

Thanks for taking my call. I have two questions. First, I would like to follow up the regulatory update after May 22nd. First, are there any other new policy changes? Second, is whether mainland clients have stabilized, such as trading activity, customer churn, and asset outflow. Currently, have you seen any significant changes in the percentage of customer assets and revenue from mainland retail clients? Second, the second question is, the company's overall blended take rate has remained relatively stable, but the cash equity take rate has decreased significantly compared to the previous quarter. Could you explain the reasons behind this and what the trend looks like? Thank you.

[Tianhua Wu, Chairman and CEO at UP Fintech]

[Non-English content]

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

Let me take this from two angles: the policy and the client behavior. First on policy, we move quickly and are in full compliance with the regulators' requirements. On June 12th, we rolled out the necessary monitoring mechanism to restrict onshore activities by mainland users, such as opening positions and making deposits. Since then, we have not received any further policy changes or adjustments from regulators. Second, on client behavior. Broadly speaking, the impact was concentrated in the second quarter and has largely been reflected at this point. Mainland retail users saw net asset inflow of about $500 million in the second quarter, most of them between May 22nd and June 12th.

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

This is a high single-digit percentage of these users' total current assets before the regulatory update. We think it is still manageable, and heading into the second quarter, the pace of outflow has been gradually easing. With those net asset inflows, mainland retail users now account for under 10% of our total client assets, down further from before, and their revenue contribution has come down from the 20%-25% range in full year 2025 and Q1 to a 15%-20% range in Q2. That being said, the outflow impact from regulatory change has largely run its course. More importantly, our core growth engine is our global business. In the second quarter, client assets grew quarter-over-quarter across every market we operate in. Based on the number and the actual results we are seeing so far, this matter has had no meaningful impact on the medium to long-term fundamentals of our global business.

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

[Non-English content]

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

As I mentioned earlier, cash equity take rate went down from 5.9 basis points in the first quarter to 3.6 basis points in the second quarter for several reasons. Number one, in the second quarter, AI and the semi sector trading volume accounted for a larger share on our platform. Stocks like Micron, SanDisk were trading at high share price with take rate of well below 1 basis point, which drags down the overall U.S. cash equities take rate. In addition, the Nasdaq index rose sharply in the second quarter, up more than 20%, pushing up the average trading price of individual stocks.

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

Since we charge commission on per share basis, a higher trading price translates into lower take rate. The third reason is some high frequency users were trading through our U.S. subsidiaries in the second quarter, which lifted the trading volume. But since we charge zero commission for local U.S. clients, this also drags down cash equity take rate. The first two factors are market driven, so the trend is hard to predict.

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

That said, quarter-to-date, in the third quarter, we have seen some pull back in share price, which should be positive for the cash equity take rate. We expect the cash equity take rate to recover somewhat in the third quarter. As for the blended take rate, it stayed relatively stable quarter-over-quarter, mainly because the share of future trading declined while cash equity and option trading went up. Since future trading volume is calculated on notional basis, a lower future trading volume leads to the blended take rate. Thanks.

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

Okay, Operator, let's proceed to next question.

[Operator]

Thank you. One moment for our next question. The next question comes from the line of Emma Xu of Bank of America Securities. Please go ahead.

[Emma Xu, Analyst at Bank of America Securities]

[Non-English content]

[Emma Xu, Analyst at Bank of America Securities]

So the first question is, could you break down the geographic mix of the new funded accounts in the second quarter? Second, we noticed a notable sequential rise in the marketing expense, including the CAC. Could you elaborate on the key drivers behind this increase? Specifically, what is the split between user acquisition versus re-engagement spend, and in which markets have you ramped up investment? Please also share your outlook for the approximate range of CAC in the second half of this year. Thank you.

[Tianhua Wu, Chairman and CEO at UP Fintech]

[Non-English content]

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

Of the new funded accounts were added in the second quarter, Singapore and Hong Kong together accounted for over 70%, split roughly even between these two. Australia and New Zealand contributed around 25%, with the rest coming from the U.S. market.

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

[Non-English content]

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

So let me break down the increase in our marketing spending and average CAC in the second quarter in three parts. First of all, some marketing expense were FCN rebates, not really tied to user acquisition. Excluding the FCN rebates, marketing spending was up about $2.5 million quarter-over-quarter, and average CAC rose from around $420 in Q1 to about $450 in Q2. Under split, client acquisition, including branding, accounted for roughly 60%-70% of our total marketing expense.

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

The incremental spending went mainly into brand building in Hong Kong and Singapore, and it's clearly bringing in high quality users. Average net asset inflow per new funded account from under $20,000 in the first quarter to over $25,000 in the second quarter. In Hong Kong, our client assets have now grown double digits for five straight quarters, up nearly 30% quarter-over-quarter and roughly triple year-over-year in Q2.

[John Zeng, CFO at UP Fintech]

We launched a SpaceX themed campaign during its IPO to amplify our brand awareness through different venues and channels. In Singapore, we kept reinforcing our brand and marketing leadership through a mix of online and offline campaigns. From taking part in GastroBeats 2026, the city's largest outdoor food and musical festival, to rolling out our Where's Your Next Step campaign with local running and pickleball communities to work our TV advertisement. Those campaigns helping us stay close to our user base, especially the younger ones, and build a warmer, more trusted brand connection that go beyond traditional financing marketing. Looking beyond the second quarter, we will keep adjusting our acquisition spending based on the market condition. Based on what we have seen so far, we expect the average CAC to be around $450-$550 range. Thanks.

[Emma Xu, Analyst at Bank of America Securities]

Thank you. That helps a lot.

[Operator]

Thank you for the questions. At this time, there are no further questions on the line. I would like to hand the call back to Mr. Aaron Li for closing.

[Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations at UP Fintech]

Thank you. I'd like to thank everyone for joining our call today. I'm now closing the call on behalf of the management team here at Tiger. We do appreciate your participation to this call. If you have any further questions, please reach out to our IR team. This concludes the call and thank you very much for your time. Bye-bye.

[Operator]

That concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your line.

Participants

Executives

• Aaron Li, Head of Investor Relations
• Tianhua Wu, Chairman and CEO
• John Zeng, CFO

Analysts

• Yoyo Fan, Analyst at CICC
• Cindy Wang, Analyst at China Renaissance
• Emma Xu, Analyst at Bank of America Securities