The 10 Longest-Established CFFEX Regulated Brokers

Ten futures firms hold the longest continuous track record among the CFFEX licensees WIKILIX covers, and the oldest of them, Huatai Securities, opened in May 1991. This page ranks those ten by opening date alone, running from 1991 through the spring of 1993, so the order reflects how long each has actually traded rather than any judgement of quality. All ten hold a licence from the China Financial Futures Exchange, and all carry a clean regulatory status on record.

Why opening date is the only thing ranked here

The single criterion is time in operation, measured from each firm's recorded opening date. Nothing else moves a broker up or down. That is a deliberate choice, because these ten vary enormously on every other measure: WIKILIX scores across the group run from 4.0 up to the 76.4 that Huaxi Futures carries, and the median score across the wider CFFEX membership sits at just 28.1. Age tells you something those scores cannot, which is how long a firm has survived the repeated tightening of China's futures rules since the mid-1990s.

The shortlist was drawn from 77 CFFEX members with at least ten years on record. Sixty-two of those 77 opened before 2000, and 27 opened in 1993 or earlier, so the contest for the oldest ten places is tight: a firm founded in 1994 does not make it. Nine members carrying a suspicious-clone or offshore status were set aside, which is why some long-running names are absent.

What a CFFEX licence signals, and what it does not

CFFEX, the China Financial Futures Exchange, is the onshore venue where mainland financial futures and options are traded and cleared, and WIKILIX classifies it as a tier-1 authority. Membership is not handed out lightly, and it sits at the opposite end of the market from the offshore commissions that license much of the retail forex world. Several firms here reach beyond the mainland. Huaxi Futures also holds licences from Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, while Guodu Futures, GF Futures and CITIC Futures each pair their CFFEX seat with an SFC licence in Hong Kong.

What the licence does not tell you is anything about spreads, platform quality or whether a firm will onboard an individual retail client from outside China. These are institutional futures brokers first. A place on this list says a company has held its CFFEX standing for roughly three decades. It does not say the firm is the right counterparty for any particular trader.

Before you act on any name here

• Confirm the firm's CFFEX membership category, since trading rights and clearing rights differ between members.
• Check which legal entity you would contract with, as several groups here run separate futures and securities arms under similar names.
• For the firms that also list an SFC or MAS licence, verify that licence on the Hong Kong or Singapore register before treating it as cover for your account.
• Read the WIKILIX score in context: a low figure such as the 4.0 against Tongguan Jinyuan reflects thin recorded data, not a reported failure.

This ordering reflects the opening dates and licence records WIKILIX holds as of today. Confirm any current membership on the CFFEX register itself before you rely on it.