Retail investors are everyday individuals who buy and sell stocks through brokerage or retirement savings accounts. Unlike institutional investors, these nonprofessionals trade for themselves with their own money.
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GameStop stock began a meteoric rise in January 2021, rallying from a low of $2.57 to as high as $438. Keith Gill, a financial advisor who posted on social media under usernames including “Roaring Kitty” and helped mobilize the retail investors who drove prices higher. Backing from Chewy founder Ryan Cohen, who is now GameStop CEO, took things up a notch. Dive into the full timeline here.
In the early 1990s, stock brokerages knew that online trading would be a great equalizer, creating opportunities for more individuals to buy and sell stocks. A new era of trading began, in which average Americans researched stocks online and then used early platforms like StreetSmart and E-Trade to conduct their transactions.
Want to try day trading but don’t want to risk losing cash? This simulator lets users practice buying and selling stocks and funds while leveraging real-time data and trading charts. Individuals have access to “unlimited” fake money, and the option to convert their simulation accounts to the real deal later on. Try it out here.
For many investors, the ease of access to ETFs through brokerage apps and retirement savings accounts is enough of a draw. One unexpected perk is that ETFs are typically associated with lower capital gains tax requirements.
In early 2021, GameStop’s stock surge brought retail investing into the spotlight. This overview looks at how everyday investors—using platforms like Robinhood—became a growing presence in financial markets, and how one short squeeze revealed the influence they can have.
Throughout history, retail investing was often too expensive for many individuals. That’s because investors owed the cost of the trade as well as the commission and fees due to the broker. Charles Schwab revolutionized the retail investing landscape in 2019 when it announced it would slash all fees on stock trading. This quickly prompted other brokerages to follow suit. Read more in this article.
A day trader is anyone who buys and sells a stock within the same trading day. They quickly move in and out of the market to try and profit. Some day traders are professionals, while others are retail investors. While day trading has risen in popularity in recent years, the SEC warns it is a speculative strategy that can cause big losses. Learn more here.
Whether you’re leaping straight into the future and looking for stocks picked by AI, a sci-fi aficionado who wants to invest in space travel, or a drama enthusiast looking to make money on stock market volatility, the ETF market’s weird corners have something for you.
Investors are likely most familiar with ETFs that invest in an index or other grouping of stocks. However, BlackRock breaks down a wide variety of options, including commodity ETFs, currency ETFs, and bond ETFs.
While less than half of retail investors hold ETFs in their portfolio, this figure is up dramatically in recent years, and experts forecast continued adoption as more options hit the market and total ETF assets under management continue to grow.
The United States is home to more than 33 million businesses, the vast majority of which are small businesses, with millions being created (and others closing shop) every year. These businesses often rely on loans, provide the goods and services that keep the economy flowing, and sometimes even grow large enough to enter public markets or provide private investment opportunities. Explore key topics central to business and finance, from the role of the Federal Reserve to how initial public offerings work, how millions of American students finance higher education, and more.