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- A millions-strong army of bullish retail investors poured nearly $28 billion into the stock market last month.
- 70% of retail investors thought stocks would continue to climb over the next quarter, versus 44% of professional investors.
- 20 million new retail brokerage accounts have been opened in the past year and a half.
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A millions-strong army of bullish retail investors poured nearly $28 billion into the stock market last month, according to VandaTrack research reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The monthly inflows, the highest since 2014, were driven by a notably optimistic cohort of individual investors – some 70% of whom thought stocks would continue to climb over the next quarter, versus 44% of professional investors, according to Sundial Capital Research data cited by the Journal.
Other surveys have noted a similar bullish bent among individual investors, as compared to professionals. A yearly gauge of expected real returns by Natixis found that individual investors anticipated 14.5% inflation-adjusted returns in the long run, compared with the 5.3% long-term returns surveyed financial professionals expect.
Retail investors have made their presence felt in part through sheer size, representing around a quarter of all trading activity in equities. 20 million new retail brokerage accounts have been opened in the past year and a half, per the Journal.
This rise in interest has boosted the fortunes of retail-focused brokers like Robinhood, which revealed in its recent IPO filing that funded accounts surged from five to 18 million between the end of 2019 and March 2021. Robinhood makes on average $137 per customer, according to the filing.