SINGAPORE – When the Covid-19 pandemic struck Singapore in 2020, Grace Ooi found herself spending countless hours in her bedroom, watching financial influencers online during the lockdown.

“I started seeing a lot of finfluencers explaining technical analysis and candlestick charts,” said Ms Ooi, now 24 and working as an infrastructure consultant. At the time, she was an accountancy and business student at Nanyang Technological University.

“They had already achieved financial freedom and encouraged others to invest in stocks—to make money work for you instead of being controlled by it.”

Motivated by their advice, she opened an account with online brokerage Tiger Brokers. She invested US$3,000 (S$3,900) in various stocks and funds and has held onto her investments, despite recent market turbulence caused by tariffs.

And Ms Ooi is far from alone. According to checks by The Straits Times with six brokerage firms, more women in Singapore have opened securities accounts over the past few years.

Between 2020 and 2024, Tiger Brokers saw an eighteenfold surge in female account holders. Moomoo, another online brokerage, reported a fifteenfold increase between 2021 and 2025.

OCBC Securities, the trading arm of OCBC Bank, noticed the same trend.

“In 2024, the number of new female accounts doubled compared with 2019,” said Wilson He, managing director of OCBC Securities.

Despite this growth, the male-to-female client ratio has remained relatively steady at 3:2 for firms like OCBC Securities, Phillip Securities, Moomoo, and Endowus.

However, Tiger Brokers saw its ratio shift from 3:1 in 2020 to 2:1 by 2024. StashAway, another investment platform, experienced an even more dramatic change, from 7:3 in 2019 to an even 1:1 in 2024.

Growing confidence

Historically, surveys by banks and investment platforms have shown that women tend to feel less confident about investing. They often prefer conservative assets like cash, fixed deposits, or insurance-linked products.

But this trend is starting to change. More Singaporean women are becoming financially independent and tech-savvy, noted Professor Sumit Agarwal from NUS Business School.

“Women are taking control of their finances—not just saving but growing their money,” Prof Agarwal said. He called this a positive shift, especially since women live longer and often take on caregiving roles.

The rise of user-friendly online brokerage platforms has also helped. New players like Syfe (launched in 2019), Tiger Brokers (2020), and Moomoo (2021) have made it easier for newcomers to enter the market.

These platforms come with intuitive mobile apps, lower fees, and webinars tailored for women—breaking down traditional barriers.

“No more intimidating brokerage offices—just a few taps and you’re in the market,” said Prof Agarwal.

For young investors like Sheryl Chan, 25, these tools make a big difference. As a research assistant, she appreciates pre-assembled portfolios and the flexibility to move funds around.

“With Syfe, if one portfolio isn’t performing well, I can transfer money to another at no cost,” she said.

She also finds the regular market summaries helpful, as they keep her informed without the need to track multiple news sources.

Both Ms Chan and Ms Ooi praised social media for making financial knowledge more accessible, though they warned against falling for trendy but shallow TikTok advice.

“If a reel explains a financial term and you’re curious, dig deeper—read up or talk to a friend,” Ms Chan suggested.

Gender-based differences

Even though more women are investing, brokerages report that their portfolios are still smaller than men’s.

At Endowus, male investors hold portfolios 25% larger than female investors, on average. For Moomoo, the gap widens to 44%.

“This significant difference highlights broader social patterns in financial participation and wealth building,” said Echo Zhao, Moomoo’s Singapore country head. “We’ve improved female representation among investors, but the portfolio size gap shows we still have work to do.”

Women also earn less than men in Singapore. In 2023, full-time female employees earned 14.3% less than male employees, according to the Ministry of Manpower. With less disposable income, women have fewer resources to invest.

“If you don’t have much capital to begin with, your investment gains will naturally be smaller,” Ms Ooi said.

Men also tend to remain in the workforce longer, while women often step away for caregiving responsibilities—further widening the wealth gap, Prof Agarwal explained.

Investment preferences also differ. Men tend to choose riskier, high-return options like derivatives, while women lean towards safer investments like funds.

“Women allocate 27.9% of their investments to funds, compared with 22.8% for men—a notable 5.1 percentage point difference,” said Ms Zhao.

According to Nandini Joshi, deputy CEO of StashAway, women may be better at accurately gauging their risk appetite.

“Having the right risk level helps investors stay the course during market ups and downs,” she said. “Our data shows women in Singapore are 1.23 times more likely to remain invested than men, which improves long-term returns.”

At Endowus, chief investment officer Hugh Chung observed the same. Since 2019, only 5% of female investors have withdrawn their funds, compared to 8% of men.

Still, Ms Chan cautioned that no one should invest out of peer pressure.

“Make sure your financial house is in order before you start investing,” she advised. “Only then should you think about growing your money.”

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