China just dropped the hammer on overseas brokers doing business on the mainland without a license. The China Securities Regulatory Commission, working alongside seven other government agencies, announced a coordinated crackdown on illegal cross-border securities trading on May 22.
The trigger: an estimated $1 trillion in unauthorized capital left China in 2025. That’s the largest annual outflow since records began in 2006, and it apparently crossed a threshold that Beijing was no longer willing to tolerate.
The penalties are steep, and the timeline is tight
Three major offshore brokers bore the brunt of the enforcement action. Futu Securities, Tiger Brokers (also known as Up Fintech), and Longbridge Securities…