Where Stocks Trade Most Actively: Global Rankings 2026
How much stock trading activity does a country’s economy generate relative to its size? The World Bank answers this with a simple but revealing metric: stocks traded, total value as a percentage of GDP. It captures how intensively a country’s listed shares change hands over the course of a year, and the differences across economies are extreme.
In Hong Kong, the value of stocks traded reached 736.5% of GDP in 2024 — more than seven times the size of the entire economy. At the other end of the spectrum, in Barbados, trading amounted to just 0.004% of GDP in 2021, near zero in practical terms.
This post ranks the 78 economies with available World Bank data on stock trading activity, highlights the leaders and laggards, and explores what the metric reveals about capital market depth.
For an explainer on what this metric measures and how it differs from market capitalisation, see the companion article on where stocks trade most actively.
The Leaders: Where Trading Exceeds the Economy
The top of the stock trading activity table is dominated by East Asian financial centres and large developed economies. Hong Kong’s 736.5% is in a league of its own — its role as a gateway for international capital flowing into and out of mainland China generates extraordinary turnover relative to its domestic GDP.
| Global Rank | Economy | Stocks Traded (% of GDP) | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 of 78 | Hong Kong | 736.5% | 2024 |
| 2 of 78 | China | 186.1% | 2024 |
| 3 of 78 | Japan | 183.3% | 2024 |
| 4 of 78 | South Korea | 166.7% | 2024 |
| 5 of 78 | United States | 148.2% | 2024 |
| 6 of 78 | Canada | 95.8% | 2024 |
| 7 of 78 | India | 85.6% | 2024 |
| 8 of 78 | Switzerland | 76.8% | 2024 |
| 9 of 78 | Turkiye | 70.6% | 2024 |
| 10 of 78 | Thailand | 57.3% | 2024 |
China’s 186.1% is notable — its stock market, while behind Hong Kong’s in relative turnover intensity, still far outstrips most other economies. For context, China’s stock market capitalisation is also among the world’s largest; see the ranking of largest stock markets by capitalisation for the full picture.
The United States, at 148.2% in 2024, ranks fifth. The sheer absolute size of U.S. equity markets makes this percentage meaningful even if it is not the highest in relative terms. For a broader look at global stock markets, see the state of global stock markets 2026.
The Middle Band: Active but Not Dominant
A second tier of economies shows stock trading activity between 20% and 50% of GDP — substantial turnover that reflects reasonably deep capital markets, but not the extraordinary intensity seen in the top five.
| Global Rank | Economy | Stocks Traded (% of GDP) | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 of 78 | Australia | 48.1% | 2024 |
| 12 of 78 | South Africa | 47.9% | 2024 |
| 13 of 78 | Brazil | 41.6% | 2024 |
| 14 of 78 | Malaysia | 39.3% | 2024 |
| 15 of 78 | Saudi Arabia | 38.2% | 2024 |
| 16 of 78 | Vietnam | 33.7% | 2024 |
| 17 of 78 | Kuwait | 28.3% | 2024 |
| 18 of 78 | United Arab Emirates | 21.8% | 2024 |
| 19 of 78 | Germany | 19.7% | 2024 |
| 20 of 78 | United Kingdom | 18.6% | 2023 |
South Africa’s 47.9% makes it the most actively traded stock market in Africa by a wide margin — a reflection of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s depth and its role as a hub for mining and financial services. For more on how stock markets contribute to economic depth, see the explainer on stock market capitalisation.
Germany and the United Kingdom, despite being home to some of the world’s largest exchanges (Deutsche Börse and the London Stock Exchange), rank 19th and 20th at 19.7% and 18.6% respectively. This relatively modest turnover ratio reflects the structure of their capital markets, where large blocks of shares are often held by institutional investors and traded less frequently than in East Asian markets.
The Laggards: Where Stocks Barely Trade
For many economies, stock trading is a negligible activity. Of the 78 economies in the dataset, the bottom ten all register stock trading below 0.1% of GDP — effectively zero in practical terms.
| Global Rank | Economy | Stocks Traded (% of GDP) | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 69 of 78 | Tanzania | 0.1% | 2024 |
| 70 of 78 | Lebanon | 0.1% | 2022 |
| 71 of 78 | Costa Rica | 0.1% | 2022 |
| 72 of 78 | Luxembourg | 0.0% | 2024 |
| 73 of 78 | Cayman Islands | 0.0% | 2020 |
| 74 of 78 | Belarus | 0.0% | 2024 |
| 75 of 78 | Azerbaijan | 0.0% | 2024 |
| 76 of 78 | Uzbekistan | 0.0% | 2024 |
| 77 of 78 | Armenia | 0.0% | 2024 |
| 78 of 78 | Barbados | 0.0% | 2021 |
Note that some of these economies do have functioning stock exchanges — they simply generate so little turnover relative to GDP that the value rounds to zero. For example, Nigeria trades at 0.6% of GDP and Kenya at 0.3% of GDP. Even among the bottom ranks, there is a meaningful difference between an exchange that is quiet and one that is effectively dormant.
Trading Activity vs Market Capitalisation
A common confusion is equating stock trading activity with stock market capitalisation. They measure entirely different things:
- Stock market capitalisation is the total value of all listed shares — the size of the pie.
- Stock trading activity is how much of that pie changes hands over a year — how fast it is being eaten and replaced.
A market can be large in capitalisation but quiet in trading (many institutional holders who buy and hold), or modest in capitalisation but extremely active in trading (high retail participation and algorithmic trading). For the ranking of market capitalisation, see where stock markets run deepest.
Hong Kong demonstrates this distinction perfectly: its capitalisation-to-GDP ratio is around 1,272%, but its trading activity is 736.5% of GDP — meaning the entire market capitalisation turns over more than once every two years. In contrast, the United Kingdom’s capitalisation is about 103% of GDP but its trading activity is just 18.6%, implying shares turn over roughly once every five and a half years.
What the Data Reveals
The World Bank’s stock trading activity metric tells us where capital markets are not just large but genuinely liquid — where shares change hands frequently, supporting price discovery and providing investors with exit options. The data for 2024, now covering 78 economies, shows that:
- East Asian markets dominate the top ranks, with four of the top five economies in the region.
- Developed European markets trade less intensively relative to GDP, despite hosting some of the world’s oldest exchanges.
- Most emerging markets remain shallow — over half of the ranked economies trade below 5% of GDP, and many effectively at zero.
For more on how stock markets support capital formation and economic growth, see the article on how stock markets support capital formation.
Sources & method
All figures are observed values from the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code: CM.MKT.TRAD.GD.ZS). The metric measures the total value of shares traded on domestic exchanges during the year, divided by GDP. It is expressed as a percentage. The dataset covers 78 economies with data from 2020–2024; most observations shown here are from 2024, with a few from 2021–2023 where 2024 data was not available. Full methodology is on the methodology page.
For more on how market capitalisation and trading activity interact, see the companion explainer on where stocks trade most actively.