Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

As a seasoned investor, you're defintely tracking the digital brokers that are reshaping global capital flows, but have you fully grasped the scale of Futu Holdings Limited's (FUTU) recent expansion? This fintech powerhouse isn't just growing; it's accelerating, reporting a massive 86.3% year-over-year revenue surge to reach US$822.9 million in the third quarter of 2025 alone, proving its mission to make investing easier is resonating with a global audience. With over 3.13 million funded accounts and total client assets soaring to US$159.5 billion, the company's blend of a social-driven platform and comprehensive, multi-market trading tools demands a deep dive into its history, ownership, and powerful revenue engine.

Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU) History

You're looking for the origin story of Futu Holdings Limited, the tech-driven brokerage that's been shaking up global trading. The direct takeaway is this: Futu was born from a founder's frustration with outdated financial services, leveraging a deep connection to Tencent's internet DNA to build a fully digital, social-first platform, culminating in a massive global expansion and strong 2025 financial performance.

Leaf Hua Li, the founder, was the 18th founding employee at Tencent. He saw the primitive, clunky interfaces of traditional Hong Kong brokers when Tencent went public in 2004, and decided to bring the best of internet-era user experience to finance. That focus on product and user-centricity is defintely what sets the company apart today.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

The core financial services entity, Futu Securities International (Hong Kong) Limited, was incorporated in April 2012, though the technology development began earlier in 2007 with Shenzhen Futu Network Technology Co., Ltd..

Original location

The company was founded in Hong Kong SAR, with its headquarters currently located in Admiralty, Hong Kong.

Founding team members

The company was founded by Leaf Hua Li, who serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Li was a former senior manager at Tencent Holdings Limited. Early key personnel included others with deep internet and finance backgrounds, like Nineway Jie Zhang, who joined the board in 2014, bringing experience from internet securities trading since 1997.

Initial capital/funding

While the initial capital was private, the first major public funding event was the Initial Public Offering (IPO) on Nasdaq on March 8, 2019. The company raised $90 million in the IPO, with total proceeds from the concurrent IPO and a private placement to General Atlantic reaching $160 million. Tencent Holdings was the largest institutional investor at the time of the IPO.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The company's trajectory was fundamentally reshaped by three strategic pivots, moving from a Hong Kong-centric broker to a global financial technology platform. The decision to build its own technology stack from the ground up, rather than using off-the-shelf broker solutions, was a huge differentiator.

• The Tencent DNA Infusion: Mr. Li's background as the 18th employee of Tencent meant the company was built with an internet-first mentality, prioritizing user experience (UX) and community. This led to the creation of the NiuNiu Community, which embeds social networking directly into the trading platform, making investing 'not alone' and boosting user engagement significantly.

• The Global Platform Launch (Moomoo): The 2018 launch of Moomoo Financial Inc. in the US, followed by aggressive expansion into Singapore, Australia, and Malaysia, was a transformative shift. This diversification proved critical, especially as regulatory pressures in mainland China increased in late 2022, ordering a halt to new mainland customer registrations. The international focus now drives growth, with over half of total funded accounts coming from clients outside Futu Securities Hong Kong as of Q2 2025.

• The Wealth Management and AI Leap: The launch of Futu Money Plus in 2019, building an all-in-one global asset allocation platform, diversified revenue beyond brokerage commissions. This strategic move, plus the introduction of 'Futubull AI' in March 2025, positions the company as a full-service wealth manager leveraging artificial intelligence, a necessary step to maintain high margins. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, total revenue reached HKD 16,408.43 million, with net income at HKD 7,947.23 million, demonstrating the success of this scale and diversification.

If you want to understand the current strategic direction, you should look at their Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU).

Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU) Ownership Structure

Futu Holdings Limited's ownership structure is a classic example of concentrated control in a publicly traded company, where a dual-class share structure gives the founder disproportionate voting power despite a lower equity stake.

As of late 2025, the company is a Cayman Islands-incorporated holding company, publicly listed on the Nasdaq Global Market (NasdaqGM) under the ticker FUTU.

Given Company's Current Status

Futu Holdings Limited is a publicly traded company, but its governance is heavily influenced by a dual-class share structure. This arrangement means there are two classes of shares with different voting rights: Class A and Class B ordinary shares.

