According to research by strategists at leading U.S investment bank JPMorgan Chase, retail investors are flocking to buy Bitcoin from mainstream fintech firms. The report states that retail investors have purchased more than 187,000 Bitcoin this quarter using PayPal and Square. Retail investors are even out-buying institutions, with JPMorgan’s analysts estimating institutions have purchased 173,000 BTC over the same period.

“Retail traders are now taking control.”

Senior market analyst at Oanda Corp, Ed Moya, attributed the retail activity to social media, the current NFT craze, and stimulus payouts. He told Bloomberg, “Now, with the Reddit-fueled meme stock craze cooling and novelties such as digital artwork setting records, retail traders — some now armed with $1,400 stimulus checks — are taking control.” He further added that while “meme-stock” trading burnt many retail traders, Bitcoin has remained overwhelmingly bullish and has been their “bread and butter” during the pandemic. The president of MJP Wealth Advisors, Brian Vendig, suggested retail demand has been driven by fear of missing out (FOMO) following the recent wave of institutional investment into Bitcoin.

Bitcoin continues to hover around $56,000. 

At the time of writing, bitcoin’s price is trading at just near $56,000 after briefly reaching $62,000 over the weekend. Data from the crypto market aggregator, Glassnode, appears to confirm that retail investors have well and truly arrived. On March 15, Glassnode noted an entity’s net growth spike in 2021, adding, “This is a strong indication that new retail investors have been entering the space.” Bitcoin has witnessed a massive winning rally this week after the leading cryptocurrency price reached new all-time-highs over and over again. Bitcoin is up 1018.9% in the last year at the time of writing.