Last year’s fourth quarter was rocky to say the least, but Investment Trends’ 2018 2H Online Broking Report showed Australian investors continued to trade despite the volatile conditions, and dormant investors were prompted to recommence their trading activity.
The report, which surveyed over 8,000 Australian online investors in Q4 last year, said the population of online investors in the six months to December 2018 increased from 720,000 to 750,000.
Investment Trends’ research director, Recep Peker, said many online investors took the broad sell-off in equities at the end of 2018 as a buying opportunity, and 76,000 investors resumed their investing activity in the last six months.
Peker said this presented an opportunity for online brokers and product providers to target investors.
“There is widespread appetite for stock recommendations, trading ideas, in-depth research and analyst reports as investors seek tools that give them the edge to make informed decisions in these uncertain times,” he said.
As well, digital engagement channels continued to grow in importance, with online investors increasingly relying on digital engagement channels as part of their investing.
Twenty-four per cent of online investors currently used social media platforms for investing or finance-related purposes, and a further 11 per cent intended to do so in the future.
“Along with the rising prominence of digital engagement platforms such as social media, blogs and online forums, a new wave of brokers such as SelfWealth and Stake are leveraging these platforms to gain traction with online investors, especially the younger crowd,” said Peker.
“These new challengers make effective use of online media channels to raise their brand profile and engage with their audience by focusing on a seamless user experience or building a vibrant online community.”
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