A four-day rally saw shares of Beyond Meat Inc. surge 1,000%, only to plummet. Gold prices hit record highs then dropped drastically. Retail traders are dominating markets, driving quantum computing stocks up then down. Retail involvement in trading has increased dramatically since free trading became prevalent in 2019, leading to higher daily volume and increased off-exchange trading. Retail investors are buying dips in US equities and using options to amplify returns. Retail traders are flocking to penny stocks and lightly regulated marketplaces, with OTC Markets Group seeing high trading volumes. Citigroup’s basket of stocks favored by non-professional investors has outperformed the S&P 500. The focus of retail traders shifts constantly, leading to sudden reversals in high-performing stocks. Retail traders are embracing risk in various markets, with ETFs tracking cryptocurrencies and options seeing significant inflows. Gold has become a momentum asset for retail traders. Professional investors are cautious navigating markets influenced by retail traders, with BlackRock’s Jeff Shen advising against betting heavily against retail flows in the short term.

Read more at Yahoo Finance: Hot-Money Retail Traders Turn Momentum Chasers Into Bagholders