The volatility afflicting U.S. and international stock and bond markets this week amid President Donald Trump's tariff push has analysts and institutional investors ringing alarm bells about a possible recession and rethinking big investments and deals. But amid all of the uncertainty and tumult, many retail investors diving into the market in hopes of snapping up stocks on the cheap—buying the dip in other words.
Investment platforms are reporting record transaction volume amid the market rollercoaster. On April 3, the day after Trump announced his "Liberation Day" tariffs on virtually every U.S. trading partner, deposits in Wealthfront's globally diversified index investment accounts were up more than 330% compared to the previous, the financial services company reports. At the same time, deposits into individual stock investment accounts were up nearly 500%. U.S. stocks took a beating that day, suffering their steepest declines since 2020.
What are retail investors buying? According to Wealthfront, Magnificent Seven stocks including Nvidia, Amazon, and Apple were popular—Nvidia deposits spiked nearly 400% on April 3, while Amazon and Apple deposits increased more than 500%. They've tapered off some since then but remain at a higher level than before the tariffs were announced. Vanguard's S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and State Street's SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) have also drawn increased interest.
Investors were back at it early on April 9, according to Wealthfront, when the market was in the midst of another rout. They were apparently taking the president's advice: Trump posted on Truth Social early in the day, "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY." Then, later that afternoon, he announced a 90-day pause on many tariffs—sending stocks soaring and sparking accusations of market manipulation.
That said, aside from some post-tariff announcement surges, retail investors are behaving cautiously overall. February and March saw more net flows into cash than investments, according to Wealthfront, reflecting broader negative investor sentiment.
Stocks aren't the only asset class seeing a surge. According to Wealthfront, despite concerns in the broader financial industry, U.S. bonds have also beem popular, given their rising yields. The company says Tuesday, April 8 was the highest single day of the year so far for bond ladder deposits—a term that describes buying bonds with different maturity dates.
International investors are making similar moves, says Robert Lande, president of Tradu, a multi-asset trading platform with a global customer base. On Tradu, investors have been actively trading currencies: consistently shorting Yen and the Euro and going long U.S. dollars and Sterling. Many investors have also stayed long on gold since April 2, which has proven itself as a haven in this tumultuous time.
"They have been surprisingly, perhaps, upbeat on the U.S. picture, and still remain pretty positive about it," says Lande, noting investors are looking at the U.S. relative to other countries. "They absolutely might have a view that [tariffs] are not particularly good, but that's worse for others than for the U.S. So I'm not really seeing pulling out of the U.S. at this point."
Though there has been plenty of pressure over the past week as stocks have slid, Lande says retail investors seem to be patient with the market's moves. As U.S. companies start to report earnings in earnest, the outlook may change, he says.
"It's an incredibly complex environment," says Lande.
