Investors Are Scared, but Not Selling—These Stocks Are Keeping Them in the Market

Key Takeaways

• Despite recent market volatility, Investopedia's latest reader survey showed that the majority of investors are continuing to hold their positions. 
• Inflation, U.S.-China relations, and a possible recession top readers' concerns.
• While Investopedia's readers may be the most worried they’ve been in four years, most say they’re not making major changes to their allocation amid the volatility.

April’s brutal sell off in the stock market and concerns about the Trump administration’s tariff policies have led to an erosion of investor trust in the capital markets, according to Investopedia’s recent survey of its readers. Despite this, the survey also showed that the majority of investors are continuing to hold their positions. 

The survey, fielded from April 12 to April 15, 2025, revealed 73% of respondents say they are at least “somewhat worried” about the recent sell off, while 44% reported being "extremely worried”. 

Investor anxiety about recent market volatility is at its highest levels since 2021. In fact, more than half of individual investors reported they trust the stock market less under this administration, due to tariff policy uncertainty and a swift correction across capital markets.

Investors Are Worried About Inflation, U.S. China Relations, Recession

Inflation tops the list of Investopedia’s readers’ worries, tied to their concerns about the impacts of global tariffs levied by the White House, and new tariffs on semiconductors and copper set to take effect in the coming months. U.S. relations with China are also a top concern given the recent escalations of tariffs between the two countries. Respondents are similarly concerned that a trade war will lead to a recession, and potentially a global financial crisis and bear market.

Retail Investors Are Scared, But Not Selling

Investopedia readers may be more concerned than they have been in the past four years, but most don’t plan to make major changes to their portfolios despite the volatility. Only 17% of Investopedia’s readers said they moved their money from the stock market to cash, money-market funds, and CDs. 

Over half of respondents (58%) say they took advantage, while 32% said they used dollar cost averaging on the market or in specific stocks. Only 6% claim to be shorting stocks to try and take advantage of possible further declines.

Investors are still hopeful about their favorite stocks

Approximately 30% of investors didn’t give up hope on their favorite stocks, despite many of them, including Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN),  Nvidia (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA), and Palantir (PLTR), tumbling deep into bear market territory. Data from VandaTrack showed record dip-buying flows from retail investors the week following April 2nd— what the White House called, “Liberation Day”—including $3 billion in net purchases on April 3, the largest daily total since VandaTrack began collecting this data in 2014.

Bank of America research shows that during the first week of tariff announcements, its clients purchased $8 billion worth of stocks. That was the fourth-largest weekly inflow in Bank of America's data since 2008, amid the Great Financial Crisis.

Readers still prefer U.S. stocks as the safest bet

Despite their waning trust in the capital markets under this administration, Investopedia's readers still favor U.S. stocks as the safest place to invest their money over the next five years. Many investors, who have experienced other periods of volatility or economic policy turmoil, may believe that the stock markets and companies within them will eventually adjust to the new policies and resume their ability grow profits and reward their shareholders.

1 in 4 Readers Say We're Entering or Already in a Recession

The drumbeat about a possible recession grew louder in recent weeks. Prominent CEOs, such as Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase and Larry Fink of Blackrock have warned of an economic downturn.

A growing number of readers agree. One-fourth of them believe we are in or have already entered a recession. Nearly 40% of our readers believe that we will likely enter a recession within the next three to four months. But only time will reveal if the predictions of these investors are true.