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

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

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. Only 17% say they moved money out of the stock market, and into cash, money market funds and CDs. 

More than half, or 58%, say they took advantage of the downturn, with 32% indicating that they used dollar-cost averaging in the market or into specific stocks. Only 6% say they are shorting the stock market to try to take advantage of potential 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.

Research from Bank of America also showed that its clients were net buyers of $8 billion worth of stock during the week of the initial tariff announcements. That was the fourth-largest weekly inflow in Bank of America’s data since 2008, amid the Great Financial Crisis.

Readers Still Favor U.S. Stocks as 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. Given their experience with other periods of volatility and economic policy turmoil, many may believe that the stock market and the companies within it will eventually adjust to these new policies, and resume their ability to grow profits and reward shareholders.

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

The growing drumbeat around a possible recession has also gotten louder over the past several weeks with prominent CEOs like Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Larry Fink of Blackrock (BLK), warning of a severe economic downturn.

A growing number of our readers agree, with one in four indicating that we are entering, or are already in, a recession. Nearly 40% say we are likely to enter a recession in the next three to six months. However, only time will tell whether or not these investors’ predictions are true.