Appetite for the memory trade is still super high: Record inflows for the South Korea ETF $EWY this week. Tuesday: $814 million (previous record high) Wednesday: $1.1 billion (new record high) Investors are back to using $EWY as a proxy for the South Korea SK Hynix listing, just like in Q1. Rather than paying the ~25% premiums for the US listed SK Hynix ADR. And for added context on the demand for memory stocks: The memory ETF $DRAM is currently at record-high AUM levels at ~$25 billion, despite only being released three months ago.

Retail appetite for chip stocks has eased: Retail purchases of the semiconductor ETFs, $SOXL, $SOXX, and $SMH, are now 1 standard deviation below their 1-year average. At one point in mid-June, purchases fell to 2 standard deviations below this historical norm. This metric is now well below the peak seen in November 2025 and March 2026, at 3 standard deviations above its 1-year average. Similarly, retail purchases of individual semiconductor stocks fell to more than 2 standard deviations below their historical norm last month. Retail investors are buying significantly fewer semiconductor stocks and ETFs than they were before the sector sell-off in June through July. The AI trade remains highly fluid.

The appetite for sports ownership is clear: 72% of fans are interested in buying a digital asset offering equity in their club, with an average willingness to invest of £913 ($1,240). SOCIOS EQUITY TOKEN turns that demand into a new onchain asset class.

Global appetite for risk is through the roof: The investor sentiment gauge rose +0.8 points in August, to 8.0, the 3rd-highest reading since 2022, according to a BofA survey of 180 participants overseeing $525 billion in assets. The index tracks global fund manager growth expectations, cash levels, and equity allocations. This comes as cash allocations declined -0.1 percentage point MoM, to 3.5%, the 6th-lowest level since the survey began in 1998. At the same time, 56% of surveyed fund managers are overweight equities, the highest proportion since November 2021. This also marks the 14th consecutive month of bullish positioning. Furthermore, 37% of respondents expect double-digit earnings growth globally over the next 12 months, the highest percentage since August 2021. Bullish sentiment is incredibly strong worldwide.

Risk appetite among retail investors is through the roof: Call options on US Big Tech stocks now account for ~55% of all new options positions opened by retail investors on a 20-day average basis, near the highest on record. This metric tracks newly initiated call option positions, rather than total trading volume, highlighting the current directional bets of retail investors. This figure has surged +10 percentage points since the late March market bottom. By comparison, the peak during the 2020 pandemic recovery was ~57% and this metric bottomed at ~35% during the 2022 bear market. Retail investors are positioned for more upside in tech.

Risk appetite is reaching historic levels: The 10-day moving average of S&P 500 options volume is up to a record ~5.5 million contracts. Since 2022, this figure has more than TRIPLED. Over the same period, Euro Stoxx 50 options volume has remained roughly unchanged, near ~1 million contracts. As a result, US options volumes are now more than 5 times larger than that of Europe. By comparison, options activity in these two markets moved in tandem before 2022. The US options market boom is unprecedented.

The appetite for SpaceX exposure is bigger than I expected. More than $8.9 billion has already been traded in SpaceX-linked products across the crypto market. Over the last 24 hours alone (as of June 13, 9:00 UTC), $5.6 billion changed hands on Binance, representing more than 60% of all SpaceX trading activity across centralized and decentralized venues. For years, retail investors had almost no way to get exposure to companies like SpaceX. The volume we’re seeing suggests the demand was always there. It just lacked a market.

Risk appetite is skyrocketing: Assets under management (AUM) in US leveraged ETFs are up to a record $177 billion. Since the March bottom, total leveraged ETF AUM has surged +$45 billion. Tech-oriented ETFs account for the majority of total AUM, at ~69% This comes as technology AUM stands at $65 billion, followed by semiconductors at $32 billion, and the Magnificent 7 at $25 billion. Furthermore, leveraged ETF AUM linked to the S&P 500 is $24 billion. To put this into perspective, total leveraged ETF AUM was just ~$30 billion in 2020. Investors are piling into leveraged funds at a record pace.