UK retail traders/investors are looking overseas for investments
UK retail traders are looking to foreign stock markets for investment opportunities, with the US as the biggest draw, new research (1) from GraniteShares, a global issuer of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) with more than $9bn under management, shows.
It found nearly one in three (30%) retail traders with investment portfolios increased the value of shares they bought last year that are not listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The survey reveals that 22% of traders increased their trading activity in the US, compared with 21% in the UK. However, 16% increased trading in European markets and 14% in Asian markets.
The trend looks set to continue this year with 25% planning to boost their trading in US markets ahead of 22% in the UK. Around 16% expect to increase trading in Europe and 14% in Asia as the table below shows.
| Level of trading in market in past 12 months | UK | US | Europe | Asia |
| Increase | 21% | 22% | 16% | 14% |
| Decrease | 13% | 10% | 10% | 9% |
| Stay the same | 44% | 35% | 42% | 37% |
| Don’t know | 22% | 33% | 32% | 40% |
| Level of trading in market in next 12 months | UK | US | Europe | Asia |
| Increase | 22% | 25% | 16% | 18% |
| Decrease | 15% | 9% | 10% | 8% |
| Stay the same | 34% | 30% | 37% | 32% |
| Don’t know | 29% | 36% | 37% | 42% |
The study found 41% of UK retail traders find it relatively easy to trade foreign shares after research, but 29% still face issues when doing so. Around a third (30%) are not interested in trading foreign shares.
Around two-fifths (36%) questioned believe they will trade more US stocks over the next two years as a result of the growing number of ETPs listed in London that enable investors to trade US and European stocks.
Catarina Donat Marques , head of European Retail Strategy at GraniteShares, said: “The major stock success stories of the past decade have been largely concentrated in the US and that is increasingly attracting the attention of retail traders in the UK who don’t want to miss out.
Our ETPs, listed on London Stock Exchange, allow sophisticated investors to access easily and efficiently leveraged and short exposures on many of the most popular stocks, including US ones.”
GraniteShares offers a range of exchange traded products (ETPs) listed on national exchanges in the UK, Italy, and Germany. They consist of a suite of Short and Leveraged Single Stock Daily ETPs tracking some of the most popular companies in UK, US and European markets.
UK Leveraged Single Stock ETPs
| Underlying stock | +3x Long | -3x Short |
| AstraZeneca | 3LAZ | 3SAZ |
| BAE Systems | 3LBA | 3SBA |
| Barclays | 3LBC | 3SBC |
| BP | 3LBP | 3SBP |
| Diageo | 3LDO | 3SDO |
| Glencore | 3LGL | 3SGL |
| Lloyds Banking Group | 3LLL | 3SLL |
| Rio Tinto | 3LRI | 3SRI |
| Royal Dutch Shell | 3LRD | 3SRD |
| Rolls-Royce | 3LRR | 3SRR |
| Vodafone | 3LVO | 3SVO |
US Leveraged Single Stock ETPs
| Underlying stock | +3x Long | -3x Short |
| Microstrategy | 3LMI | 3SMI |
| Coinbase | 3LCO | NA |
| Alphabet | 3LAL | 3SAL |
| Amazon | 3LZN | 3SZN |
| Apple | 3LAP | 3SAP |
| 3LFB | 3SFB | |
| Microsoft | 3LMS | 3SMS |
| Netflix | 3LNF | 3SNF |
| NIO | 3LNI | 3SNI |
| NVIDIA | 3LNV | 3SNV |
| Tesla | 3LTS | 3STS |
| Uber | 3LUB | NA |
Italian Leveraged Single Stocks ETPs
| Underlying stock | Long a leva | Short a leva |
| Intesa Sanpaolo S.p. a | 3LSP | 3SSP |
| UniCredit S.p.a | 3LCR | 3SCR |
Leveraged ETPs on the FTSE MIB Index
| Product | ISIN | Ticker |
| GraniteShares 5x Long FTSE MIB Daily ETP | XS2531767502 | 5MIB |
| GraniteShares 5x Short FTSE MIB Daily ETP | XS2531767767 | 5SIT |
Capital at Risk
GraniteShares ETP’s are only suitable for sophisticated investors.