2020 recap

2020 was a turbulent year in many ways. Stock exchanges, investors and brokers all felt the impact of this turbulence and volatility. For example, main indices hit record highs and lows, interest rates went into negative territory and new investors flooded the market.

As we look back on an unprecedented year, we share the stocks that were traded the most in 2020 per country and overall, as well as some trends we saw among our investors.

Most traded stocks per country 2020

Tesla was the dominate stock on the map for 2020 as it was traded the most in eight of the 18 countries that we are active in. We saw a spike in Tesla stock trading after it underwent a five-for-one stock split in August, making the price per share more accessible to some investors. From the beginning of the year to December 29th, prices for the electric car maker climbed by 695.97%.

Novacyt was the winner, increasing by a staggering 5276.47% during the said time period. Novacyt is a French small-cap biotechnology company focused on clinical diagnostics. Like many other companies, Novacyt has been making efforts to combat the spread of the coronavirus. The company manufactures and supplies Covid-19 test kits and is working to expand its Covid-19 product portfolio.

On the losing end was Wirecard, with prices decreasing by 99.70%. The payments company was a tech darling in Germany at the beginning of the year, however, an accounting scandal that came to light in June resulted in the company filing for insolvency.

Tesla was the most traded stock overall in 2020

The top-10 below is based on all transactions via our platform, rebased weighted to account for the share of transactions per country. What all investors at ESKIMO have in common is that they more often look abroad for high-tech, EV, space and travel companies. Tesla is the undisputed most popular stock of 2020. In all European countries, it is one of the most traded American shares. Nasdaq is the favourite exchange overall, followed by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Tesla leads the way in the UK top-10

Tesla was by far the most traded stock among UK investors. There were nearly 20% more transactions in Tesla than in number two on the list, NIO, which is also a rival of Tesla. Within the top-10 there was an even split between stocks trading on US exchanges and stocks trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

Investor trends

Aside from Tesla being the clear favourite stock of 2020, there were some noteworthy trends among our client base and their investing preferences:

• There was a 15% increase in female investors year-over-year and females now represent 15% of our total amount of customers.
• Younger investors in their teens and twenties accounted for half of the number of new ESKIMO accounts in 2020.
• Younger investors tend to primarily invest in equities, and therefore opt for a ‘Basic’ profile.
• The popularity of American exchanges is particularly high with European investors under the age of 40, whereas European exchanges are more popular among those over 40.
• In general, our investors mostly trade on their home exchange, however, there are some exceptions to this. Our Irish, Spanish and Portuguese clients invest more internationally, mostly on US exchanges.

The information in this article is not written for advisory purposes, nor does it intend to recommend any investments. Please be aware that facts may have changed since the article was originally written.

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Sources: Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance, Financial Times