The stock market's low turnover figures may be even worse than appears for Hong Kong's besieged brokers, with up to one-third of volumes generated by proprietary traders rather than paying customers.
July has been the slowest trading month so far this year with not a single day's turnover topping $5 billion.
The daily average of $4.15 billion compares with an average daily turnover of $19.62 billion in the same period a year ago, and is 42 per cent down from this year's daily average of $7.16 billion.
Brokers said those numbers masked an uglier reality, estimating that between 10 and 30 per cent of recent turnover was generated by proprietary trading at investment banks.
That means the commissions' pie is even smaller, as these traders will book orders through their own brokerages rather than spreading the business to rivals.
'On the really slow days it's probably only 10 per cent, but I think it could be a third of market volume on a fast-moving day,' said a lead trader at a brokerage.