Retail Investors Bought Twitter And Apple, Sold Facebook In June

Samantha Sharf Forbes Staff

TD Ameritrade Holding AMTD -1.73%’s monthly look at its clients’ trading activity shows that retail investors increased their volatility for the second month in a row in June as the firm’s Investor Movement Index moved up to 5.32 from 4.91 in May. The increase was the second largest month-over-month since December 2012, when tracking began. The IMX measures volatility relative to the S&P and last month investors shifted their portfolios to be riskier than the 500 stock index.

“People are still looking for buying opportunities when they feel things are at the low end of the range,” JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade, pointing out the S&P 500 has traded in a narrow band between 2,070 points and 2,130 points since early May.  “For the last couple of years every time we’ve had a panic it has paid to be a buyer.”

^SPX data by YCharts

So even in a relatively subdued period as markets await a move from the Federal Reserve and more clarity on Greece, retail investors were net buyers. They bought popular names that were moving lower and sold popular names that were moving higher. Among the most popular net buys were Apple AAPL -0.9% and Twitter TWTR +0.03%. Both widely held names moved lower in June. Meanwhile, retail investors were net sellers of Facebook which moved higher in the month thanks in part to analyst upgrades.

^SPX data by YCharts

Apple started the month at $130.28, spending much of June in the $124 to $127 range were Kinahan says there are often many buyers, and ultimately closing at $125.43. Twitter tends to be a buy below $35, a range where it had bouts in mid and late June.

The big news for Twitter last month was that Dick Costolo was leaving the CEO spot and founder Jack Dorsey was temporarily taking the job. According to Kinahan retailer investors saw this as a wait-and-see moment rather than a game changer. And Apple’s swing lower? “It was the hangover from the Apple Watch,” says Kinahan. “ Apple has a history of the rumor always outdoing the news.” In others words, institutional investors are already asking: What’s next? But everyday investors are long term believers happy for an opportunity to get in to the stock.