As per the data from Bloomberg Intelligence, equity turnover averaged a record $1.03 trillion in January, a roughly 50% increase from the same period in 2025.
- Retail participation in the U.S. equities has risen to nearly 20% of average daily trading activity, up from low single digits before Covid.
- As per Bloomberg Intelligence, the trading activity has surpassed 15 billion shares per day for 13 consecutive months.
- On Tuesday, Dow Jones hit record high.
US equity markets are moving more than $1 trillion in shares each day as market rally due to heavy volume is becoming a new norm.
As per the data from Bloomberg Intelligence, equity turnover averaged a record $1.03 trillion in January, a roughly 50% increase from the same period in 2025. More than 19 billion shares traded hands daily over the span, the second-most ever.
The jump in the turnover is a reflection of increase in market participation across the investors i.e. from institutional investors to retail mom-and-pop players all have become more active as U.S. stocks hover near record highs.
Retail Force
Retail investors have become a force in the U.S. equities ever since the GameStop mania that happened in 2021 that sent the GameStop shares skyrocketing and at the same time upended major Wall Street assumptions around the retail traders.
Retail participation in the U.S. equities has risen to nearly 20% of average daily trading activity, up from low single digits before Covid, Jeff Shen, co-chief investment officer and co-head of systematic active equities at BlackRock told CNBC in January.
Higher Trading
As per Bloomberg Intelligence, the trading activity has surpassed 15 billion shares per day for 13 consecutive months, something that prior to 2025 occurred just three times.
The rally in U.S. equities have also led to an increase in trading volumes. The higher stocks rise, more money is needed to transact the same number of shares in the market. On Tuesday, Dow Jones hit record high.
Markets Today
At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was up by 0.15%, the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) gained 0.09%, and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) increased 0.46%.
Retail sentiment around SPY trended in ‘bearish’ territory amid ‘high’ message volume.
For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<
