In this article
Predictions markets are becoming "retail's shiny new toy," Barclays analysts said, noting their surging popularity versus other speculative investments.
Monthly notional volume for predictions platforms have skyrocketed since the 2024 presidential election, with an explosion of growth last fall, the analysts said in a report Tuesday.
They said prediction markets are close competitors to leveraged exchange-traded products, which are high-risk investments that use debt and derivatives to multiply returns based on the daily performance of specific assets.
As of this year, monthly notional volume for prediction markets is not far behind leveraged exchange-traded products, and are comparable to index and single-stock call overwrite strategies, which commonly use call-selling to produce returns.
