Online investing activity nearly doubles since pre-pandemic

According to a new report from Investment Trends, 1.43 million Australians placed one or more trades in listed securities in the last year up to May, which is an increase of 35 per cent year-on-year and nearly double pre-pandemic levels.

“The pandemic has significantly shifted the Australian investing landscape throughout 2020 and this continued through the first half of 2021,” Investment Trends’ head of research, Irene Guiamatsia, said.

“To put things into perspective, the number of active retail online investors, that is those who bought or sold securities in a 12-month period, has almost doubled compared to pre-pandemic levels, from 750,000 to 1,430,000.”

The research firm’s report also suggests that online investing will continue as lockdown restrictions ease coming out of the pandemic with 148,000 new online investors placing their first trade in Australia in the past six months alone.

“It’s encouraging to see so many Australians starting their investing journey,” Ms Guiamatsia said.

“Challenger brands like SelfWealth, Stake, eToro and Superhero are growing their footprint among these first-time investors with sharp pricing, feature rich platforms and mobile-first UX.”

Interest in cryptocurrencies has also increased in 2021 from 8 per cent to 13 per cent.

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.