Citadel Securities analyst Scott Rubner said retail buying on S&P 500 down days reached nearly 3.5 times the daily average, the strongest such activity since tracking began in 2020 and above the 2021 meme-stock peak.
Retail investors made buying U.S. stock-market pullbacks their preferred strategy in the first half of 2026, with purchases on days when the S&P 500 fell reaching nearly 3.5 times the daily average, according to data compiled by Citadel Securities analyst Scott Rubner. The pace was the strongest since Citadel Securities began tracking the data in 2020 and exceeded the previous high set during the 2021 meme-stock era, indicating that individual investors were leaning into market weakness rather than retreating from it.