Retail Investors Embrace Risk as Stocks Surge in 2023
• Retail investors have been increasingly using leverage and piling into riskier bets as stocks hit record highs
• Inflows to 3x leveraged ETFs have ramped up while purchases of broader market ETFs like SPY and QQQ have declined recently
• Major stock market indexes like the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up between 5-11% year-to-date
• Retail traders may feel more confident taking risks now that the average portfolio is finally out of the red after the 2022 bear market
• Retail investors are diversifying from top performers into other stocks, looking to capitalize on any increased market breadth