A DeepSeek-powered chatbot launched in March by Hong Kong’s largest online broker Futu Securities International offered the following advice when asked how conglomerate CK Hutchison’s recent attempt to sell strategic ports in Panama and other countries would affect its stock price.
“Short-term traders to stay cautious and observe stock price stabilising above the 5-day moving average,” the Futubull artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot said in a demo. “Long-term traders, instead, should build positions in batches as low valuation (price-earnings ratio 9.96, price-to-book ratio 0.32) and high dividend yield provide a margin of safety.”
The bot also advised investors to pay close attention to changes in the company’s debt ratio.
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Nasdaq-listed Futu is among around 20 Chinese brokers and fund managers, including Sinolink Securities and CICC Wealth Management, that have embraced AI large language models developed by DeepSeek, a Hangzhou-based start-up. Tiger Brokers, an online broker backed by shareholders including Chinese electronics maker Xiaomi and renowned US investor Jim Rogers, also adopted DeepSeek in February.
By integrating DeepSeek models into their businesses, these firms are changing the way they conduct research, manage risks, make investment decisions and interact with clients.
Brokerages are joining the trend to attract more retail investors, who lack the time, professional training and sophisticated tools that brokerages use to conduct thorough research and data analysis, said Kenny Tang, chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Financial Analysts and Professional Commentators.
“AI could partly help with data sorting or analysis tasks for regular investors, who don’t have such professional investment tools,” Tang said.
The Futubull AI incorporates up-to-date market data, including financial reports, research papers, online discussions from Futu’s investor community and stock quote information the company purchased from Nasdaq, according to Futu CEO Leaf Li Hua. In contrast, the publicly available DeepSeek R1 model is current only up to July 2024.
The chatbot is a “knowledgeable personal financial assistant”, Li said. Future updates will include AI-assisted stock screening, allowing investors to filter stocks by factors such as market value and price-to-earnings ratio, according to a demo presented at the Futu Expo 2025 on March 21.
DeepSeek also powers Futu’s Algo Trading, a desktop program that allows advanced investors to automate trading without having to monitor real-time data. To formulate a strategy, users answer a series of yes-or-no questions, with each answer branching into different paths, the demo showed. Investors are able to test the strategies against real market data before execution.
Algo Trading also supports buying and selling of options.
“Many people struggle just to grasp the basic concepts of options, let alone construct complex multi-leg options strategies,” Li said. “But now, with the new version of our options feature, all you need is a rough outlook on a stock, and we can quickly generate suitable options strategies for you to test.”
Futu opted for DeepSeek over other AI models because using general-purpose large language models like OpenAI would inevitably require sending user data to third-party platforms, posing potential risks to data privacy and security, he said.
“The advantage of DeepSeek is we could achieve a private deployment, and can fully host the model within our own systems and framework, maintaining complete control over data flow and security,” Li said.
However, both Futu and analysts cautioned that information provided by AI tools should be treated with caution and not be considered professional investment advice.
“As we all know, AI may currently suffer from hallucinations, and the information it provides could potentially be incorrect,” Li said.
When clients use the tool, Futu reminds them that the chatbot’s responses should not be considered investment advice and that they should carefully consider their personal circumstances in their decisions.
Products like AI chatbots appeal to those who are excited about the AI trend, but for some, their specific expectations of AI are not clearly defined, said Tom Chan Pak-lam, honorary president of the Institute of Securities Dealers, an industry body for local stockbrokers.
“Whether AI could actually help investors make more money remains a question,” he said. “Investors need to fully understand how AI can actually help them.”
Futu has scooped up a prime retail space in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay at an estimated rent of HK$1.2 million (US$154,000) per month, as brokers seek to set themselves apart amid online competition.
More from South China Morning Post:
- DeepSeek has boosted the faith of rich Chinese investors in tech stocks: StanChart banker
- Guangdong aims to become global AI and robotics hub after DeepSeek’s success
- Hong Kong deepens push into AI, tech to boost its edge over Singapore, Paul Chan says
- A DeepSeek moment is playing out in rural China as peasants seek AI advice
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