Retail Investing Hits New Highs in Q3 as DriveWealth Sees Record Activity for Account Openings, Number of Trades, and Volume Traded

Retail investing hit several new highs for account openings, number of trades, and volume traded in Q3 amid the ongoing global economic uncertainty due to the pandemic, according to new data released today by DriveWealth, a leader in global digital trading technology.

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Some of the key Q3 findings from DriveWealth’s proprietary data, which monitors investment activity by individual investors from across its network of global partners including Hatch, MoneyLion, State, Revolut, and Unifimoney into the U.S. equities market, include:

• 33% quarterly increase in account openings was largely driven by investors under the age of 30.
• 46% increase in trading volume in the quarter, despite increased market volatility and lower total market returns in the quarter.
• Investors placed fewer trades on average in 3Q, however the average trade size was much larger.

One notable trading trend shows that it’s not the proverbial “day trader” that’s driving activity on DriveWealth’s platform. Retail investors are not timing the market but rather are investing when they have time and extra cash. DriveWealth is seeing spikes in trades and volume on Mondays as many retail investors place orders over the weekend.

“Embedded finance continues to change market dynamics, with over 32% of our orders being placed outside of market hours,” said DriveWealth Founder and CEO Bob Cortright. “This illustrates how many retail investors are not day trading or trying to time the market. These consumers are genuinely interested in making investment decisions that positively affect their long-term financial health.”

Most traded tickers

As was the case in Q2, the report found that the most frequently traded symbols in Q3 continued to be large, recognizable global brands and technology companies.

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Some of the most frequently traded stock symbols were those companies that continued to be impacted in some way by pandemic, including Amazon, Disney, GE, Microsoft, Netflix, Nike, and Walmart.

Investors also traded heavily in Apple and Tesla as the stock splits from those companies drove unprecedented trading activity in those two symbols.

The top 10 traded symbols on DriveWealth in Q3 for self-directed investors were: