Saudi trading in US stocks hits record SAR 302.2 billion

Summary

• Saudi investors traded a record SAR 302.2 billion in US equities in Q2 2026.
• That is 56% above a year earlier and 25% above the first quarter.
• Overseas trading now equals 47.7% of all domestic market turnover.

The latest

Saudi investors pushed their trading in US equities through licensed local capital market institutions to a record SAR 302.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026, according to Capital Market Authority statistical bulletin data analysed by Argaam. That is up 56% on the year and 25% on the quarter. It beats the previous record of SAR 253.9 billion set in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Details

• The headline number: Argaam put second-quarter trading in US stocks through licensed Saudi institutions at SAR 302.2 billion, against about SAR 193.4 billion in the same quarter of 2025. The quarter-on-quarter gain alone was SAR 60.3 billion, from SAR 241.9 billion in the first quarter.
• Previous peak: The old record was SAR 253.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, cleared by roughly SAR 48 billion within two quarters. Argaam's series shows that peak was followed by a softer first quarter before the second-quarter jump.
• Half-year picture: First-half trading in US equities came to about SAR 544 billion, compared with SAR 367.2 billion in the first half of 2025, a rise of 48%. The half-year total is already close to twice the size of any single quarter in the series.
• US dominance: Total overseas trading through Saudi institutions reached SAR 312.1 billion in the quarter, of which US markets accounted for 96.8%, up from 91.5% in the first quarter. That leaves other foreign markets with barely SAR 10 billion of the quarter's overseas flow.
• Against the local market: Overseas trading equalled 47.7% of domestic trading value, which Argaam put at SAR 654.5 billion for the quarter. US trading on its own equalled 46.2% of domestic turnover.
• The second read: Aleqtisadiah published an independent analysis of the same bulletin on 8 October, citing the same SAR 302.2 billion and describing it as roughly one-third of total trading across local and foreign markets, which it put at SAR 967 billion. It calculated growth of 56.2% annually and 24.9% quarterly.
• Client assets: Aleqtisadiah also reported Saudi clients' holdings in foreign-listed securities at SAR 45.6 billion at the end of the second quarter, against SAR 26.1 billion a year earlier, a rise of 74.3%. That measures money parked abroad rather than money changing hands.
• What is not counted: The data cover only trades executed through licensed Saudi capital market institutions and exclude Saudi investors dealing directly with foreign brokers. The true volume of Saudi money moving through US markets is therefore larger than the bulletin captures, by an amount the data do not measure.

Background

The Capital Market Authority's quarterly statistical bulletin tracks activity run through licensed Saudi institutions, including trading in foreign markets. Overseas trading was a minor line in those reports until recent years, when US equity volumes began compounding at double-digit quarterly rates.

Between the lines

Two things are moving at once. Turnover in US stocks is rising far faster than the held asset base, suggesting much of the SAR 302.2 billion is churn rather than new long-term allocation. But the jump in the US share of overseas flow to 96.8% from 91.5%, alongside a 74.3% rise in foreign securities holdings, points to concentration as well as activity: Saudi money going abroad is going almost entirely to one market.

What's next

The third-quarter statistical bulletin will show whether the SAR 302.2 billion level holds or marks a peak, and whether the US share of overseas flow stays near 97%. Saudi Exchange turnover figures offer the counterweight reading.

Source: Argaam, Aleqtisadiah, Capital Market Authority statistical bulletin