Monex Global Retail Investor Survey Reveals Optimism for U.S. Stocks Among Retail Investors as the COVID-19 Pandemic Intensifies

PLANTATION, Fla., Dec. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- TradeStation Securities, Inc. ("TradeStation"), a Monex Group company and award-winning* broker-dealer, today announced the results of the twenty-eighth Monex Global Retail Investor Survey. The survey, which gauges customer sentiment based on answers to specific questions from a random sampling of customers of Monex, Inc., TradeStation, and Monex Boom Securities (H.K.) Limited reveals high expectations for U.S. stocks among retail investors in Japan, the U.S., and Hong Kong, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although COVID-19 cases continue to increase in the U.S., many investors anticipate U.S. stock prices to continue to rise. Retail investors in all three regions surveyed indicate expectations that the U.S. is the region with the greatest likelihood of stock price appreciation in the coming three months.

"At the beginning of the year, stocks fell drastically as governments worldwide implemented stay at home orders and millions lost their jobs due to the pandemic. However, we saw a dramatic turnaround in April as the stock market rallied, recovering much of the losses incurred in the early weeks of the pandemic," said John Bartleman, President of TradeStation's parent company, TradeStation Group, Inc. "As we approach 2021, we remain cautiously optimistic about U.S. market conditions. We expect to see continued levels of volatility as the world grapples with the intensifying pandemic and governments begin to roll out new COVID-19 vaccines."

Other key findings reveal:

• The percentage of retail investors who participated in the survey in the U.S. and Japan who had already invested in cryptocurrency reached all-time highs at 21.0% and 16.2%, respectively, aligned with Bitcoin passing $20K and reaching historic levels this month.
• Overall appetite for cryptocurrency investment remained low, with nearly half of respondents in the U.S. (43.5%) and more than half in Japan (53.5%) citing a lack of interest in cryptocurrency.
• The forecast Diffusion Index (DI) for the world stock markets remained flat among respondents from Japan, decreased slightly among respondents from the U.S. and increased significantly among respondents from China.

About the Survey

The Monex Global Retail Investor Survey, covering retail clients in Japan, Hong Kong, and the U.S., was launched in June 2011 to gauge client sentiment surrounding market conditions. The twenty-eighth edition surveyed 1,006 respondents from Monex, Inc., TradeStation Securities, Inc., and Monex Boom Securities (H.K.) Limited between November 10 to 30, 2020. The full report is available here.

About Monex Group, Inc.

Monex Group, Inc., listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (security code: 8698), has grown to become a major online financial institution that operates online retail brokerages in Japan, the U.S., China (including Hong Kong), and Australia. In addition, Monex offers business services in international forex, asset management, investor education, and M&A advisory.

Monex Group aims to create a new type of financial group for a new era. At its core, Monex offers crypto asset banking operations and online brokerage services that link the world's financial markets by bringing together Coincheck's cryptocurrency trading, storage, and payment capabilities with the expertise and technology of our online brokerage operations in Japan, the U.S., China, and Australia.

About TradeStation Group, Inc.

For more than 30 years, the TradeStation Group companies have been pioneering leaders in the online trading industry, committed to delivering the best trading technology, brokerage services, trading education, and support to individual and institutional traders. TradeStation's award-winning trading and analysis platforms offer access to equities, options, and futures trading at the major U.S. equities and options exchanges and market centers, as well as the major futures exchanges. TradeStation's clients have access to the powerful tools needed to design, test, optimize, monitor, and automate custom trading strategies, and its mobile and web trading apps allow clients to take the power of the TradeStation trading experience on the go. TradeStation also provides a vast array of educational offerings to help beginner and advanced clients learn online trading and investing skills to help them meet their trading and investment objectives.

TradeStation Securities, Inc. (Member NYSE, FINRA, SIPC, NSCC, DTC, OCC & CME) is a licensed securities broker-dealer and a registered futures commission merchant (FCM), and a member of major stocks, options and futures exchanges in the United States. The company's technology subsidiary, TradeStation Technologies, Inc., develops and offers strategy trading software tools and subscription services, and hosts the TradingApp® Store. TradeStation Crypto, Inc. offers cryptocurrency brokerage services. 

*Visit TradeStation.com/Awards for more information.

About Monex Boom Securities (H.K.) Limited

Monex Boom Securities (H.K.) Limited (BOOM) offers multi-market and multi-currency online securities trading services to investors all around the world. With BOOM's proprietary web-based trading platform, investors can trade equities in all major exchanges and manage different major currencies via one single account. Currently, it offers access to securities listed on over 17 stock markets in 12 countries. In addition, BOOM also develops trading solutions for other financial institutions.

Being the first company to launch Internet stock trading in Asia/Pacific, BOOM introduced a new pattern of self-directed cross-border investment by applying new technology to traditional equities trading and financial services. BOOM aims to provide retail investors with privacy, ease, speediness, and inexpensive international stock trading services.

BOOM is a fully licensed broker/dealer regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong, founded in 1997 and headquartered in Hong Kong. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Monex Group, one of Japan's largest online financial services providers.

SOURCE Monex Group