Many retail investors exited the stock market after 2008, leading to a drop in individual market participation

In early 2021, GameStop's stock surge brought retail investing into the spotlight

Using platforms like Robinhood, everyday investors became a growing presence in financial markets during the Gamestop short squeeze, revealing the influence retail investors can have on the market.

Retail investing by the numbers

When average Americans began pouring into the stock market, Wall Street wasn’t sure if its new guests were there to stay. But at the end of 2023, Public confidently declared that retail investors “weren’t going anywhere” after 30 million new individuals began buying and selling stock. Download the report to learn more here.

GameStop stock began a meteoric rise in January 2021, rallying from a low of $2.57 to as high as $438 when Keith Gill helped mobilize retail investors to drive prices higher

Keith Gill was a financial advisor who posted on social media under usernames including "Roaring Kitty." Backing from Chewy founder Ryan Cohen, who became GameStop's CEO, took things up a notch.

How COVID-19 brought new investors into the market

With fees removed from the equation and more time at home thanks to pandemic-related lockdowns, Americans who had never bought or sold stocks before started participating in the market. Charles Schwab dubs this cohort “Generation Investor” and notes individuals from all age ranges took part in this phenomenon. Study up here.

Who is Michael Burry?

Michael Burry is best known for shorting the mortgage bond market in 2007. Before the Great Recession, the legendary investor’s firm took a stake in GameStop and argued the company was being undervalued in 2019. Learn more about Burry’s historical impact on markets here.

The number of publicly traded companies has decreased significantly

The stock market hit a peak in 1996, when more than 7,000 companies were publicly traded. But in 2024, there were nearly half that many publicly traded companies.

In 2023, venture capital firms invested $170B in over 15,000 US companies

That's a significant drop from 2022’s $242B, reflecting market uncertainty but continuing VC’s role in scaling transformative ideas. Rooted in early risk-sharing models, venture capital took off with firms like ARDC in 1946, later evolving into today’s influential players like Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.

Why does the stock market matter?

Open any newspaper, turn on your local TV news station, or listen to a daily business radio segment, and you’re bound to hear about how the stock market is performing. Netflix created a 17-minute (free) explainer that dives deep into the nitty-gritty of how we got here.

Read about the evolution of the S&P 500 and its recession recovery

Since the S&P 500 is considered a bellwether index (meaning it represents the health of the US economy), its value is important for investors in both bull and bear markets. The S&P 500 has been impacted by recessions and downturns, from the 1970s oil crisis to the dot-com crash of the early 2000s.

The number of active art NFT traders peaked above 529,000 in 2021

The market for art non-fungible tokens has collapsed since its 2021 peak. In 2024, it had just 76,000 active traders.

FTX, one of the world's largest crypto exchanges, collapsed in 2022

As crypto markets declined during the post-pandemic slowdown, Sam Bankman-Fried propped up the markets with billions he'd earned leading FTX, one of the largest crypto exchanges. Then, in one of the most rapid financial implosions in modern history, the exchange collapsed as investors rushed to withdraw money.

Sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia surged after the 2008 financial crisis

As the stock market plummeted in 2008, SWFs with cash on hand were able to snap up critically undervalued assets that eventually posted large profits. The Government of Singapore Investment Corp. and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority invested $14.4B in Citigroup, resulting in a $1.6B profit for the GSIC when it sold half of the holdings in 2009.

The Federal Reserve fought the Great Recession primarily with quantitative easing and repurchasing agreements

During the Great Recession, the Fed stimulated the economy by buying people and businesses' debt, notably through purchasing mortgage-backed securities and buying bonds with slim margins. The two processes, quantitative easing and repurchase agreements, both helped increase the amount of money in the economy to increase consumer spending.

Microsoft was the most popular stock in hedge fund portfolios as of Q1 2024

874 hedge funds held Microsoft stock at the time. This infographic shows more of the most popular stocks in hedge fund portfolios.

Peloton hit a million subscribers in June of 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in record-breaking sales for Peloton, as gyms closed and at-home fitness classes became the new norm. However, Peloton struggled to keep up with the increased demand. As the COVID-19 pandemic's lockdowns lifted, many people returned to the gym, reducing their need for on-demand at-home fitness classes. Some say Peloton's strong subscriber base is the ticket to helping the company eventually become profitable.

Stablecoins' market cap surged during 2021's crypto bull market

In 2020, the value of all stablecoins was equivalent to just 1% of all physical US dollars. Roughly five years later in August 2025, that value had jumped to roughly 11% of all US cash in circulation.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

GE’s removal marked the end of an era for the Dow

General Electric, the last surviving original Dow component, was dropped in 2018, after years of decline. Its exit symbolized the fading dominance of industrial giants and the index’s shift toward technology and healthcare.

Tesla short sellers benefited from the company's poor performance in 2025

Tesla was widely considered the most-shorted stock until 2024, despite consistent short-seller losses. Between 2016 and 2020, short sellers reportedly lost more than $11B as Tesla's stock price continued climbing. However, long-held short positions began paying out in 2025 as Musk's foray into politics and his eventual feud with President Trump hurt Tesla's stock performance. In 2025, Tesla short sellers made more than $10B.

Read Jeff Bezos' letter to Amazon shareholders from 2000, when shares were down more than 80%

"Ouch. It's been a brutal year for many in the capital markets and certainly for Amazon.com shareholders," the letter begins. Amazon shares were down more than 80% from the prior year at the time.

Walmart was the first traditional retailer to crack the $1T club

In early 2026, the company joined major tech companies Nvidia, Apple, and Meta (among others) as one of the rare firms with a market capitalization beyond $1T. See the latest top companies here.

Why the SEC was started

The Securities and Exchange Commission was created during the Great Depression to restore public trust in financial markets after the 1929 crash. Established in 1934, it enforces transparency, investigates fraud, and protects investors by requiring companies to disclose accurate information and holding violators accountable.

'Super Mario Bros.' helped save the video game industry

A 1983 crash left the industry in tatters, desperate for a hit. Nintendo’s focus on a more immersive home experience was realized in “Super Mario Bros.,” bringing the industry from the arcade to the living room. The title eventually sold over 40 million units.

The K-pop industry's Big Four are facing declining stock prices

The major players of the K-pop industry—SM, JYP, YG, and HYBE—are publicly listed companies. Despite huge financial successes, these corporations have recently dealt with plunging stock prices, losing between 29% and 56% of their market cap by late 2024. While there’s no one reason for the recent devaluation, there are signs of slowing enthusiasm and less action from the major players—BTS and Blackpink.

Stock buybacks are when a company purchases some of its own shares of stock

This reduces the number of shares on the market and, therefore, makes the remaining shares more valuable. Buybacks have received a lot of criticism in recent years for many reasons, such as how they could artificially inflate share prices.

Macy’s announced a series of pandemic-era store closures in January 2021

Specifically, as mall foot traffic declined, Macy’s sought to grow elsewhere (as did many other retailers around the same time).

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.