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Jan 27, 2021
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Retail Investor Activity Goes Parabolic - Is Trouble Ahead?

Retail Investor Activity Goes Parabolic - Is Trouble Ahead?

Retail investors are jumping into the markets in record numbers. Less certain is whether a majority of these new retail investors have the tools and the experience needed to do well over time. Tickeron's platform of Artificial Intelligence-generated can help.

According to Piper Sandler analysts, retail trading volume that goes through wholesale market makers accounted for nearly half of all trading in the first 11 days in January. For some wealth managers and trading platforms, this has been welcome news. Morgan Stanley just completed its takeover of E*Trade, reporting 900,000 new self-directed accounts over the last two quarters. Charles Schwab, which is now combined with TD Ameritrade, has seen daily trading volumes of close to 8 million trades, which is well higher than volume last year. Schwab has also reported a 16% uptick in average margin loan balances over the past two quarters, suggesting that investors are growing more comfortable with risk-taking. 

It's good to see that new investors are showing interest in trading and investing, but more concerning to me is whether investors are taking on too much risk and making trades without having strong fundamental and technical research to back those trades. In my view, it won't take long for many investors to lose money - that's what the market almost always does to blind risk-takers.

Tickeron has several Artificial-Intelligence driven platforms, and if you're new to retail trading and investing, it could be helpful to have A.I. help you drive your investment-decision making. Below, Tickeron's A.I. analyzes major banks that could benefit from the wave of retail investor interest.

Related Ticker: XLF

Contributor

Sergey Savastiouk, Ph.D. has a degree in Applied Mathematics from Moscow University and has extensive experience as an entrepreneur, investor, manager, and mathematician. His professional expertise is in applied mathematics, mathematical modeling, system and pattern analysis, and software and hardware system integration. He has served as the CEO of several hi-tech start-up companies and nonprofit organizations, which has given him proven capabilities in business strategy for high-tech start-up companies, market assessment, company formation, team building, product development, marketing, and sales. He has published numerous articles in journals and magazines on related fields. As a retail investor, he spent 15 years developing his proprietary trading and quantitative algorithms (now Tickeron’s A.I.), which brought him significant returns in trading the stock market. His current work and goal in founding Tickeron is to bring professional, sophisticated stock market analysis capabilities to retail investors via an easy-to-use interface.


Momentum Indicator for XLF turns positive, indicating new upward trend

XLF saw its Momentum Indicator move above the 0 level on October 12, 2026. This is an indication that the stock could be shifting in to a new upward move. Traders may want to consider buying the stock or buying call options. Tickeron's A.I.dvisor looked at 82 similar instances where the indicator turned positive. In 73 of the 82 cases, the stock moved higher in the following days. The odds of a move higher are at 89%.

Price Prediction Chart

Technical Analysis (Indicators)

Bullish Trend Analysis

The RSI Oscillator points to a transition from a downward trend to an upward trend -- in cases where XLF's RSI Indicator exited the oversold zone, 20 of 23 resulted in an increase in price. Tickeron's analysis proposes that the odds of a continued upward trend are 87%.

The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) for XLF just turned positive on October 09, 2026. Looking at past instances where XLF's MACD turned positive, the stock continued to rise in 36 of 43 cases over the following month. The odds of a continued upward trend are 84%.

XLF moved above its 50-day moving average on October 28, 2026 date and that indicates a change from a downward trend to an upward trend.

The 10-day moving average for XLF crossed bullishly above the 50-day moving average on October 29, 2026. This indicates that the trend has shifted higher and could be considered a buy signal. In 13 of 15 past instances when the 10-day crossed above the 50-day, the stock continued to move higher over the following month. The odds of a continued upward trend are 87%.

Following a +1.90% 3-day Advance, the price is estimated to grow further. Considering data from situations where XLF advanced for three days, in 283 of 336 cases, the price rose further within the following month. The odds of a continued upward trend are 84%.

The Aroon Indicator entered an Uptrend today. In 241 of 311 cases where XLF Aroon's Indicator entered an Uptrend, the price rose further within the following month. The odds of a continued Uptrend are 77%.

Bearish Trend Analysis

The Stochastic Oscillator demonstrated that the ticker has stayed in the overbought zone for 15 days. The longer the ticker stays in the overbought zone, the sooner a price pull-back is expected.

Following a 3-day decline, the stock is projected to fall further. Considering past instances where XLF declined for three days, the price rose further in 50 of 62 cases within the following month. The odds of a continued downward trend are 82%.

XLF broke above its upper Bollinger Band on November 02, 2026. This could be a sign that the stock is set to drop as the stock moves back below the upper band and toward the middle band. You may want to consider selling the stock or exploring put options.

Notable companies

The most notable companies in this group are JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), VISA (NYSE:V), Mastercard (NYSE:MA), Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS), Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Charles Schwab Corp (The) (NYSE:SCHW).

Industry description

The investment seeks investment results that, before expenses, correspond generally to the price and yield performance of publicly traded equity securities of companies in the Financial Select Sector Index. The fund generally invests substantially all, but at least 95%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the index. The index includes companies that have been identified as Financial companies by the Global Industry Classification Standard, including securities of companies from the following industries: financial services; insurance; banks; capital markets; mortgage real estate investment trusts; and consumer finance. The fund is non-diversified.

Market Cap

The average market capitalization across the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) ETF is 107.94B. The market cap for tickers in the group ranges from 11.46B to 905.33B. JPM holds the highest valuation in this group at 905.33B. The lowest valued company is JKHY at 11.46B.

High and low price notable news

The average weekly price growth across all stocks in the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) ETF was 3%. For the same ETF, the average monthly price growth was 8%, and the average quarterly price growth was 12%. GPN experienced the highest price growth at 22%, while COIN experienced the biggest fall at -14%.

Volume

The average weekly volume growth across all stocks in the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) ETF was 20%. For the same stocks of the ETF, the average monthly volume growth was 16% and the average quarterly volume growth was -1%

Fundamental Analysis Ratings

The average fundamental analysis ratings, where 1 is best and 100 is worst, are as follows

Valuation Rating: 72
P/E Growth Rating: 55
Price Growth Rating: 41
SMR Rating: 44
Profit Risk Rating: 45
Seasonality Score: 20 (-100 ... +100)
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Financial
Address
One Lincoln Street Cph0326Boston
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Web
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