Among the main trends among retail investors this year are purchases of exchange-traded ETF funds, companies involved in artificial intelligence (AI), and its use in investing. This emerges from a CTK survey among analysts. These trends mutually reinforce each other, which could result in risks, according to them.
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ETF and AI increasingly interconnect the investment market
“A significant trend this year is proving to be artificial intelligence and chips, which have earned tens of percent since the beginning of the year. Paradoxically, the way people invest in it is also interesting. Popular among Czech investors are ETFs tracking indexes of hundreds of the largest companies in the USA or in the world. But as the seven largest AI companies have grown, they have gradually gained about a third of the share in the indexes,” Investona analyst Vojtěch Olbrecht told CTK. Investors have thus found themselves in a situation where they are investing quite heavily in these companies, often without even knowing it, he said.
The rise of passive investing through ETFs and the high concentration of major indexes in a few of the largest technology companies means that an investor purchasing a broad American index obtains quite significant exposure to the same technology and AI story, added Argos Capital analyst Kryštof Míšek. Purple Trading analyst Petr Lajsek pointed out that this creates a spiral where money flows into ETFs, which buy the largest companies in the indexes, and it is precisely the technology leaders who benefit most from AI. If one of the major titles fails to meet expectations, the reaction could be very swift.
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AI is changing the way of investing, while appetite for risk grows
XTB analyst Jiří Tyleček would therefore expect greater search for opportunities in other sectors and regions after the significant growth of large technology titles. Cyrrus analyst Tomáš Pfeiler also pointed to greater involvement of retail investors who use risky instruments, such as leveraged ETFs. According to him, it is positive that a larger part of the public is getting involved in investing, but a problem arises when investing becomes more of a speculative mania.
The use of AI in investing is clearly one of the main topics of this year, according to eToro analyst Jakub Rochlitz. Artificial intelligence helps investors analyze stocks, create trading systems and algorithms, and today AI agents can connect directly to a live portfolio and execute trades. Port analyst Marek Pokorný also warns that investing in individual stocks is more difficult than before, because companies’ market positions can be quickly changed by tariffs, subsidies, export embargoes, or other political decisions.
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Source: CTK