The founder, Leaf Hua Li, beneficially owns all the outstanding Class B ordinary shares, which grants him approximately 90.5% of the aggregate voting power as of the latest practicable date, even though his equity ownership is significantly lower.

This concentrated control limits the influence of other shareholders, including large institutional investors like BlackRock, Inc., on major corporate decisions like mergers or the election of directors.

Given Company's Ownership Breakdown

The equity ownership is distributed across four main groups, reflecting a mix of founder control, strategic investment, institutional confidence, and public float. The total client assets on the platform reached HK$1.24 trillion (approximately US$159.4 billion) as of September 30, 2025, demonstrating the scale of the assets managed by the firm's platforms.

Given Company's Leadership

The company's strategy is steered by an experienced leadership team, with an average management tenure of over eight years. This stability is defintely a plus for navigating the competitive fintech landscape. For a deeper dive into the firm's strategic direction, you should look at their Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU).

The key executive leaders as of November 2025 include:

• Leaf Hua Li: Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
• Arthur Yu Chen: Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
• Robin Li Xu: Senior Vice President, responsible for product development, operations, marketing, and business growth.
• Daniel Yuan: Chief of Staff to the CEO, Head of Strategy, and Investor Relations (IR).

Here's the quick math on recent performance: The firm's net income for the third quarter of 2025 was HK$3,217.2 million (US$413.5 million), a massive jump of 143.9% year-over-year, which shows the management team is executing well on growth and operational efficiency.

Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU) Mission and Values

Futu Holdings Limited stands on a foundation of technology-driven simplicity, aiming to demystify global investing for the individual investor. Their mission and values are the cultural DNA that drove total client assets to surpass HK$1.24 trillion (US$159.5 billion) as of September 30, 2025, a 78.9% year-over-year increase.

You need to know what a company stands for beyond its earnings, because that core purpose drives long-term, sustainable growth. For Futu, that means a relentless focus on the user experience and global connectivity. If you want a deeper dive into how this translates to the balance sheet, check out Breaking Down Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Futu Holdings Limited's Core Purpose

The company's core purpose is to be the digital gateway for investors seeking global opportunities, and they back this up with massive investment in their platform. For example, in the third quarter of 2025 alone, the platform saw a total trading volume of HK$3.90 trillion, a stunning 104.8% year-over-year jump, showing their platform's ability to handle massive scale.

Official Mission Statement

The formal mission statement is a clear, user-centric directive that focuses on accessibility and community. It's simple, but defintely powerful, and it explains why their funded accounts grew to over 3.13 million by Q3 2025.

• Make Investing easier and not alone.

This translates into a commitment to transforming the investment experience through technology, making it both efficient and widely available. They want to connect investors with opportunities globally, which is why their total user base reached 28.2 million as of September 30, 2025.

Vision Statement

The vision statement maps out the company's long-term aspiration to be a financial powerhouse that transcends regional boundaries. It's about influence and ecosystem building, not just brokerage services.

• Aim to become an influential global financial services platform.

This global ambition is supported by their strategy of continuous technological advancement and expanding their financial ecosystem to support all investor levels. Here's the quick math: their non-GAAP net income was HK$3.31 billion in Q3 2025, up 136.9% year-over-year, which shows a strong return on this expansionary vision.

Futu Holdings Limited Slogan/Tagline

While the mission is often used as the primary tagline, their operational focus highlights a few key principles that act as a de facto slogan for their product development and market positioning.

• Technological Innovation: Constantly leveraging technology to enhance the user experience and streamline processes.
• Platform Excellence: Maintaining a robust, secure, and user-friendly platform, like Futubull and Moomoo.
• User-Centricity: Putting the client first to ensure a seamless and intuitive experience.

The core message is simple: technology makes investing better. They are focused on leading the 'AI x Investment' elevation, which is a clear signal of where their R&D spending is going.

Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU) How It Works

Futu Holdings Limited operates as a tech-driven digital brokerage, using its proprietary platforms, Futubull and Moomoo, to offer a seamless, one-stop investment experience across global markets. The company's core mechanism is simple: a high-speed, multi-market trading engine paired with a vibrant social community, which drives high user engagement and massive trading volume, generating revenue primarily from brokerage commissions and interest on client assets.

