UP Fintech’s (TIGR) Record Quarter Comes With A Bigger Bill

UP Fintech (NASDAQ: TIGR ) used its August 26 earnings call to report an all-time high in quarterly revenue and a full reversal of the prior quarter's loss. Revenue for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 jumped 31.4% year over year and 17.7% quarter over quarter to $182.3 million, while GAAP net income came in at $39.4 million, compared with a $26.9 million loss in the first quarter of 2026. That first-quarter loss traced back to a one-time penalty tied to a May 22 rectification, one the company has since treated as a nondeductible tax expense. The turnaround this quarter came almost entirely from two markets, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Singapore And Hong Kong Are Carrying The Growth

Commission income rose 21% year over year and 17% quarter over quarter to $78.3 million, while interest income climbed 36% year over year and 24% quarter over quarter to $79.8 million, and together they pushed total revenue to a record. New funded accounts grew 12.7% quarter over quarter to 32,600, with more than 70% of those additions coming from Singapore and Hong Kong, and total funded accounts reached 1.32 million, up 10.3% year over year. Total client assets rose 3.1% quarter over quarter and 16.7% year over year to $60.7 billion, helped by $1.5 billion in net asset inflows from retail users in those two markets. Hong Kong local account balances alone grew nearly 30% quarter over quarter, a run CEO Wu Tianhua tied to offline promotion and expanded brand exposure.

The company is also filling out its product shelf there, launching fractional share trading for Singapore-listed stocks and REITs and rolling out Cboe index options in Hong Kong. On the investment banking side, UP Fintech underwrote 14 Hong Kong IPOs during the quarter, including AI-sector listings such as Manycore, DeepZero and WengeAI, versus just four US IPOs it helped distribute. Its ESOP business added 50 clients, bringing its total served to 840.

The Costs Of Chasing That Growth Are Climbing

That growth is arriving with a heavier price tag attached. Marketing and branding expenses jumped 86.6% year over year to $18.4 million as the company leaned into brand campaigns in Hong Kong and Singapore, and the average cost of acquiring a new funded account rose to $450 from $420 the prior quarter, with management guiding to a $450 to $550 range for the second half of 2026. Employee compensation and benefits climbed 39.4% year over year to $50 million on severance costs tied to a reorganization of business units; communication and market data expense rose 56.4% year over year to $16.2 million, and general and administrative expense increased 44.6% year over year to $9.8 million. Profitability at the trading level is also thinning out.