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Written by Wang Mao from Tsinghua Financial Review
In the past week (April 13 to 17), the ChiNext Index of A-shares performed strongly, rising 6.65% throughout the week, reaching a nearly 11-year high. The new policies for ChiNext reform and the verified performance of ChiNext listed companies have led to a strong market trend. So, what are the highlights of the ChiNext reform? What is the outlook? How is the performance of the largest weight stock in ChiNext, CATL?
ChiNext Index reaches an 11-year high, driven by favorable policies and strong performance
On April 16, the ChiNext Index closed at 3626.27 points, setting a new closing record since July 2015. On April 17, it continued to rise to 3678.29 points, approaching the 3700-point mark, with a cumulative increase of 14.83% in 2026. The average daily trading volume last week was approximately 2.34 trillion yuan, exceeding 2 trillion yuan for five consecutive days, maintaining a historically high level of market activity.
The reasons driving the ChiNext's strong performance last week include:
Favorable policies. The deepening of ChiNext reform includes optimizing the listing mechanism and introducing a market maker system. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is promoting the development of computing power infrastructure, aiming for a 70% coverage rate of urban computing power by 2027.
The performance of ChiNext listed companies has been verified. Currently, the positive earnings forecast rate for the first quarter exceeds 80%, with impressive performances in the AI industry chain, batteries, and semiconductors; the supply of memory chips is in short supply, and the price increase cycle may continue until the end of 2027. In addition, northbound capital is flowing back to ChiNext, increasing positions in weight stocks like CATL.
Core highlights of ChiNext reform
The core highlight of this ChiNext reform is the addition of a fourth set of listing standards. This requires emerging industry companies to have an expected market value of ≥3 billion yuan, revenue of ≥200 million yuan in the past year, and a compound annual growth rate of revenue of ≥30% over the past three years; future industry companies are expected to have a market value of ≥4 billion yuan, revenue of ≥200 million yuan in the past year, and cumulative R&amp;D investment of ≥100 million yuan over the past three years, accounting for ≥15% of revenue.
The purpose of this reform is to break traditional profitability thresholds, focusing on high growth and innovation, and precisely serving new quality productivity enterprises (such as new consumption and modern services), forming a differentiated complement with the Sci-Tech Innovation Board.
Other key reforms include optimizing refinancing, implementing a shelf issuance system (one registration, multiple issuances), enhancing the flexibility of fund usage; innovating the review mechanism, piloting local governments to push quality enterprise information, establishing an IPO pre-review mechanism to improve listing efficiency; upgrading trading systems, introducing market makers, real-time transaction confirmation for block trades, and fixed-price trading for ETFs after hours, enhancing market stability, etc.
Outlook for ChiNext performance
Short-term performance. The ChiNext reform policies directly boost market risk appetite, attracting funds to focus on new energy, high-end equipment, and other advantageous industries in ChiNext.
Mid-term performance. The fourth set of standards will introduce more innovative companies with high R&amp;D investment, optimizing the sector structure and consolidating the position of growth style allocation
Long-term performance. Forming a complementary pattern of &#34;hard technology breakthroughs&#34; and &#34;industrialization landing&#34; with the Sci-Tech Innovation Board, accelerating the capitalization of new quality productivity enterprises.
CATL, as the largest weighted stock on the ChiNext (accounting for over 15%), closed at 453.98 yuan/share on April 16 (last Thursday), with a market capitalization of over 2 trillion yuan in A-shares, reaching 2.07 trillion yuan, ranking third in A-shares, with the top two being Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China.
CATL is expected to achieve a full-year revenue of 423.7 billion yuan in 2025 (a year-on-year increase of 17.0%) and a net profit attributable to the parent company of 72.2 billion yuan (a year-on-year increase of 42.3%); in the first quarter of 2026, revenue is expected to be 129.1 billion yuan (a year-on-year increase of 52.5%) and net profit of 20.7 billion yuan (a year-on-year increase of 48.5%), with performance continuing to lead the industry.
Editor | Wang Mao
Reviewed by | Qin Ting
Chief Editor | Lan Yin Fan

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The ChiNext Index performed strongly from April 13 to 17, with a weekly increase of 6.65%, reaching a nearly 11-year high, closing at 3626.27 points, and continuing to rise to 3678.29 points on April 17. Policy benefits and the verification of listed companies' performance drove this trend. Highlights of the reforms include the introduction of a fourth set of listing standards, focusing on high growth and innovation, optimizing refinancing and review mechanisms, and enhancing market activity

ChiNext Index hits a nearly 11-year high | Capital Market