GameStop, AMC, Penny And Crypto Stocks: Top Q1 Trends For Millennials And Gen Z

The increase in retail investors has put heavy emphasis on “meme stocks” that go viral across the internet. Apex Clearing is out with results on how millennial and Gen Z investors traded in the first quarter.

What To Know: Apex Clearing, which is going public in a SPAC merger with Northern Star Investment Corp II NSTB, puts together Top 100 lists tracking stocks held by age demographics. The results come from more than three million U.S.-based millennials and over 1 million Gen Z users.

“At the outset of 2021, we quickly saw younger traders ditching the holds they had on vaccine leaders in favor of stocks like AMC and GameStop that weren’t previously ranked, fueled by buzz in chat rooms and social media platforms,” the company said.

In 2020, Apex Clearing helped facilitate more than 450 million trades. In January 2021, the company facilitated 68 million trades. Apex represents more than 200 clients globally and 15 million accounts, including five million new accounts opened in the first quarter of 2021.

Related Link: Exclusive: Apex Clearing CEO Says Brokers Like Robinhood 'Wouldn't Exist' Without The Digital Custodian

Meme Stocks: Forums like Reddit helped push certain stocks to the top of the Millenial Top 100 from Apex.

• GameStop Corp GME ranked fifth and AMC Entertainment Holdings AMC ranked seventh.
• On the Gen Z Top 100 list, GameStop ranked fourth and AMC ranked sixth.
• Boomers did not rank GameStop in the top 100 and AMC ranked relatively low at no. 76.

Penny Stocks: Shares of companies trading under $5 were loved by both millennials and Gen Z investors in the first quarter. Penny stocks ranked nine points higher on average in the Gen Z Top 100 list versus the Millenial Top 100 list.
Apex credits the rise of new traders and the influence of online communities as increasing the interest in penny stocks.

• Sundial Growers Inc SNDL ranked 17^th on the Gen Z Top 100 list, up 50 spots from the previous quarter.
• Zomedica Corp ZOM went from unranked in the previous quarter to no. 19 on the Gen Z Top 100 list.

In February 2021, more than 1.9 trillion OTC transactions took place, an increase of more than 2,000% year-over-year. Many penny stocks trade in over-the-counter markets.

Related Link: Best Penny Stocks Under $1 

Reopening Plays: Young investors were buying up shares of companies seen as reopening trades including vaccine makers, airlines and cruise companies. Millennials and Gen Z traders trimmed positions throughout the first quarter after many of the companies saw an increase in share price.

• Moderna Inc MRNA, Pfizer Corp PFE and Johnson & Johnson JNJ all fell further down the Top 100 lists throughout the quarter.
• Apex said companies such as United Airlines Holdings Inc UAL, Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL, American Airlines Group Inc AAL, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd RCL and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd NCLH all fell down the rankings by the end of the quarter.

Giants Top List: Even with the increased interest in meme stocks and penny stocks from new retail traders in the first quarter, the Top 100 lists were topped by well-known large companies.

• Tesla Inc TSLA topped both the Millennial Top 100 and the Gen Z Top 100 list in the first quarter, a position it also held in the prior quarter.
• Apple Inc AAPL and Amazon.com Inc. AMZN ranked second and third on both lists once again.
• The three companies have topped the rankings dating back to the second quarter of 2019.

Crypto Stocks: The rise in interest in cryptocurrency stocks saw some movement in the Top 100 lists from Apex Clearing.

• Marathon Digital Holdings Inc MARA went from unranked last quarter to 25^th in the Gen Z Top 100 list. The stock was the highest-ranking crypto stock for all generations according to Apex.
• Riot Blockchain Inc RIOT ranked 38^th in the first quarter on the Gen Z Top 100 list after being unranked in the prior quarter.

• (Photo by Adam Nowakowski on Unsplash)