To improve the convenience of small budget investments and diversifying investment risks, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (hereinafter referred to as the TWSE) has been promoting investors’ purchase of stocks and ETFs through dollar-cost averaging investment by securities firms since January 2017. It has been more than seven years since October 2024, and the cumulative amount of dollar-cost averaging investment in stocks and ETFs has exceeded NT$350 billion. The monthly investment amount of dollar-cost averaging investments in January 2023 did not reach NT$6 billion, but since January 2024, the monthly amount of dollar-cost averaging investment by investors has exceeded NT$10 billion (Figure 1), while the cumulative amount of dollar-cost averaging investments from January to October this year has exceeded NT$130 billion.
The population participating in dollar-cost averaging investment from January to October this year is described as follows (Table 1)：
In terms of “population distribution”, The young and middle-aged population aged 21 to 50 accounts for the bulk of dollar-cost averaging investment. Among them, the ratios of investors aged 21 to 30 (26.94%) and 31 to 40 (26.09%), accounting for more than 50% of the total dollar-cost averaging investment population. This reflects that the younger generation has developed investment and financial management concepts, and can start longer-term investment planning early.
In terms of “investment amount” distribution, the age group of 41 to 50 has the highest investment amount, accounting for 27.35% of the total, followed by the age group of 31 to 40, accounting for 23.67%, and the middle-aged group of 51 to 60 has the third highest investment amount (20.41%). Although investors under 20 years old only account for 4.18% of the investment amount, which is relatively small, but the population percentage is 8.54%.
| Age distribution | Percentage of population (%) | Percentage of amount (%) |
| Under 20 years old | 8.54% | 4.18% |
| 21–30 years old | 26.94% | 16.35% |
| 31–40 years old | 26.09% | 23.67% |
| 41–50 years old | 21.24% | 27.35% |
| 51–60 years old | 12.32% | 20.41% |
| 61–70 years old | 4.01% | 6.63% |
| 71 years old and above | 0.86% | 1.41% |
Starting from August 2021, investors may check the “Monthly Ranking of the Top 20 Trading Accounts for Stocks and ETFs” on the TWSE official website under “Homepage/Products and Services/Brokerage/Top 20 Securities by No. of Dollar-cost averaging investments Trading Accounts (Monthly Statistics).” A comparison of the data in January and October this year is as follows (Table 2)：
In terms of stocks：The top three trading targets were the same in January and October this year. The total number of trading accounts for the top three targets in October was 151,131, an increase of about 24.13% from 121,751 in January. It is also found that the total number of dollar-cost averaging investment accounts for TSMC increased significantly from 59,765 in January to 88,970 in October, an increase of nearly 50%.
In terms of ETFs：The top three trading targets in January and October this year were also the same, with a total of 834,817 trading accounts for the top three trading targets in October, an increase of about 24.20% from 672,169 in January.
In terms of types of investment targets, Taiwanese investors prefer large-cap stocks and financial stocks for dollar-cost averaging investment, while they prefer market-value ETFs and dividend-paying ETFs for ETF investment. In terms of the total investment amount ratios, ETFs account for about 81% while stocks account for about 19%. In terms of population percentage, the number of ETF investors is more than that of stocks, indicating that dollar-cost averaging investors in Taiwan prefer investing in ETFs over stocks.
