Retail traders are back in full force. Data compiled by Vanda Research show retail traders have purchased an average of $1.36 billion per day in U.S. securities over the past week. The firm pointed out that a lot of that money went into exchange-traded funds, but noted that the WallStreetBets crowd has also “ramped up” its participation, as these Reddit users piled into out-of-the-money call options and cash buying of meme stocks. That isn’t more evident than in the recent surge in meme stock Bed Bath & Beyond , which ended Tuesday up nearly 300% for the month. Other classic meme names such as AMC and GameStop are also up sharply for August. “The WSB community has also continued to ramp up their participation … further supporting the current upward trend in US equities,” Vanda Research analyst Lucas Mantle wrote in a note. Vanda noted that retail trading volume in Bed Bath & Beyond over the past five days is up 350% from the past month. Disney, Trade Desk and Rivian have also seen retail volumes more than double in that time, along with AMC , Plug Power , Roblox , DraftKings , and Affirm . However, Bed Bath & Beyond is the “king.” “The hand of retail investors is visible once again as both cash purchases and call option volumes have increased more than 70x from their all-time average,” Mantle said. “Before the latest surge, about 35% of BBBY shares outstanding were held short, making the stock a prime squeeze candidate.” Bed Bath & Beyond also saw some of the biggest retail inflows in the past week, with traders buying $136.13 million worth of the stock in the past five days. Tesla topped Vanda’s inflows list, with net purchases coming in at $568.92 million over the past five trading days. Other names that have seen big retail inflows include AMD, Apple, Amazon and Nvidia.
