Congrats, retail traders! You’ve schooled Wall Street’s Ivy-league elite in 2024, proving that all you really need to crush the markets is a smartphone, Reddit, and a bit of luck.
This year, the average retail trader’s portfolio didn’t just beat some hedge funds — it even outperformed the Nasdaq 100 ETF. That’s right, the spare $1,000 invested from a smartphone clobbered the billion-dollar firepower of Wall Street’s best and brightest.
Vanda Research says that these part-time punters returned a whopping 41% this year with their portfolios. Even the fanciest hedge fund strategy (long-biased, of course) scraped just 12.4%, according to Aurum. The S&P 500? Its 26% didn’t come close.
So, what’s the secret sauce? It’s simple. Think pizza.
- The bread: Nvidia, the solid base holding it all together.
- The cheese: Tesla, stretching those gains to a max.
- The pepperoni: The S&P 500 ETF, always a crowd-pleaser.
- The ketchup: Nasdaq 100 ETF, the topping that just works.
Nvidia alone pulled in $30 billion in net inflows — nearly double the S&P 500 ETF.
Retail traders, take a bow. Memes and hustle > fancy degrees and data terminals. 🍕
While hedge funds leaned into their usual complex strategies and high-fee sophistication, the average retail trader was out there snapping up tech rebounds, nailing small-cap timings, and riding the crypto surge like a pro.
Read more: Wall Street’s 2024 faceplant: The year all its predictions got smoked
The result? The first retail win over the Nasdaq since at least 2014. But the retail pros are not done just yet.
Their next obsession is quantum computing. Google parent Alphabet’s quantum chip news has them buzzing. Niche players like Rigetti Computing, Quantum Computing, and more are on their radar.
Will quantum trades 10x their 2025 portfolios? Who knows — but probably don’t bet against them.
In fact, how about betting on them? Look up Robinhood ($HOOD), the retail trader’s weapon of choice, which is up more than 200% this year.
Edited by Ankush Chibber. If you have any tips, ideas or feedback, please get in touch: talk-to-us@moniify.com
