Equity fund bullfrog

A chat service titled "equity fund bullfrog," which pronounced "equity fund goes bull" in Chinese, has run hot among younger Chinese lately, as young investors who have suffered economic losses amid a tumbling A-share market are trying to cheer themselves up with auspicious words and pictures.

Across the shopping platform Taobao.com and online second-hand trading platform Xianyu, more than 10 shops have launched the new chat service. The symbol for the service is an "equity fund bullfrog," which is similar to popular cartoon "sad frog" but with skin color changed from green to red— as red represents a gain and green equals to a slump in the stock market. 

The price of the chat service is ranged between 2 - 20 yuan a time depending on the length of the chat, and buyers could order the service for themselves as well as their friends. 

According to a screen capture a shop owner sent to the Global Times on Tuesday, the conversation begins with several repeated paragraphs of "goes bull," "goes red" and "green go away," meaning that the stock market will make a turnaround and rally.

"The 'bullfrog' is very professional in soothing one's nerve, and will take you back to the top," an online seller named Tianqutong told the Global Times, adding that they could also offer customized service, such as "calling out" equity fund managers who caused investors losses. The store has sold more than 30 services so far. 

The "equity fund bullfrog" was also featured on social networking platform Weibo's hot searches in recent days, with 130 million reads as of Tuesday noon.

A Beijing-based white-collar worker surnamed Shen, whose friend order the chat service for her, told the Global Times on Tuesday that she has "turned positive" after a two-minute talk with the bullfrog. "It brings me good fortune, despite I'm still struggling with the losses in the market."

China's stock market took a U-turn after the Spring Festival seven-day holiday.

According to media reports, over 2,000 equity funds recorded an average of more than 10-percent drop in net value since the holiday, and over 500 funds' net value slumped more than 20 percent.