BlockBeats News, July 16th, according to Goldman Sachs data, retail investors currently account for about 30% of the daily trading volume in the US stock market. In May of this year, the trading volume of retail investors was 10% higher than during the peak of the "Retail Trader vs Wall Street" period in January 2021, and in June, it further broke historical records.

The heat in the options market has also been rising. The daily trading volume has surpassed 50 million contracts several times this year, doubling from three years ago. Data from Citadel Securities shows that July has become one of the months with the strongest retail investor buying intensity on record, with no net selling in a single day yet. The continued buying pressure has also forced some low-position institutions to chase the rally at high levels.

Goldman Sachs estimates that the assets held by retail investors in self-managed brokerage accounts have reached $12 trillion, accounting for about 10% of the US corporate equity market. If direct and indirect holdings are included, the scale of US individual investors reaches $111 trillion. Bobby Molavi, Head of Execution Services at Goldman Sachs, described them as "whales" in the capital markets.

However, there is still a divergence in the market regarding the AI narrative driving this round of gains. Commentator Ed Zitron warned that the high AI computational costs and infrastructure debts of OpenAI could lead to an "AI version of the Lehman moment." On the other hand, Howard Marks, Co-Chairman of Oaktree Capital, believes that the productivity potential of AI may offset short-term financial pressures.