Retail investors are quietly putting up one of their best years ever in 2025, and it comes down to two things that are notoriously hard to nail at the same time: picking the right trades and entering them at the right moments.
JPMorgan analyst Arun Jain says retail traders have outperformed both SPY $SPY ( ▲ 0.94% ) and $QQQ ( ▲ 1.31% ) across ETFs, which made up about 75 percent of their total investments this year. Their edge came from leaning heavily into tech and piling into gold during the big rush in September and October.
Retail traders also showed impeccable timing during the early-year volatility. They bought the dip in AI and tech stocks across three pullbacks between January and April, then shifted toward thematic ETF trading in the summer, with funds like GLD $GLD ( ▲ 0.21% ) drawing significant attention. According to JPMorgan, their single-stock exposure now closely mirrors the bank’s AI data center and electrification basket, meaning retail traders are heavily tied to the same trade that has powered much of the market.
Their outperformance narrowed slightly after speculative names slumped in mid-October, but the results still beat the returns of simply dollar-cost averaging into $QQQ each month. Many of retail’s favorite names were on a historic winning streak before volatility hit.
And this isn’t just a market story. Retail’s gains have likely helped support consumer spending, even with rising unemployment and higher tariffs weighing on the broader economy. The most vivid example came on April 3, when retail traders logged their biggest net buying day in a decade after the S&P 500 posted its worst drop since 2020. That aggressive dip buying made them major beneficiaries of the rebound that followed.