Futu Holdings Limited's Product/Service Portfolio

The company's platform is designed to be a comprehensive financial ecosystem, not just a trading app. It covers everything from basic stock trading to complex wealth management and corporate services, all localized for its global markets like the US, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Futu Holdings Limited's Operational Framework

Futu's operational model is a powerful flywheel built on technology and community. It's defintely not just about executing trades; it's about monetizing the entire user lifecycle.

The value creation process starts with a superior user experience. The proprietary technology platform, built on years of R&D (which includes investment in AI capabilities), ensures stability and speed. This attracts a high-quality, active user base-over 3.13 million funded accounts as of Q3 2025. The average client acquisition cost (CAC) was around HK$2,300 in Q3 2025, which is an efficient use of capital for a high-value customer.

Here's the quick math on Q3 2025 revenue streams, totaling HK$6,402.9 million in revenue:

• Interest Income: This was the largest revenue source at HK$3,045.0 million, or about 47.6% of total revenue. It comes from interest on client idle cash, margin financing, and securities lending. This is a very stable, high-margin revenue stream.
• Brokerage Commission & Handling Charge Income: This contributed HK$2,913.8 million, or about 45.5%. This is directly tied to trading volume, which hit a record HK$3.9 trillion in Q3 2025. High volume offsets the blended commission rate decline.
• Other Income: This includes wealth management fund distribution, IPO subscription fees, and corporate services, bringing in HK$444.1 million, or about 6.9%. This is the growing 'second growth curve' that diversifies the business.

The high operational efficiency is clear: the operating margin for Q3 2025 was a strong 61.0%.

Futu Holdings Limited's Strategic Advantages

Futu's market success rests on three clear pillars: technology leadership, a unique community model, and a well-executed globalization strategy.

• Proprietary Technology and AI Integration: Developing its own core trading system allows for high-speed, cross-market access and rapid product deployment. The launch of AI chatbots and AI-driven portfolio analysis tools across multiple markets in 2025 (like Canada, Australia, and Malaysia) ensures a competitive edge in personalized trading assistance.
• Engaged Social Ecosystem: The integrated investment community, where users, analysts, and companies interact, fosters high user engagement and loyalty. This social network acts as a powerful, low-cost marketing channel and a source of organic content, helping to keep the funded account quarterly retention rate well above 98%.
• Global, Multi-License Platform: Operating under two distinct brands, Futubull and Moomoo, allows for targeted, localized expansion. The company holds numerous licenses across major financial hubs (US, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.), which is a significant barrier to entry for competitors. This strategy drove total client assets to surge to HK$1.24 trillion in Q3 2025.
• Diversified Revenue Model: The near-equal split between interest income and brokerage commission income (47.6% vs. 45.5% in Q3 2025) provides resilience against market volatility. If trading volume slows, the interest income from a growing asset base still provides a strong floor.

To be fair, the continued success of this model is heavily reliant on maintaining their technology lead and navigating complex, multi-jurisdictional regulatory environments. You can see how this plays out in their client base by Exploring Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU) How It Makes Money

Futu Holdings Limited, through its digital brokerage platforms like Moomoo, primarily generates revenue from two core activities: facilitating client trading and earning interest on client assets and margin loans. This dual-engine model-commission income plus interest income-is the financial bedrock of the business, allowing it to capture value from both market activity and client capital retention.

Given Company's Revenue Breakdown

Looking at the third quarter of 2025, the revenue mix shows a near-even split between trading activity and interest-based earnings, a strong signal of a diversified and stable financial model. Total revenue for Q3 2025 surged to HKD 6.40 billion (approximately US$822.9 million), reflecting aggressive market expansion and high client engagement.

Business Economics

The core economic engine of Futu Holdings is built on scale and the float (client assets) it holds, rather than just high trading commissions. While the brokerage model often moves toward zero-commission trading, the company compensates by monetizing the sheer volume of assets and trading activity. This is a high-volume, low-margin-per-trade model that requires massive scale to be profitable. It's working.

