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華爾街日報Retail Investors' Historic 2025 Streak: Record Inflows, Record Influence
Retail investing reached unprecedented levels in 2025, driven by the democratization of financial tools, social media and a massive influx of younger, tech-savvy market participants.
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Here's a look at facts and figures from the year of the individual investor.
Market Participation & Volume
Record Inflows: Retail inflows into U.S. stocks reached a record high in 2025, totaling roughly $308 billion—a 14% increase over the previous 2021 “meme stock” peak of $270 billion, according to Reuters.
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Favorite Tickers: Retail investors branched out from meme stocks like GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) to drive record-high trading volumes in tech stocks leading the AI revolution like NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA).
"The two most active stocks on our platform are typically Nvidia and Tesla. Those are just two examples of individual investors seizing the narrative and in many cases forcing institutional investors to play along," said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, per Reuters.
Market Share: Individual investors accounted for 20% to 25% of total U.S. equity trading volume on average, spiking to a record 35% in April 2025 during periods of high volatility, according to JPMorgan Chase.
Daily Activity: Retail investors added approximately $1.3 billion to the market every day during the first half of 2025, a 32.6% increase over the previous year.
Demographics & Access
Younger Entry Points: The age of entry into the market has dropped sharply. As of early 2025, 37% of 25-year-olds held investment accounts, compared to just 6% for that same age group in 2015.
Income Democratization: Lower-income individuals have increased their investing activity by 5x over the last decade. By May 2025, below-median income earners represented 31% of all monthly retail investors, according to JPMorgan Chase.
Social Influence: 36% of investors cite social media as a top source for financial news, a 5-point increase since 2024, according to a survey from Betterment.
Looking Ahead To 2026
In 2026, retail investors will likely leverage professional-grade AI agents and a liquidity surge from larger tax rebates to command even more trading volume.
"Retail investors are here to stay, especially for 2026. They made money this year, they like to trade stocks, they have the applications to do so. We will continue to see them being a good presence," said Jefferies market strategist Steven DeSanctis, per Reuters.
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