The number of people investing in Pakistan’s stock market has surged by nearly half in less than a year. Data released by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Wednesday showed the investor base of the Pakistan Stock Exchange grew 47.3 percent between January and October 2026, climbing from 463,071 at the start of the year to 681,965 by the end of October — an addition of 218,894 new investors.
The jump is the latest sign that ordinary Pakistanis are warming to equities after a blockbuster year for the market — the benchmark KSE-100’s record rally delivered a 43.5 percent gain during the 2025–26 fiscal year — and the regulator says a nationwide awareness campaign is under way to push the investor base toward 2.5 million.
October alone added 26,843 accounts — and most were young
October was the strongest month of the year. Investors opened 26,843 new accounts during the month — 26,801 individual accounts and 42 corporate accounts — lifting the net addition to the investor base to 25,747 after closures and adjustments.
The standout detail is who is coming in: young investors accounted for the bulk of the new individual accounts. People aged 18 to 30 opened 14,634 accounts, or 54.6 percent of the monthly total, while investors aged 31 to 45 added another 9,290 accounts, or 34.7 percent. Together, the two age groups made up 89.3 percent of October’s new individual investors — a clear sign that Pakistan’s stock-market growth story is being written by its youth.
The surge follows the detailed October breakdown published this week, which also notes that the market’s momentum builds on the KSE-100’s 43.5 percent fiscal-year gain.
Men still dominate, but Punjab and Sindh lead the map
The gender split remains heavily tilted: men opened 22,878 new accounts in October — 85.4 percent of the total — while women opened 3,923 accounts, or 14.6 percent. Closing that gap is one of the biggest challenges for the regulator’s outreach push.
Regionally, Punjab led October registrations with 14,891 new accounts, followed by Sindh with 7,643 — the two provinces together accounting for 83.9 percent of all new registrations. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa added 1,894 accounts, Islamabad 1,419, Balochistan 370, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 340 and Gilgit-Baltistan 150, while overseas investors opened 136 accounts.
Commodities traders join in as PMEX grows too
The growth is not limited to equities. The Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX) added 1,077 new accounts in October, taking its total investor base to 61,915 — parallel evidence that formal-market participation is broadening beyond stocks into commodities trading.
Both exchanges are benefiting from the same structural tailwinds: easier account opening, wider digital access and a run of strong market returns that has turned saving into investing for thousands of first-time participants.
The road to 2.5 million investors
SECP Chairman Dr Kabir Ahmed Sidhu said improving investment access and protecting investors’ rights remained key priorities, stressing that transparency and effective supervision were essential to building market confidence. The regulator is running a nationwide awareness campaign to support its target of lifting the investor base to 2.5 million.
The pipeline of new listings is helping: the SECP approved 14 initial public offerings during the 2025–26 fiscal year, including the first SPAC listing on the PSX, giving first-time investors fresh entry points into the market. The regulator’s data release frames the 2026 surge as the start of a longer participation story — one the SECP believes has years left to run.
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