Office workers are heading back to HQ in their droves, bitcoin has taken a tumble and the stock markets are no longer looking anything like a gold mine. Does this mean that the many thousands of people in the UK who took up trading while at home on furlough have logged off their trading platforms permanently and slunk away from their screens with their tails between their legs?
Not exactly, according to Leon Gauhman, co-founder and chief product and strategy officer of digital transformation consultancy Elsewhen. He believes that a significant proportion of retail investors have emerged from the experience months older and wiser.
“Combined with record inflation, quantitative tightening, increased interest rates and the effects of the war in Ukraine have contributed to a much harsher economic climate,” he says. “Credit Suisse estimated that amateur retail traders accounted for 30% of US stock market activity at times last year. That exuberance has evaporated as they’ve gone from trying to spend free money to needing to budget to eat. This April, for instance, retail trading was down by 20% on the manic activity seen in the early months of 2021.”