China stock ETFs in Japan echo tulip mania with short-lived surge

TOKYO — China-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed in Tokyo have been in a dizzying bubble over the past few weeks, driven by factors that have disrupted the market's normal price-setting functions.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange allows Japanese market players to invest indirectly in certain ETFs listed in Shanghai or Shenzhen through the Japan-China ETF Link program. That framework uses Tokyo-listed “feeder” funds such as the One ETF Southern China A-Share CSI 500 from Asset Management One, which rose to 70,400 yen on Oct. 8 — 58 times its September low. 20.