Retail Traders Sold a Record Volume of Stocks in a Single Day Since COVID
Investors sold a net $338 million worth of stocks on Thursday—the largest single-day outflow since March 2020.
Net sales of individual stocks by retail investors amounted to $338 million on Thursday, with less than an hour remaining before the market closed. Analysts described this as the largest single-day outflow from such stocks since March 2020.
The sales occurred against the backdrop of a significant decline in the stock market and traders exiting the technology sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 1,800 points, nearly erasing gains following the midterm elections, while the Nasdaq Composite entered correction territory.
Typically, retail investors buy assets during sell-offs, anticipating a price recovery. This time, the remaining demand was primarily focused on instruments with heightened sensitivity to market movements: ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ), which tracks triple the performance of the Nasdaq-100 index, and Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (SOXL), which targets semiconductor sector movements.
The research firm characterized the situation as a rare absence of buyers, coinciding with forced sales.
