Frankfurt, 8th June 2022
- SERIX sentiment on gold hit 116 in May – the highest level measured to date
- Retail investors capitalised on mid-month dip in the gold price
- Weaker USD and EUR support gold as a safe haven
- Record 138.7 million securitised derivatives traded on Spectrum in May
- 41.5% of trades happened outside of normal trading hours, the highest in the last two years
Spectrum Markets, the pan-European trading venue for securitised derivatives, has published its SERIX sentiment data for European retail investors for May (see below for more information on the methodology), revealing an all-time-high SERIX sentiment on gold, as retail investors took advantage of a lower gold price amid wider macroeconomic uncertainty.
“After a period of decline in May that saw the gold price drop below 1,800 USD on the 16th, the gold price started what looked like a new rally in the last few days of the month, supported by both the dollar and euro undergoing a weak phase”, explains Michael Hall, Head of Distribution at Spectrum Markets.
Both the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank are facing the effects of inflation, and fighting various economic problems at the same time. Meanwhile, Russia’s war on Ukraine and ongoing global supply chain difficulties still have a strong impact on Western economies.
“Considering the macroeconomic backdrop, it’s no surprise to see investors looking to take advantage of a dip in the gold price to make safe haven allocations”, Hall adds.
During May 2022, a record high of 138.7 million securitised derivatives were traded on Spectrum, with 41.5% of trades taking place outside of traditional hours (i.e. between 17:30 and 9:00 CET), the highest monthly figure reported during the last two years.
90.3% of the traded derivatives were on indices, 4% on commodities, 4.6% on currency pairs, 0.8% on equities and 0.3% on cryptocurrencies, with the top three traded underlying markets being S&P 500 (29.2%), DAX 40 (22.8%) and NASDAQ 100 (15.9%).
Looking at the SERIX data for the top three underlying markets, the DAX 40 remained bearish at 99. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 dropped from 103 to a neutral 100 and NASDAQ 100 saw a similar decrease, from 103 to 101, remaining bullish.
Calculating SERIX data
The Spectrum European Retail Investor Index (SERIX), uses the exchange’s pan-European trading data to shed light on investor sentiment towards current development in financial markets.
The index is calculated on a monthly basis by analysing retail investor trades placed and subtracting the proportion of bearish trades from the proportion of bullish trades, to give a single figure (rebased at 100) that indicates the strength and direction of sentiment:
SERIX = (% bullish trades – % bearish trades) + 100
Trades where long instruments are bought and trades where short instruments are sold are both considered bullish trades, while trades where long instruments are sold and trades where short instruments are bought are considered bearish trades. Trades that are matched by retail clients are disregarded. (For a detailed methodology and examples, please visit this link).
