How to Read CBBC Street Volume:
Outstanding, Bull/Bear Ratio and Heavy Zones

What is street volume?
A public record of retail positions

After a CBBC is issued, part of the float is held by the issuer (an investment bank) for market-making and hedging. The remainder — contracts bought and held by retail investors in the open market — is called the "street position" (街貨 in Cantonese / "outstanding quantity" in English). The HKEX and issuers publish daily street volume figures, giving the market a view of how much retail exposure sits at each call-price level.

Street data is not prized because it predicts the market. It is prized because it reveals where a large number of forced exits sit. When the underlying asset moves toward a zone with heavy street positions, the mandatory calls triggered along the way release additional selling or buying pressure, making price moves non-linear at those levels.

Outstanding quantity and the bull/bear ratio:
the two most used indicators

When reading street data, two numbers matter most:

It is important to note that street volume and the bull/bear ratio are often treated as a contrarian signal: when retail investors are overwhelmingly bullish and bull street volume surges, the market may be prone to a correction — because if prices fall, the bull contracts accumulated near call prices are called back in sequence, creating snowballing downward pressure. Conversely, heavy bear street volume can add upward thrust when a rally triggers a chain of bear calls.

That said, a contrarian signal is a market-psychology reference, not a precise forecasting tool. Street data describes where positions sit; it does not reveal the direction of smart money, and it cannot guarantee that large players will operate toward heavy zones.

Heavy zones and call-price bands:
where retail concentrates, focus follows

Grouping all market CBBCs by their call price shows how street volume is distributed across price bands — this is the "bull/bear distribution". Bands with especially concentrated street volume are called "heavy zones".

• Bull heavy zone: call-price bands just below the current price. If the index falls into this area, many bull contracts are called back at once and selling pressure concentrates.
• Bear heavy zone: call-price bands just above the current price. If the index rallies into this area, many bear contracts are called back at once, adding upward momentum.

In practice, traders focus on the two heavy zones closest to the current price — they are often viewed as short-term "magnets" for the market. This is the magnet effect: prices tend to be drawn toward zones with heavy street volume, because the more contracts sit at a level, the greater the force released when calls are triggered, enough to dominate price direction over a short horizon.

Bull kills and bear kills:
how triggered calls amplify moves

A "bull kill" happens when the HSI falls through a heavy bull zone and a large number of bull contracts are force-called. A "bear kill" is the opposite: the HSI rallies through a heavy bear zone and many bear contracts are called back.

Called CBBCs stop trading immediately, and issuers unwind their hedging positions — for called bull contracts, issuers sell the underlying (or index futures) to hedge; for called bear contracts, they buy. So when many bull contracts are called in the same area, the market gains extra selling pressure in a short window, amplifying a decline; many bear calls add buying pressure that accelerates a rally.

Where to start on a bull/bear distribution chart:
four steps

Common misconceptions:
five ideas that can mislead your read

Conclusion

Street volume is a uniquely transparent dataset in the CBBC market: it lays out the collective position of retail investors in the open. Outstanding quantity shows the size of the bets, the bull/bear ratio shows the overall tilt, heavy zones mark potential call-back flashpoints, and the bull-kill/bear-kill and magnet effects explain why prices can sometimes move violently and out of step with fundamentals.

Treat street data as a tool for understanding market structure, not a crystal ball for predicting direction. Combine it with the distance between spot and call prices and with issuer-level data to avoid being misled by any single indicator. Above all, CBBCs are high-risk leveraged products with a mandatory call mechanism — assess your own risk tolerance carefully before participating.