Battle Between Hedge Funds and Day Traders Creates Record Volume
- More than 23.6 billion U.S.-listed shares traded on Wednesday
- Volume spike comes amid rapid hedge-fund buying, selling
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How wild was the action in the stock market on Wednesday? Wildest on record, if you judge by volume of shares traded.
More than 23.6 billion shares of U.S.-listed equities changed hands, the most in Bloomberg data going back to 2008. The spike stands out even though volumes have been heavy since the pandemic began roiling markets last year, averaging 14.4 billion a day in 2021 before yesterday and 10.9 billion last year. That compares with an average of less than 7 billion shares in 2019.