Retail trading activity experiences a sharp washout
The bearish case for retail-brokerage and retail-adjacent platforms is that retail trading volumes and speculative options activity have collapsed from their late-2025 peaks.
The argument
The hosts noted that retail volume as a percentage of single-stock volume has fallen off a cliff, and zero-day-to-expiration (0DTE) options are near one-year lows. They argued that retail traders are retreating as popular speculative stocks decline and market leadership rotates to boring sectors like industrials and utilities.
The thesis, stress-tested
✓ What validates it
- ✓Robinhood reporting lower monthly active users (MAUs) and transaction-based revenues in upcoming quarterly reports
- ✓0DTE options volume continuing to decline as a percentage of total S&P contracts
▸ Risks discussed
- ▸A sudden meme-stock resurgence or crypto rally could quickly bring retail traders back to the platforms
Hear it yourself
"We're looking at a chart of retail volumes, and the chart shows the retail as a percentage of total single stock volumes over a five day period. And it it it hit hit a fever pitch fever peak, I should say, a crescendo, if you will, of 15% and has cooled up dramatically."
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