New retail investors go digital

The popularity of retail investing is continuing to grow with more than 1.43 million unique individuals participating in online trading as interest in cryptocurrency grows, new research shows.

The latest Investment Trends 2021 1H Australia Online Investing Report showed the number of online investors is up 35% year on year to May 2021 and nearly double pre-pandemic levels.

In the first half of the year, when lockdowns were eased, 148,000 new online investors placed their first trade compared to the higher figure of 170,000 in the second half of 2020.

“The pandemic has significantly shifted the Australian investing landscape throughout 2020 and this continued through the first half of 2021,” Investment Trends head of research Irene Guiamatsia said.

“To put things into perspective, the number of active retail online investors, that is those who bought or sold securities in a 12-month period, has almost doubled compared to pre-pandemic levels, from 750,000 to 1.43 million.”

In the last six months, interest in cryptocurrency has continued to surge with 13% of online investors holding cryptocurrencies (up from 8%). A further 10% plan to start investing over the next year.

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Source: New retail investors go digital | Financial Standard