New York, June 12, 2026, 10:03 (EDT)
• Schwab’s Trading Activity Index came in at 55.08 for May, up from April’s 50.10.
• Retail clients kept buying, with tech getting the most attention. Trading in ETFs and options hinted at a shift to caution.
• OCC reported total options volume jumped 25.3% year over year in May, showing a busy month across the options market.
Charles Schwab said its retail-investor index rose in May as stocks pushed higher. Schwab’s Trading Activity Index, or STAX, climbed to 55.08 from April’s 50.10, according to Schwab’s monthly update. Schwab said clients were getting back into stocks, and using options and ETFs to manage risk. Seeking Alpha also pointed to the rebound.
Schwab clients bought more equities in May as big indexes pushed to fresh highs, but the use of diversified ETFs showed some caution still in play, Joe Mazzola, head trading and derivatives strategist at Charles Schwab, said in a release. “Overall, this STAX score itself climbed during the period but remained below the levels seen in February and March of this year.” Nasdaq
Information technology led the buying, Schwab said, with consumer discretionary and industrials next. Clients net bought Nvidia, Micron, Intel, Microsoft, and Amazon. Among the top net-sold stocks were Apple, Advanced Micro Devices, Tesla, CrowdStrike, and Oracle in the period.
ETF Rotation Shows Caution Even as Buyers Return Investors aren’t just piling into single stocks again. Axios said buyers are staying cautious, shifting money into diversified ETFs instead. Mazzola told Axios the Schwab survey found 36% of clients now favor ETFs over picking individual names. “That’s really a shift,” Mazzola said. Axios
Options trading picked up, with Yahoo Finance’s video on Schwab’s numbers talking about more retail interest in options. Schwab said its clients turned to options to play tech names on the way up, instead of just buying stocks outright, going for less risk. Put selling gained speed in May, as people aimed for better entry levels. Schwab did warn that selling puts still means you might have to buy the stock at the strike if it drops below market.
Retail flows picked up while the rest of the options market stayed busy. OCC said it cleared 1.47 billion contracts in May, a gain of 25.2% from last year. Most of that was in options, with 1.46 billion contracts cleared, up 25.3%. Cboe reported its four options exchanges posted a record average daily volume of 22.0 million contracts for the month. The company pointed to record volume in multi-listed options and growth in index-options trading.
Broader market moves still shape Schwab’s signal. U.S. stocks surged Thursday, the S&P 500 climbing 1.8%, the Dow 1.9%, and the Nasdaq Composite 2.5%, AP reported. Schwab’s update on Friday said major indexes looked set for a winning week, helped by tech shares bouncing and hopes for peace.
Schwab says its STAX index uses a proprietary method that looks at holdings, positions, and trading from a monthly sample drawn from millions of retail accounts. The company says the index isn’t tradable and shouldn’t be relied on alone for investment calls. For May, the reading suggests retail investors are still in the AI rally but also keeping some protection on.