| Stocks | |||||
| Jan, 2024 | Oct, 2024 | ||||
| ticker | stock symbol | Number of trading accounts | ticker | stock symbol | Number of trading accounts |
| 2330 | TSMC | 59,765 | 2330 | TSMC | 88,970 |
| 2886 | MEGA FHC | 33,863 | 2886 | MEGA FHC | 32,236 |
| 2884 | E.S.F.H | 28,123 | 2884 | E.S.F.H | 29,925 |
| 5880 | TCFHC | 19,894 | 2892 | FFHC | 16,685 |
| 2892 | FFHC | 18,053 | 2317 | HON HAI | 16,565 |
| 2412 | CHT | 14,082 | 5880 | TCFHC | 16,438 |
| 2891 | CTBC | 13,019 | 2891 | CTBC | 15,705 |
| 2887 | TSFHC | 12,889 | 2412 | CHT | 14,984 |
| 2881 | Fubon | 11,863 | 2881 | Fubon | 12,625 |
| 1101 | TCC | 10,711 | 2887 | TSFHC | 11,873 |
| ETFs | |||||
| Jan, 2024 | Oct, 2024 | ||||
| ticker | Number of trading accounts | ticker | Number of trading accounts | ||
| 0056 | 231,798 | 00878 | 300,061 | ||
| 00878 | 222,989 | 0056 | 269,204 | ||
| 0050 | 217,382 | 0050 | 265,552 | ||
| 006208 | 115,007 | 006208 | 231,652 | ||
| 00713 | 74,271 | 00919 | 126,440 | ||
| 00919 | 55,673 | 00713 | 103,214 | ||
| 00929 | 44,991 | 00929 | 78,898 | ||
| 00692 | 34,238 | 00692 | 36,067 | ||
| 00850 | 22,780 | 00881 | 32,463 | ||
| 00881 | 20,648 | 00850 | 26,808 | ||
At present, there are 21 securities firms offering dollar-cost averaging investment services. Investors who want to inquire about the list of these securities firms may check the TWSE official website under “Homepage/Products and Services/Brokerage/Information for securities firms conduct dollar-cost averaging business” (Table 3).
| Securities firm | Method | ||
| Code | Short name |
Brokerage business Start date |
Wealth management business Start date |
| 1020 | TCB Bank | July 1, 2021 | ---- |
| 1030 | Land Bank | January 3, 2018 | ---- |
| 1040 | BankTaiwan Securities | July 26, 2021 | ---- |
| 1230 | Chang Hwa Bank | March 18, 2024 | ---- |
| 1260 | Horizon Securities | May 2, 2023 | ---- |
| 2180 | Oriental Securities | February 11, 2022 | ---- |
| 5380 | First Financial Holding | September 18, 2017 | ---- |
| 5920 | Masterlink Securities | June 1, 2017 | ---- |
| 6110 | Taichung Bank | January 2, 2019 | ---- |
| 7000 | Mega Securities | August 1, 2017 | ---- |
| 7790 | IBF Securities | October 15, 2020 | ---- |
| 8150 | Taishin Securities | October 2, 2023 | ---- |
| 8560 | Shin Kong Securities | September 23, 2021 | ---- |
| 8580 | Union Bank of Taiwan | September 14, 2023 | ---- |
| 8880 | Cathay Securities | April 28, 2017 | ---- |
| 9100 | Capital Securities | January 4, 2021 | May 1, 2018 |
| 9200 | KGI Securities | April 24, 2017 | January 16, 2017 |
| 9300 | Hua Nan Securities | March 29, 2017 | ---- |
| 9600 | Fubon Securities | January16, 2017 | ---- |
| 9800 | Yuanta Securities | February 21, 2017 | ---- |
| 9A00 | SinoPac Securities | April 18, 2017 | ---- |
Through dollar-cost averaging investment, investors do not need to accurately grasp the highs and lows of the market, and can avoid one-shot investments at high prices due to price fluctuations. Regardless of whether the stock market is bullish or bearish, the goals of averaging the overall investment cost and risk diversification can be achieved through long-term investment. Dollar-cost averaging investment targets are stocks and ETFs under current regulations; as for the contents opened for the targets, securities firms may set different selection standards according to their business strategies, but leveraged and inverse ETFs are not allowed.
To continuously improve the investment environment, the TWSE will continue cooperating with securities firms on the promotion by holding multiple investment lectures and advocacy activities every year, in order to assist investors in establishing correct investment concepts, in the hope to guide more investors to participate in dollar-cost averaging investment and promote personal wealth accumulation, cultivate investment concepts and habits, and jointly participate in investment opportunities in Taiwan’s capital market.