Retail investor base doubles in Europe as US "meme" stock mania spreads

Trading in Europe is more fragmented given the number of different stock exchanges in the region. Still, the share of total trading carried out by retail investors jumped to nearly 7% by mid-2020 from 2% in 2019, before settling at around 5% currently, Euronext said.

LONDON: The number of retail investors in Europe has doubled since the start of last year as stay-at-home rules and high savings rates during the pandemic triggered a surge in stock investing by non-professionals, according to data from Euronext.

The trend is still less prevalent in Europe than in the United States, where retail investor participation in stock markets soared last summer before hitting extreme levels in January.