As the U.S. election gets closer, Chinese investors are jumping into a stock that's all about celebrating a win for Trump. The shares of Wisesoft Co., a company from Shenzhen that makes software for air traffic control, have skyrocketed by the daily limit for three days straight, buoyed by its Chinese name, “Chuan Da Zhi Sheng,” or “Trump wins big,” according to Bloomberg. This comes on the heels of Trump taking a lead over Kamala Harris in betting markets with investors being optimistic about the big win.
‘Trump wins big,’ Chinese investors jump on meme stock
On October 29, following reports that Trump’s Media company, which runs Truth Social, surpassed Elon Musk’s X in market valuation, Wisesoft experienced a remarkable surge. This Shenzhen-based air traffic control software company saw its shares rise by 10% on both Monday and Tuesday, bringing its gains for the week to over 30%, Bloomberg reports. This comes despite a weaker broader market.
Also read: Trump's media stock surge knocks out Elon Musk's X as his winning chances skyrocket
According to SCMP, although more than 90% of Wisesoft's revenue comes from China and it has minimal connections to the U.S., some retail investors refer to it as a “Trump concept stock” due to its Chinese name. Currently, the stock has doubled in value to 19.98 yuan (about $2.80) over the past month, “while the CSI300 index, which tracks major stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen, only saw a modest rise of 0.2% and a fall of 1% during the same period,” the outlet reports.
Not the first Trump co-incidence
While it might seem like the stock's rise is merely a coincidence linked to Trump's potential win, this isn't the first time such a pattern has emerged. The stock surged back in July following an assassination attempt on Trump, hitting the daily limit with a rise of nearly 10%. Just a month earlier, when President Joe Biden struggled in their first TV debate—often referred to as the "debate disaster"—Trump's popularity also surged.
{{/usCountry}}While it might seem like the stock's rise is merely a coincidence linked to Trump's potential win, this isn't the first time such a pattern has emerged. The stock surged back in July following an assassination attempt on Trump, hitting the daily limit with a rise of nearly 10%. Just a month earlier, when President Joe Biden struggled in their first TV debate—often referred to as the "debate disaster"—Trump's popularity also surged.
{{/usCountry}}This pattern was observed in 2015 as well, as Trump approached the 2016 election. At that time, the stock skyrocketed to more than 47 yuan per share before dropping to 16 yuan in under a month. Following that, it experienced a series of ups and downs, eventually settling below 20 yuan by early 2018.
Also read: Trump's ‘first day in office will bring…,’ Kamala Harris's chilling preemption stuns internet
“It’s fair to say that China’s stock market still lacks maturity, and investors often act irrationally,” said Wang Zichen a researcher from Beijing according to scmp.
Experts note that while interest in the U.S. presidential election is at an all-time high due to the razor-thin margins in the race, the way people are getting swept away with it is somewhat quirky or not very sensible.
Take Wisesoft's stock, for example; it illustrates a pattern in China's A-share market, where regular investors tend to buy shares because they believe there’s a connection to significant events, rather than because the company is actually performing well, suggests Wang. This behaviour often occurs during tech trends, regulatory changes, or major global events.