For the better part of five years, retail investors have been the market’s most reliable buyers. Through meme stock mania, rate hikes, bank collapses, and everything in between, the individual investor kept showing up with buy orders. That streak just broke in a way that has Wall Street paying attention.

Retail investors have now posted three consecutive days of net selling in US equities, something that hasn’t happened since 2020.

The numbers behind the reversal

The selling streak is notable not just for its duration but for its rarity. Scott Rubner from Citadel Securities has pointed out that retail net-selling days have occurred only 18 times since January 2020. Three of them happening back-to-back is, statistically speaking, quite unusual.

Vanda Research, which tracks retail order flow, has previously flagged moments when individual investors flipped to net sellers. One such instance came on November 23, 2023, when retail investors posted a single-day net selling figure of $20.6 million. That was treated as a noteworthy event at the time. Now we’re looking at three straight days of it.

The context matters here. This isn’t happening during a market crash or a liquidity crisis. The S&P 500 has been on a prolonged winning streak, and broader equity markets have generally remained robust.

How we got here: the retail investor era

To understand why this matters, you have to rewind to 2020. The pandemic created a perfect storm for retail market participation. Stimulus checks landed in bank accounts. Millions of people suddenly worked from home with extra time and a WiFi connection. Commission-free trading platforms like Robinhood made buying stocks as easy as ordering takeout.

Earlier in 2026, retail investors had already turned net sellers for the first time since late November 2025 during an S&P 500 winning streak. That was a yellow flag. The current three-day streak looks more like a pattern emerging than a one-off blip.

What this means for investors

One interesting wrinkle: this selling trend appears concentrated in traditional equities. The cryptocurrency market hasn’t shown a corresponding shift in retail behavior, with no specific crypto reporting matching the narrative of retail selling seen in traditional equity markets, including outlets like CoinDesk or The Block.

The 18-times-in-five-years rarity of retail selling days, per Rubner’s data, means we’re in relatively uncharted territory. The most reliable bid in the market just went quiet for three days straight.