As interest in crypto increases, there is also a surge in online trading fueled by retail investors.
A survey cnducted by financial services company Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) has revealed that young UK investors prefer crypto to stocks. The survey showed that young British investors would rather buy digital assets than buy stocks. Charles Schwab surveyed 1,000 investors in the UK.
UK Young Investors Choose Crypto over Stocks
According to the survey, young-aged investors in the UK are twice as likely to choose crypto assets like Bitcoin and altcoins over buying stocks. The survey was focused on young British between ages 18 and 37. The report highlighted that 51% of the participants either trade or hold cryptocurrencies. Participants who invest in crypto are double the 25% of young investors who buy or hold equities.
Notably, there are a lot of young investors who are into cryptocurrencies. A Reuters report noted that just 8% of investors over the age of 55 trade cryptocurrencies.
The crypto market has been growing amid the increasing adoption of digital assets by both retail and institutional traders. The top crypto by market cap, Bitcoin, recently reached a record high of almost $65,000. However, the king coin has corrected since then and currently trades at $51,584.
Additionally, BTC’s market value has reduced from the $1 trillion mark to around $966 million. Despite the declines, MarketWatch data showed that the asset’s trading volume had spiked more than 50% in the last 24 hours. Additionally, Bitcoin has grown about 90% since the beginning of the year as institutional investors demand for the coin.
MicroStrategy Inc (NASDAQ: MSFT) is one of the companies bullish about BTC and has constantly invested in the asset. Also, electric-vehicle maker Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) has invested in Bitcoin and announced that customers can now buy its products using Bitcoin.
Online Trading Surges
As interest in crypto increases, there is also a surge in online trading fueled by retail investors. Many of these investors, who majorly consist of young people, were forced to stay home at the peak of the pandemic. As a result, people settled for online shopping.
With the shift to online shopping, online trading apps like Robinhood Markets Inc also recorded growth in their app usage.
While presenting reports of the survey, which occurred between February and March 2021, Charles Schwab said:
“As more young people purchase speculative products, there is a fear that these investors are not diversifying their portfolios enough to mitigate risks in case cryptocurrency markets decline.”
As the crypto market continues to bubble, Ether (ETH) reached a new all-time high of nearly $2,600 on the 22nd of April. With the new record high, ETH’s market valuation also jumped to about $298.1 billion. Furthermore, the cryptocurrency saw a 24% jump in its trading volume.
At the time of writing, Ether is down 10% to $2,221.
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