The number of orders in listed shares has grown by nearly four times on the rise of micro-transactions under the new M-Pesa shares trading platform.
Data from the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) shows the number of share orders grew to 26,169 on Monday this week, 3.8 times more than the 6,761 deals recorded prior to the start of shares trading through M-Pesa on February 4.
Before the launch of the Ziidi Trader last week, the number of equity deals at the Nairobi bourse averaged below 7,000 transactions per day.
Safaricom launched its new money market fund dubbed Ziidi on January 21, 2025.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
The new M-Pesa shares deals have been described as micro-trades given their low value with the combination of the transactions averaging about two percent of total market turnover daily as per data seen by the Business Daily.
Analysts however argue that the small transactions have been significant in aiding price discovery, establishing the direction stock prices take at the Nairobi bourse.
“Small trades from the Ziidi trader are making it easier for price discovery. We are seeing larger trades move in the price direction established by the small trades,” said Joseph Muriithi, senior research analyst at the AIB-AXYS Africa stock brokerage.
“Before, it could take long periods to see movements in share prices. For instance, Safaricom’s price would hold for long periods at Sh29. M-Pesa shares trading is also pushing the turnover of the market which is not only a factor of shares volume but also price.”
Trading via the Ziidi platform has dominated deals, making up about half of the equity transactions per day since launch.
The platform was opened to the public on February 5 ahead of a February 10 soft launch which was followed by the rise in the number of share orders.
Power of mobile money
On February 9, more than half of share orders at the Nairobi bourse were transacted through the new M-Pesa platform, underlining the power of mobile money service in bringing retail investors to market.
The data shows that 7,962 of 14,300 equity deals or 55 percent of all transactions placed on the NSE were directly processed from M-Pesa.
The M-Pesa transactions were however only two percent of the value of the shares traded on the day.
The Ziidi trader has allowed retail investors to access stocks without the requirement of a Central Depository System (CDS) account, relying only on their mobile-money wallet credentials for access.
The move has accelerated the NSE goal of bringing nine million retail investors to the market, representing about one-third of the adult population.
Retail investors are now expected to increase their volume of trading via the M-Pesa platform helping influence the turnover of the market.
“Ziidi trader has brought people to the market for the first time. With time and once the excitement cools down, investors will put more trust in equities and trade in higher values,” added Mr Muriithi.
The start of M-Pesa shares trading was followed by the single largest gain in the following week for the NSE as investors’ paper wealth rose by Sh220.4 billion.
President William Ruto (centre) rings the bell during the launch of the Safaricom's Ziidi Trader at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) on February 2, 2026.
Photo credit: PCS
Market capitalization, which measures investor wealth rose by 6.9 percent in the week to February 13 to a new all-time high of Sh3.419 trillion, largely driven by large counters such as Safaricom, Equity Group, KCB Group and Stanbic Holdings.
The stock rally was partly attributed to the easier access handed to retail investors by the new mobile money trading platform.
“We saw the mobile platform bring in a new wave of retail players into the market, significantly increasing the number of deals, and to a lesser extent the turnover,” said Wesley Manambo, a senior research associate at Standard Investment Bank (SIB), in a previous interview.
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