Retail investment platform Sharesies says it recorded its biggest trading month ever in March 2024, with almost half a billion dollars traded over the platform, according to its latest quarterly index.
The investment platform credits the surge to a rally in tech stocks in the United States alongside a significant influx of new investors into the share market, and a notable increase in activity from previously cautious investors.
Sharesies reached a total trade volume of $488 million over the month of March as well as its biggest individual trading day on record on March 5th, with $35.7 million traded.
Two microcomputing companies – NVIDIA Corp and Super Micro Computer Inc – were big drivers in the trading activity on March 5, with Super Micro Computer Inc having recently joined the S&P 500 Index.
The report noted retail investing in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector has recently intensified.
Across the whole month of March, trading volumes in the US constituted 75% of the total, while NZX and ASX trading accounted for 17% and 9% respectively.
Sharesies developed the Sharesies Index released quarterly for the past year to gauge the sentiments of retail investors in Australia and New Zealand around wealth and investing trends.
The index aggregates anonymised data of over half a million Sharesies users and ranks confidence levels on a scale of 0 to 100, based on various metrics like buying/selling ratios and investment preferences.
Sharesies reports that the average investor confidence level for the January to March quarter was 5 points higher than that of the October to December quarter. The current quarter concluded with a 2-point increase, reaching 32 points out of 100.
This is still down from the confidence level of 43/100 back in Sharesies’ quarterly index for April to June last year.
Close to 35,000 new investors joined the Sharesies platform in the January to March quarter.
Sharesies net deposit ratio – which measures the flow of funds into and out of Sharesies' invest and save products – increased from the previous quarter, but remains below levels seen in 2021 and 2022, possibly due to cost of living pressures, the platform says.
March saw significant deposits but also marked the highest month for withdrawals, with the index report suggesting investors are utilising wealth from Sharesies for buying activities amid economic pressures.
In March, Sharesies' net buy/sell ratio fell to 0.96 due to increased selling, particularly in the final week which the platform says was driven by investors capitalising on rising prices.
Sharesies’ net buy/sell ratio measures the gap between total buying and selling activity. A ratio above one signals buying surpasses selling, suggesting confidence among investors.
Sharesies says a ratio below one, particularly when paired with other indicators like withdrawals, may suggest increased concern among investors.
“With soaring prices in a number of widely held investments, the selling was a rational approach by investors who had made gains. This investor behaviour signalled investors seemed to be feeling confident enough to make moves,” the index report says.
Sharesies boasts the largest retail investor base in New Zealand and manages over $3 billion in funds.
It has over 620,000 users across New Zealand and Australia and invests in over 8,000 companies and funds which span five exchanges in the US, Australia, and New Zealand, without any minimum investment requirement.
7 Comments
This has the smell of 1987
Talking to a young relative who is a student, he tells me he and his friends are very active in Sharesies
He has investments in bitcoin and tech stocks
But has no knowledge of the companies financial health but is buying because others tell him that you can’t go wrong with tech stocks as they will keep going up
I remember people telling me that in 1987!!!!
I'm an ASB Securities guy. But recently I've been getting grumpy at the clunky interface. You also need to manually enter dividends into the online portfolio, and no notices of upcoming dividend payment.
I also have a free Yahoo Finance app that has just released a 2.0 feature that has automated the dividend info, incl. For NZX companies. ASB needs to do better!
So I can see why some have gone the Sharesies route.
Yes having tested the banks trading apps and the ease for people signing up the big banks are horrible in both UI, information they provide people and the functionality most people now expect as standard. Support services are terrible as well. It is almost like they are actively creating barriers to access intentionally.
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