Professional investors have been using the market’s record-setting run as an opportunity to take profits, while retail investors have been doing much of the heavy lifting in the latest run of the three-year-old bull market.
Hedge funds and other institutional clients have been the biggest net sellers of single stocks and exchange-traded funds this year, unloading more than $67 billion worth of equities in 2025, according to the latest client-flow data from Bank of America.
Retail investors have been the market’s backbone, the most consistent dip-buyers since 2020, a behavior forged during the pandemic rebound, the Wall Street investment bank said. That strategy has paid off handsomely as the S&P 500 reached multiple all-time highs this year. Retail investors’ steady inflows of fresh cash during market pullbacks have positioned them ahead of many institutional investors who stayed cautious amid rate-cut uncertainty and geopolitical conflict, from trade wars to Gaza, Ukraine and Iran.
That tension will be in focus this week as scores of high-profile institutional investors gather at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha Investor Summit on Thursday in New York City, offering the world a chance to hear how some of the industry’s most influential voices are navigating this volatile market.
