[matt_wulfeck]

> The retail investor masses heard that message and have arrived.

The retail masses showed up many many years ago in the form of retirement accounts. And we’ve also benefited tremendously from this bull market. This last correction is nothing if you’ve been in the market for a few years.

Also I really doubt retail investors are the catalyst for anything here. Normal people don’t move a trillion dollars out of the market in a few minutes.

[aphextron]

>Also I really doubt retail investors are the catalyst for anything here. Normal people don’t move a trillion dollars out of the market in a few minutes.

Sure they do. Robo-advisor services like Betterment have exploded over the past few years. They alone have over 10 billion under management right now. When everyone's money is following the same algorithms, it's natural to assume that any market movement will be magnified now.

[jsoc815]

>The retail masses showed up many many years ago in the form of retirement accounts.

The size and composition of the mass is often over-estimated, particularly w/respect to retirement accounts.[1] And they've mostly been sitting on the sidelines. Over all trading volume has been lower since the 08/09 crash, the retail side in particular. (Don't have access to the tool that tracks this anymore, but there are lots of articles/videos, etc... talking about this.)

>Also I really doubt retail investors are the catalyst for anything here.

Generally correct, but I caught an interview on CNBC the other day where the speaker said that retail flows accounted for 80% of the volume on one of the US exchanges for that day. So, sometimes retail investors can have an some impact on market movements.

*[1]: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fewer-americans-retirement-ac...