Retail investor demand surges 16% to highest level since December 2024

Retail investor demand climbed 16% over the past 30 days, hitting its highest level since December 2024. The jump marks the latest chapter in a broader trend that has quietly turned individual investors into one of the most powerful forces in US equity markets. This isn’t a blip. The surge fits into a pattern that has been building for over a year, with retail flows into US stocks running more than 50% higher in 2025 compared to 2024. That figure sits roughly 14-17% above the previous peak set during the meme-stock frenzy of 2021. The numbers tell a bigger story Data from Citadel Securities paints an even more dramatic picture. Average daily dollar demand on the firm’s retail platform in early 2026 was running approximately 25% ahead of the prior high from 2021. By July 2026, average daily net buying spiked to 3.2 times the historical monthly average on Citadel’s platform. Retail’s share of total US equity trading volume has swollen to an estimated 20-25% on a regular basis. In April 2025, that figure peaked near 35%. Before COVID-19 reshaped markets and trading apps became a national pastime, retail accounted for low single-digit percentages of daily volume. Sentiment data reinfor...