Data from wealth platform Sharesies is showing a jump in investor confidence as trading volumes hit an all-time high this September quarter.
Sharesies released its latest quarterly index report on Tuesday with co-chief executive Leighton Roberts saying; "the quarter was characterised by record trading by value at $3.35 billion, and a strong preference for buying over selling as more investors added to their portfolio”.
This is higher than in the three months to the end of December 2024 which saw trading volumes reach $3.21 billion. In the June quarter, a Sharesies spokesperson said this figure was $2.7 billion.
Sharesies offers investing in shares, savings accounts, KiwiSaver and car insurance. Over 870,000 people across New Zealand and Australia use the platform and it has over $9 billion assets on the platform.
This quarter was also marked by a shift in sentiment, Roberts says.
Sharesies ranked this quarter’s investor confidence a 56 - the platform uses a scale of 0 (concerned) to 100 (extremely confident) through aggregated anonymised data.
The platform considers a "balanced" range 40 to 54 and describes this category as users taking “a more balanced approach to investing, weighing up both risk and returns” while 55 borders on Sharesies’ "confident" category and 41 borders on "cautious".
The report says the quarter started at 45 and was trending upward in mid-August before a slight retreat.
“It then pushed back to [the] confident [category] with strong activity in the final week of the quarter. This confidence was reflected in a clear preference for buying alongside record trading, robust net deposits and a greater appetite for backing individual companies over more diversified funds.”
In the three months to June, investors on the platform were in the "balanced" investor confidence category - peaking at 55 and decreasing to 41.
The Sharesies report says a continued lowering of local interest rates may have contributed to the sentiment change.
But the US tariffs, geopolitical tensions, ongoing conflict in the Middle East and a cost of living crisis in New Zealand remain influential when it comes to investor confidence.
Roberts says the shift in sentiment suggests customers are sticking to their investing strategies despite the economic challenges.
The net deposit ratio, which measures the flow of funds into and out of Sharesies’ invest and save products - averaged 1.9 for the September quarter. This means for every $1 withdrawn, $1.90 was deposited.
Through the middle of the quarter, investor activity was “particularly robust”, the report says, with the ratio rising to 2.0 for several weeks in August and reaching a quarterly high of 2.66 in the final week.
Roberts says: “As interest rates drop, investors are looking for the potential for better returns in shares and managed funds."
The report says while the average of 1.9 “is slightly down on the previous quarter, overall the ratio signals a continued and strong commitment from investors to build their portfolios”.
Last quarter, Sharesies had a net deposit ratio of 2.03 which meant for every $1 withdrawn, about $2 was deposited.
As for the wealth platform’s net buy/sell ratio, the report says it reinforces investors’ preference for buying.
The platform’s net buy/sell ratio measures the gap between total buying and selling values. A ratio above one signals buying surpasses selling.
This quarter, the average net buy/sell ratio was 1.22 - a slight jump from the June quarter when the average net buy/sell ratio was 1.19.
‘More appetite for risk’
The percentage invested in companies - the percentage of investing that goes into individual companies compared to managed funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) - averaged 73% for the September quarter - a rise from last quarter’s average of 64%.
The report says a renewed preference for backing individual companies “suggests more appetite for risk compared with previous quarters where the focus had shifted to more diversified fund options”.
And when it came to companies, the five most-owned investments were Air New Zealand, NVIDIA, Tesla, Rocket Lab and Apple.
These are the same as the previous quarter but Rocket Lab has moved up one place due to its continued strong growth, the report says.
“Rocket Lab saw record trading months on Sharesies in both July and September, and sustained net buying across the entire quarter.”
The top ETFs and funds were also the same as the previous quarter. The five most-owned investments on the platform for the September quarter were Smart US 500 ETF, Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF, Pathfinder Global Responsibility Fund, Smart NZ Top 50 ETF and Mercer All Country Global Shares Index Fund.
‘Most significant wave of crypto investing on Sharesies to date’
Monthly trading volumes for “cryptocurrency-related instruments” went from approximately $5 million in mid-2024 to a peak of nearly $45 million in September 2025, the report says.
“In August 2025, there was a seven time increase year-on-year on trading volumes.”
As well as this, the number of investors increased with the report saying monthly customer activity peaked in July with over 15,000 customers trading “and coinciding with major price movements in cryptocurrencies”.
“Across the quarter there was more than triple the average number of customers trading in crypto-related instruments year-on-year. About three-quarters of those holdings are via US-listed ETFs such as 2X Ether ETF and iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF.
“The remainder are invested in Smart ETFs or individual companies heavily involved in the cryptocurrency industry.”
The report says trading in cryptocurrency-related instruments, mainly ETFs tracking the price of Bitcoin - "surged dramatically".
“This is likely driven by Bitcoin’s historic rally past the $100,000 in the third quarter of 2025. This psychological milestone, along with growing regulatory optimism and approval of multiple Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, has fuelled the most significant wave of crypto investing on Sharesies to date.”
The report says Millennials (people born between 1981 and 1996) represent half of all traders in the 90 crypto-linked instruments on the Sharesies app. This was followed by Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980), with over 20% of customers trading.
“In total, younger generations - including Gen Z, Gen Alpha, and Millennials - account for 71% of all customers trading in crypto-related instruments on the Sharesies app, highlighting its strong appeal to a new generation of investors,” the report says.
4 Comments
Tulip mania 2.0. History tells us this won't end well. One for the books
The Tulip comparison gets dragged out every 4 years when the BTC cycle at the stage when everyone starts piling in on it and all the altcoins. Then the fiat price of BTC usually collapses, up to 80% (far more for the altcoins). And all the boomers say "I told you so" while most of their collective wealth is tied up in the Ponzi, which is arguably far more damaging socio-economically than the ol' rat poison.
The irony is that if central bankers and the ruling elite didn't keep doubling down on reckless monetary expansion / manipulation for the 'greater good', BTC may never have emerged. Its founding and adoption are driven by concerns over fiat currency debasement, QE, and loss of trust in centralized financial institutions, since the GFC. The BTC White Paper was published in 2008, just as governments and central banks were introducing massive bailouts and unconventional monetary interventions in response to the global financial meltdown. Bitcoin's genesis block even contains a reference to the UK government's bank bailout, symbolizing its roots as a critique of traditional financial systems.
Sharesies or a crumbling NZ house? I purchased Robin Hood at $12.54. Now at $144.
Bye bye NZ property as an investment option.
Yes. You could have purchased IREN on Sharesies back on May 15 - up 9.1x since. And if you'd been a bit earlier and picked it up back in Feb 2024, a 14.1x return. Once in a lifetime opportunities. That being said, you can purchase IREN on share platforms such as CMC.
At the end of the day, Sharesies has given people access to options.
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