The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a surge in share trading with more than a fifth (22%) of the UK adult population saying they have bought or sold stocks during the crisis. Share trading and investing is going mainstream as more people take an interest in the stock market in the UK and globally.
Research for GraniteShares shows around 11.6 million people have been trading stocks and shares over the past 18 months. The reason for the rise in share trading during the crisis is down to a combination of factors, according to the study. Some say more enforced time at home due to lockdowns has increased their interest in the stock market. People who have been working from home throughout the pandemic say they earn better returns on investing and have taken more interest in their finances as a result. In addition, workers on furlough have been getting paid but have not had to work and some have used the time to start trading.
Nearly half of people who have been trading during the pandemic (45%) have been doing it more than in the past or have started trading for the first time. Most share traders are doing deals monthly or even less frequently – around 70% of share traders say they are doing so. However, 22% are trading at least once a week and there is increasing evidence that more people have turned to day trading. The research estimates around 1.8 million adults say they have become day traders during the crisis.
The main reason for turning to day trading is because people think they can make more money doing that with 43% of day traders saying that was their motivation. However, a quarter (23%) said they only started because they were furloughed while others have turned to day trading because they were made redundant.
It remains to be seen whether the interest in day trading will continue as the UK gradually returns to normal with the end of the furlough scheme and the scaling back of working from home. But it seems clear that share trading has become more mainstream and that generally traders are being careful.
Historically men have been more likely to trade stocks – around 45% of men say they have bought or sold shares compared to just 27% of women. But during the pandemic, the study found, around a million women started trading or investing for the first time.
GraniteShares offers UK sophisticated investors a suite of exchange traded products (ETPs) including 3x short and 3x long exposures on a range of large US tech companies including Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Alphabet, Google, Tesla, and Microsoft, as well as baskets or combinations aka FAANG stocks.
ETPs offer a pure way to gain exposure to top tech companies in the US market. Indices are equally weighted and rebalanced quarterly. GraniteShares currently offers 54 exchange traded products (ETPs) listed on the London Stock Exchange. They consist of a suite of index ETPs tracking FAANG stocks and a suite of Short and Leveraged Single Stock Daily ETPs tracking some of the most popular companies in UK and US markets.
Making money trading shares
Amateur share traders have generally done well from their investments during the pandemic with 50% saying they have made money on their trading and 9% claiming to have made a lot of money.
There have been issues with around 23% say they’ve only broken even while 22% admit to losing money and 5% are unsure.
Most who are trading (57%) say their reason for investing is to earn better returns than they are receiving on their cash accounts and 19% are doing it to boost the cash they have saved for a deposit for a house. However similar numbers are doing it because they’re bored or to make money fast.
There is very little evidence that people are getting into financial trouble due to share trading. More than half (55%) are using money they have saved in cash accounts while 37% are funding share trading from their earnings.
But investors could be missing out
Only around a third (32%) of regular investors are aware that they can invest in products such as Exchange Traded Funds which are a type of track a basket of shares such as the US technology giants known as the FAANGs – Facebook, Amazon, Apple Netflix, and Google which trades as Alphabet.
GraniteShares’ FAANG, GAFAM and FATANG product suite, offers long, short and 3X leveraged ETFs on FAANG, GAFAM and FATANG indices and can be traded in a single ticker symbol via ordinary brokerage accounts. FAANG consists of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google while GAFAM includes Google, Apple, Facebook Amazon, and Microsoft and FATANG covers Facebook, Amazon, Tesla, Apple, Netflix, and Google
GraniteShares suite of ETPs on FAANG stocks
| Product Name | Ticker |
| GraniteShares FAANG ETP | FANG |
| GraniteShares GAFAM ETP | GFAM |
| GraniteShares FATANG ETP | FTNG |
Leveraged ETPs on FAANG indices
| Underlying Index | +3x Long | -3x Short | -1x Short |
| FAANG | 3FNG | 3SFG | SFNG |
| GAFAM | 3GFM | 3SGF | SGFM |
| FATANG | 3FTG | 3SFT | SFTG |
UK Leveraged Single Stock ETPs
| Underlying stock | +3x Long | -3x Short |
| AstraZeneca | 3LAZ | 3SAZ |
| BAE Systems | 3LBA | 3SBA |
| Barclays | 3LBC | 3SBC |
| BP | 3LBP | 3SBP |
| Diageo | 3LDO | 3SDO |
| Glencore | 3LGL | 3SGL |
| Lloyds Banking Group | 3LLL | 3SLL |
| Rio Tinto | 3LRI | 3SRI |
| Royal Dutch Shell | 3LRD | 3SRD |
| Rolls-Royce | 3LRR | 3SRR |
| Vodafone | 3LVO | 3SVO |
US Leveraged Single Stock ETPs
| Underlying stock | +3x Long | -3x Short |
| Alphabet | 3LAL | 3SAL |
| Amazon | 3LZN | 3SZN |
| Apple | 3LAP | 3SAP |
| 3LFB | 3SFB | |
| Microsoft | 3LMS | 3SMS |
| Netflix | 3LNF | 3SNF |
| NIO | 3LNI | 3SNI |
| NVIDIA | 3LNV | 3SNV |
| Tesla | 3LTS | 3STS |
| Uber | 3LUB | 3SUB |
Capital at risk