Retail deleveraging signals headwind for tech stocks, JPMorgan warns

Industry
โดย Investing.com·Read original
Summary · why it matters

JPMorgan warns that retail investor leverage retreating from extreme levels presents a potential headwind for technology stocks. Analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou notes that exchange-traded call option buying among customers with fewer than 10 contracts peaked on June 5 at close to 14 million contracts, matching previous highs seen in October 2025 and November 2021, after which tech stocks saw multi-month corrections. U.S. individual investor margin account leverage is also at extreme levels by historical standards, with tentative signs of retreat in recent months, matching peaks from end-2021 and mid-2018 that preceded multi-month equity market corrections. Risk parity funds show clearer deleveraging, with JPMorgan's implied leverage proxy retreating from its highest level in over a decade in mid-May, while signs of peaking in hedge fund and bank leverage are more tentative. On the economic side, corporate and household leverage have been declining since the pandemic, posing little vulnerability to macro shocks, but leveraged ETFs with $247 billion in assets under management globally and a predominantly tech focus are flagged as a key amplification force for tech stocks in recent months.

Impact on stocks 1

Digital Finance & Tokenization▲ · 1 stocks
© 2026 MarketDXNews