France reports fewer retail stock traders in 2022

The ninth edition of AMF’s Active Retail Investor Dashboard has reduced the influx of new retail investors, bringing the total number of individuals with brokerage accounts to nearly 1.5 million. That compares to 1.6 million investors in 2021, when the pandemic has spurred a flood of new retail investors into the stock market.

In the quarter that just ended, 604,000 traders placed at least one stock buy or sell order. The numbers were unchanged from the previous quarter, except for the second quarter, when IPOs boosted trading volumes, according to AMF.

That number fell 35% from the previous quarter in the third quarter, when the stock market was headed for its worst quarter since 2008. Judging by last year’s data, curiosity about stocks has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

“The uncertainty that has weighed on the market has been reflected in lower retail activity. With the market falling for the third consecutive quarter, retail investors have taken a wait-and-see approach and are taking a wait-and-see approach. It seems to be holding up,” said the AMF.

Retail transaction volume has also more than doubled over the past two years compared to the transaction volume observed in 2018 and 2019.

The flow of new investors has been steady, but appears to be leveling off at around 50,000 each quarter, the AMF notes.

These annual trading volumes are in line with those achieved in 2020, when many French people turned to trading as the central bank cut interest rates to record lows, making bank deposits less attractive. I am doing it.

Most of this growth has come from first-time investors. However, AMF has found that these new investors are not only young people, but also older people discovering investments for the first time.

Even before the Covid-19 crisis hit the world, private investment was on the rise. But the new virus has only given the boost it needed to get young investors into the financial markets.