NexGenData

Posted on Jun 29 • Originally published at thenextgennexus.com

Shanghai STAR Market API: Tracking China's Innovation Board Listings

#apac #api #china #equityresearch

TL;DR. The Shanghai STAR Market (Sci-Tech Innovation Board, 科创板) launched in July 2019 as China's NASDAQ-style venue for hard-tech listings. As of 2026 it hosts ~600 companies across six strategic sectors that Chinese policy has prioritized: next-gen IT, advanced manufacturing, new energy, biotech, new materials, and green tech. Unlike the SSE Main Board, STAR allows pre-profit listings under five tiered eligibility tracks, supports a registration-based IPO regime, and runs ±20% daily price limits with a 5-day no-limit window for newly listed names. For China tech-focused research, semiconductor-supply-chain analysis, and biotech-pipeline tracking, STAR is the most concentrated data set you can get. This guide covers the STAR market structure, the eligibility tracks that classify each listing, and a working Python pipeline using the STAR Market Screener actor.

Why STAR matters as a separate universe

STAR was explicitly designed to retain Chinese tech IPOs domestically — the policy answer to the Alibaba and Pinduoduo years where the largest Chinese tech listings went to NYSE. Practically that means STAR contains:

Most domestic semiconductor names — SMIC (688981), Hua Hong (688347), Cambricon, Empyrean Technology — that anchor any China-chip supply-chain analysis
Domestic AI infrastructure — AI accelerator startups, computer vision companies post-2024 IPO cohort
Pre-profit biotechs under the Set-5 eligibility track — China's analogue to NASDAQ Biotech but with explicit regulatory carve-outs
Advanced manufacturing and robotics names that anchor the "Made in China 2025" policy lens

A China tech analyst running a sector view cannot ignore STAR — about 40% of mainland Chinese tech market cap by sector now sits there, with semiconductors substantially more concentrated than that.

The five eligibility tracks

STAR's IPO eligibility uses five "sets" (标准一 through 标准五) with progressively looser profit requirements traded against higher revenue or market-cap floors. The classification matters because it's the cleanest filter for "pre-revenue biotech" vs. "mature semiconductor" within the same board:

Set 1 — Standard profit + market cap criteria. Mature issuers.
Set 2 — Higher mcap floor, lower profit. Growth-stage.
Set 3 — Mcap + revenue, no current-year profit required.
Set 4 — Mcap + revenue with R&D intensity threshold. Semis and biotech here.
Set 5 — Pre-revenue allowed, very high mcap floor. Pre-commercial biotech.

The SSE publishes which set each listing used in the disclosure portal. For factor models and sector dashboards, the eligibility-set field is a first-class signal of issuer maturity and risk profile.

STAR's market microstructure

Daily price limit: ±20% (vs. ±10% main board), with no limit for the first 5 trading days post-IPO.
Lot size: 200 shares minimum (vs. 100 on main board) — meaningfully higher minimum trade size.
Qualified investor regime — retail must meet a CNY 500k asset threshold and 24-month trading history; functionally more institutional than the main board.
Continuous trading 9:30–11:30 and 13:00–15:00 with closing call auction — same as the rest of SSE.

Those structural facts matter for any backtest. A STAR-only momentum strategy with the ±20% bands behaves materially differently from a main-board version with ±10%.

Working Python example

The STAR Market Screener actor returns the STAR-board subset of A-share data with eligibility-set tags and CSRC sector classification. Curl:


    curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/nexgendata~star-market-china-stock-screener/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{"sectors": ["Semiconductors","Biotech"], "minMarketCapCNY": 5000000000, "maxResults": 300}'

