Retail traders sold more stocks than they bought for the first time since 2023
Monday was the first day since November 2023 where retail investors flipped to selling.
Though Tuesday’s reports of President Trump proposing a 15-point plan to end the war with Iran might be seeing oil prices slip and equities nudge up a little today, retail traders weren’t feeling so optimistic at the start of the week.
On Monday, retail investors sold $20.6 million worth of shares, marking the first day the cohort sold more single stocks than they bought since November 2023, according to a Tuesday note from Vanda Research. Still, even before the president’s reported plan, there were signs of dip-buying and a return to previous norms by Tuesday afternoon, the firm noted.
“On a broader basis, the trend since the start of March has been one of gradually receding retail participation, alongside systematic deleveraging and only modest buying from long-only and hedge fund investors on the other side,” analysts said in a note.
It is not the first sign that the war has taken a toll on retail investors. Earlier this month, JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain noted that “retail investors are showing persistent signs of weakness.”
Retail traders crushed it last year, in large part because of AI-related trades. Their trading preferences this year remain largely the same, Jain said, with the pullback more down to dumping energy stocks than tech darlings.
