Hua Er Jie Jian Wen·2025-06-06 01:56Group 1 - Retail investors continued to dominate the U.S. stock market in May, with a net purchase of $23 billion, a decrease of approximately $17 billion compared to March and April, but still in line with the annual average of $25 billion [1] - In May, retail investors only had three days with net purchases exceeding $2 billion, while there were four net selling days, primarily concentrated in the last two weeks [2] - Retail investors recorded a 4.9% return in May, slightly below the overall market performance of 6.1%, and their year-to-date portfolio loss stood at 2.6%, compared to a 1.8% increase in the S&P 500 index [2] Group 2 - In the past week, retail traders net bought $6.8 billion, which is 0.4 standard deviations above the average level over the past year, with ETFs contributing $4 billion to net inflows [3] - Retail investors aggressively bought Tesla shares worth $4.4 billion, coinciding with an 8% drop in the stock, marking the largest single-day net purchase in two months [3] - Nvidia experienced a significant net outflow of $2.2 billion, setting a record for the longest consecutive selling streak of 17 days since 2018 [3] Group 3 - Retail investors shifted to a "rotation mode" in May, moving from core holdings to higher-risk market segments, with small-cap stocks and AI-related themes becoming popular [4] - The report warns that this behavior, while not uncommon, indicates a complacency that may not align with existing macro risks, suggesting the current market rally could be in its final stages [4] - Active stocks over the past month included large tech stocks, meme stocks, and emerging AI/data center companies [4] Group 4 - Positive sentiment was concentrated around stocks with strong recent momentum or AI concepts, while negative sentiment surrounded underperforming or controversial companies [5] - Retail participation in the options market has increased, with market share returning to 18%, indicating a growing trend in leveraging and hedging risks [6][7] - Retail investors sold $4.1 billion of Delta and $23 billion of Gamma, marking the largest Gamma imbalance since mid-February, with S&P 500 options contributing $18 billion to this imbalance [7]