Separate data from Investment Trends also shows more than half of investors believe the sharemarket has bottomed,despite the economy facing the deepest economic shock since the Great Depression.
Nabtrade's director of self-managed super fund (SMSF) and investor behaviour,Gemma Dale,said small investors were willing to be"contrarian",citing the heavy investments in travel stocks,and strong buying ofAfterpaywhile it was at a historic lows earlier this year.
“There’s often a perception that retail investors are naïve and run at the first sight of trouble. But our data shows quite the opposite:there was strong buying in the most manic days of the fall and investors willing to take profits in the strongest days of the rally."
NAB said trading volumes on its platform had surged 95 per cent in March,April and May,with new applications soaring 360 per cent. The bank said more of the trading was occurring during conventional work hours,which Ms Dale said might reflect the flexibility of people working from home.
"We have never seen interest from mum and dad investors to this extent,"Ms Dale said.
Chief investment officer at Atlas Funds Management,Hugh Dive,noted there had been an increase in"day-trading"in the pandemic,as trading shares had been much cheaper and more accessible in this crash than in others. Travel stocks would be attractive to day-traders because they had been volatile,he said.