China Merchants Bank or ICBC — which is the better buy?

The honest answer comes from running the same workflow on both: quality score, valuation ceiling versus today's price, and which thesis breaks worry you more. The snapshot table below gives the current dated state of each.

How are 600036.SS and 601398.SS different?

China Merchants Bank trades on China A-share (Financials); ICBC trades on China A-share (Financials). Market, currency, liquidity, and disclosure regimes differ — the workflow stays identical, so the comparison is fair.

Comparison · Updated 2026-08-29

China Merchants Bank vs ICBC

Which is stronger right now? The dated snapshot below answers it with quality, valuation ceiling, risk, and timing — side by side, then the full decision brief.

By the Balance Labs Research Desk · Reviewed by the editorial review board · 2026-08-29

Two tickers, one decision framework. Instead of vibes, put both names through the same quality → valuation → thesis-breaks → timing process and let the weaker story drop.

Key facts — quick answer

600036.SS = China Merchants Bank (China A-share) · 601398.SS = ICBC (China A-share).
Snapshot 2026-08-29: 600036.SS ¥39.63 · signal LONG · ret -12.7% ‖ 601398.SS ¥7.85 · signal LONG · ret +11.1%.
The one with the wider gap between price and its valuation ceiling — at equal quality — usually wins the slot.

Snapshot comparison (2026-08-29)

	600036.SS	601398.SS
Company	China Merchants Bank	ICBC
Market	🇨🇳 China A-share	🇨🇳 China A-share
Sector	Financials	Financials
Price	¥39.63	¥7.85
Signal	LONG · +4.2%	LONG · +6.6%
Total return	-12.7%	+11.1%

Decide it with the calculator

Run both names through the free intrinsic value calculator — the one with the wider gap between price and ceiling on equal quality usually wins the slot.

See the full decision brief

600036.SS decision brief 601398.SS decision brief

Deeper comparison — China Merchants Bank (600036.SS) vs ICBC (601398.SS)

Beyond the snapshot above, the real comparison comes from running the same workflow on both companies: score quality, set the valuation ceiling, and write the break conditions for each. The framework stays identical; only the data changes.

Dimension	600036.SS	601398.SS
Market	🇨🇳 China A	🇨🇳 China A
Sector	Financials	Financials
STM signal	LONG	LONG
uPnL	+4.2%	+6.6%
Total return	-12.7%	+11.1%

Use this table as a starting point, not an answer. The decision comes from running the full workflow on both companies — 600036.SS brief · 601398.SS brief — and comparing the outputs side by side.

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Cite this page

Balance Labs Research Desk. "China Merchants Bank vs ICBC" https://balancelabs.app/stocks/compare/600036.ss-vs-601398.ss. Data snapshot: 2026-08-29. CC BY 4.0 with attribution.

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