Python — semiconductor STAR screen:


    import os, json, urllib.request

    APIFY_TOKEN = os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"]
    ACTOR = "nexgendata~star-market-china-stock-screener"

    payload = json.dumps({
        "sectors": ["Semiconductors","Integrated Circuits","EDA Tools"],
        "minMarketCapCNY": 5_000_000_000,
        "includeEligibilitySet": True,
        "maxResults": 300,
    }).encode("utf-8")

    url = f"https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/{ACTOR}/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token={APIFY_TOKEN}"
    req = urllib.request.Request(url, data=payload, method="POST",
                                  headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"})

    with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=600) as r:
        star = json.loads(r.read())

    for s in sorted(star, key=lambda x: -x.get("marketCapCNY", 0)):
        print(f"{s['ticker']} | {s['nameEn'] or s['name']} | mcap={s['marketCapCNY']/1e9:.1f}B CNY | "
              f"set={s['eligibilitySet']} | sector={s['sector']}")

Returned shape:


    {
      "ticker": "688981.SH",
      "name": "中芯国际",
      "nameEn": "Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation",
      "board": "STAR",
      "sector": "Semiconductors",
      "csrcIndustry": "C39 Computer / Communication / Electronic Equipment",
      "eligibilitySet": 1,
      "ipoDate": "2020-07-16",
      "lastPrice": 51.20,
      "marketCapCNY": 408000000000,
      "peTTM": 41.2,
      "freeFloatPct": 18.5,
      "tradingStatus": "NORMAL"
    }

Cost comparison: STAR data sources

Source	STAR coverage	Eligibility set tagging	Cost
Wind / Choice domestic terminals	Full + analyst estimates	Yes	$3k–$80k per seat
Bloomberg Terminal CN tickers	Quotes + fundamentals	Limited	~$24k per seat
SSE official disclosure portal	Full	Yes	Free, manual
Tushare Pro	Most fields	Partial	Free tier; pro ~$300/yr
STAR Market Screener actor	Full STAR + eligibility tagging	Yes	PPE per screen

Pipeline use cases

Semiconductor supply chain mapping — STAR is where most of the mainland chip stack lists. Cross-reference with USTR sanction lists and US Entity List to build a watchlist of names with material US-revenue exposure
Biotech pipeline tracking — Set-5 issuers' disclosed clinical-trial milestones are often the dominant share-price driver. Pair the screener with clinical-trial registry feeds for event-driven research
IPO pipeline — STAR's pre-IPO disclosure window (post-CSRC registration, pre-first-trade) is informationally dense; tracking which Set-X track an applicant uses is a tractable feature
Hard-tech sector dashboards for funds with explicit China tech mandates

Lockup expiry as a structural calendar event

STAR's post-IPO lockup regime is structured and dense — pre-IPO holders are subject to staggered lockup expirations (typically 12, 24, and 36 months for different cohorts). The schedule is disclosed in the IPO prospectus, and the daily volume of newly unlocked shares can materially exceed average daily volume in the weeks around expiry. For a STAR-focused factor strategy, building a lockup-expiry calendar from the prospectus data and avoiding (or shorting) names in the immediate vicinity of major unlocks is a well-known structural feature. The screener returns IPO date and offering size, which lets you derive a baseline lockup calendar; the granular per-holder schedule requires the prospectus parsing.

Foreign access via Stock Connect

STAR was added to the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect Northbound channel in February 2023, meaning qualified foreign investors can now trade STAR names through the same Connect routing as main-board SSE listings. This materially expanded the foreign-investor research interest in STAR — pre-2023 STAR was a domestic-only universe; post-2023 it sits within the broader cross-border A-share access set. Not every STAR name is Connect-eligible — there are eligibility criteria around market cap and trading history — but the major semiconductor and biotech names are.

STAR vs. ChiNext vs. Main Board

For a comparative analyst it helps to think of three tiers: STAR (Shanghai, hard tech, 5 sets, ±20%), ChiNext (Shenzhen, growth-broad, registration-based, ±20%), Main Board (legacy + post-2021 SZ, ±10%). All three sit inside the broader A-share universe accessible via our Eastmoney screener. STAR is the most concentrated for tech-specific research; ChiNext is the broadest growth set; Main Board is where the SOE and dividend names live.

For cross-border China analysis, pair STAR with HKEX listings (many STAR names eventually add HK secondary listings) and Chinese ADRs (some STAR pre-IPO candidates pivot to NYSE/NASDAQ).

Get started: Pull a STAR Market screen free at the STAR Market Screener actor page.

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