The US-listed UP Fintech (NASDAQ: TIGR), which operates Tiger Brokers, published its financials for the first quarter of 2021, reporting a revenue increase of 255.5 percent when compared to the same period a year ago. In absolute terms, it generated quarterly revenue of $81.3 million.
The net revenue remained $75.7 million, again 245.7 percent higher year-over-year, while the quarterly profits came in at $21.1 million. The company reported a loss of $0.5 million in the same quarter of last year.
Headquartered in China, Tiger Brokers is a major brokerage platform with services around the world. The broker is operational in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, but its key markets remain in China, Singapore and New Zealand.
Retail Trading Frenzy
The broker particularly benefited from the increased activities in the retail trading industry, which soared after the Coronavirus outbreak. The firm revealed that it had more than 1,400,200 traders at the end of March, while the number was at 1,104,100 and 743,300 in December and March 2020, respectively.
Additionally, customer deposits with the broker swelled to a total of $123.8 billion by the end of last quarter from the previous quarter with $65.4 billion. The total number of customers with deposits gained by 180.4 percent to 376,000.
Moreover, the trading activities resulted in a higher commission that came in at $52.9 million, which is 277.2 percent higher year-over-year. Financing service fees went up by 36.3 percent to $2.2 million due to the increase in margin trading.
“We are pleased to announce that our Company delivered strong growth in revenue, profits and client assets in the first quarter of 2021,” UP Fintech’s CEO and Director, Wu Tianhua said.
Meanwhile, the broker recently secured a credit line of $90 million by selling convertible notes with maturity in 2026. Though not clear, UP Fintech is likely to use the funds in geographical and product line expansion.