• Interest Income Dominance: The largest single stream is interest income, which comes from margin financing (lending funds to clients for leveraged trading) and from interest earned on client cash balances (the 'float'). This income stream is defintely more stable than volatile trading commissions.
• Net Interest Margin (NIM): The difference between the interest earned on assets and the interest paid out to clients or creditors is the Net Interest Margin (NIM). A rising interest rate environment directly benefits this line item, which is a key driver of the 79.2% year-over-year growth in Q3 2025 interest income.
• Brokerage Volume: Despite lower per-trade fees, total trading volume hit a record HK$3.90 trillion in Q3 2025, up 104.8% year-over-year, which keeps the commission revenue stream exceptionally strong. This volume is the real driver.

The company's ability to attract and retain high-value clients, evidenced by the growth in total client assets to HK$1.24 trillion as of September 30, 2025, is what feeds the interest engine. You can see how this strategy aligns with their broader goals by reviewing their Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU).

Given Company's Financial Performance

The Q3 2025 results highlight robust operational efficiency, a key factor for any high-growth financial technology firm. The firm is demonstrating strong operating leverage, meaning its revenue growth is outpacing the growth of its operating expenses, which is what you want to see.

• Profitability Margins: The gross margin expanded to 87.6% in Q3 2025, up from 81.8% a year prior. The operating margin also increased significantly to 61.0%, demonstrating excellent cost control as the business scales.
• Net Income: GAAP net income for Q3 2025 was HKD 3.23 billion (approximately US$413.5 million), a massive increase of 143.9% year-over-year. This growth rate is a clear indicator of the powerful positive effect of operating leverage.
• Client Acquisition: The company continues to meet its aggressive growth targets, with total funded accounts reaching over 3.13 million as of September 30, 2025, an increase of 42.6% year-over-year. They are on track to meet the 2025 target of 800,000 net new funded accounts.
• Capital Allocation: The board's authorization of a new share repurchase program of up to US$800 million, funded by existing cash, signals strong management confidence in the company's valuation and future cash flow generation.

What this estimate hides, however, is the geopolitical and regulatory risk inherent in a cross-border brokerage, which could impact client acquisition velocity in future quarters, even with these strong metrics.

Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU) Market Position & Future Outlook

Futu Holdings Limited is solidifying its position as a dominant, tech-driven online brokerage and wealth management platform across Asia, driven by an aggressive international expansion and a robust Q3 2025 performance. The company's trajectory is focused on becoming the premier one-stop financial services ecosystem outside of Mainland China, leveraging its HK$1.24 trillion in client assets and 3.13 million funded accounts as of September 30, 2025.

You're seeing a company that's successfully translating its Hong Kong market leadership into a regional powerhouse. Total revenue for Q3 2025 surged to HK$6.4 billion, an 86.3% year-over-year increase, so the growth story is defintely still playing out.

Competitive Landscape

In the rapidly evolving online brokerage space, Futu Holdings competes primarily with other digital-first platforms and established global players. While precise, publicly reported market share data for the entire Asian retail brokerage market in 2025 is elusive, the company's scale in funded accounts and client assets positions it ahead of its direct, high-growth peers like UP Fintech Holding (Tiger Brokers).

Opportunities & Challenges

The company is well-positioned to capitalize on the continued digitalization of retail investing, but it must navigate a complex regulatory environment and intense competition for high-value clients.

Industry Position

Futu Holdings is a clear market leader in the digital brokerage segment across key Asian hubs, evidenced by its superior scale and profitability metrics as of Q3 2025.

• Profitability: The company achieved a net income of HK$3.2 billion in Q3 2025, with a strong net income margin of 50.2%, showcasing excellent operational efficiency.
• Client Acquisition: Net new funded accounts reached 254,000 in Q3 2025, demonstrating an accelerated client acquisition pace across all markets.
• Product Breadth: It is the only online brokerage platform in Hong Kong that has integrated digital banking capabilities, a key differentiator for client stickiness and wallet share.
• Shareholder Confidence: The board's approval of a new US$800 million share repurchase program signals strong management confidence in the company's future cash flow and valuation.

This aggressive growth and strategic positioning make Futu Holdings a formidable player, but understanding its investor base is key: Exploring Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?