YOLO Crowd Buys Stock-Market Dip as Hedge Funds Remain ‘Twitchy’

With every twist and turn of the stock market, the retail crowd stays true to its tried-and-tested tactic this year: buying every dip.

As US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy reignited trade-war jitters on Friday, the non-professional crowd bought call options at a record pace, data from Citadel Securities show. The cohort’s demand for call options has now exceeded puts for 24 consecutive weeks, which ties for the longest streak since the firm started tracking the data in 2020.