A peek into a retail investor's portfolio: 150,000 shekels and a fondness for bank and technology stocks

It is no secret that the young people who arrived at the capital market following the coronavirus pandemic, with free time and money, as well as social media influencers, have pushed the trading industry to numbers it had never known before.

Independent trading accounts in Israel are growing at a dizzying pace. According to data from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, about 900,000 new trading accounts have been opened since 2020, about a third of them since the beginning of the current year. The Meitav investment house estimates that there are currently 1.6 million retail investor accounts, meaning the market has grown 2.5 times since the beginning of the decade.

Meitav, IBI, and Excellence, the leading investment houses in the independent trading field, are reporting a growth of 30,000 trading accounts each year. Meitav is the largest non-bank trading player, with 132,000 trading accounts, followed by Excellence (100,000) and IBI (95,000), while Interactive Israel and Blink also have tens of thousands of accounts each.

Another player gaining momentum is Psagot. Data reveals that the investment house already manages about 47,000 independent trading accounts via the Psagot Trade system. For comparison, when the current group of controlling shareholders acquired its operations about two years ago, it managed only 5,000 accounts.

In that deal, Sigma-Clarity, Uzi Danino, Ronen Torem, and co-CEOs Omer Yaniv and Tzahi Eiron acquired the "Psagot" brand and its stock exchange member activity from businessman Rani Zim, who was forced to sell the assets to free himself from huge debts.

Mostly young, a quarter women

More than half of the accounts at Psagot belong to young people under the age of 35. Data from Interactive shows that if at the beginning of the decade the rate of accounts aged 18-24 was only 0.5%, today they make up about 20% of all accounts. The rate for those aged 24-25 rose from 30.6% to 36.4%.

The average portfolio size at Psagot stands at 150,000 shekels. It is interesting to note that women have on average a little more money in their investment account than men. In 2025, women's accounts accounted for 22.5% of all accounts at Psagot; today, they account for 25%.

Where do they put the money?

Retail investors mainly ride the big and familiar trends. Abroad (where 65% invest), they bought mainly the "Magnificent 7" stocks (Nvidia, Google, Tesla, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon). Alongside them, chip stocks are popular, including Intel and Sandisk, which has soared 653% since the beginning of the year.

Some purchases are particularly successful, such as Micron, which flew by 254%, and Intel (180%), while Tesla and Meta decreased by 25% and 14% respectively. The rest of the Magnificent 7 rose moderately: Nvidia by 21%, Apple and Amazon by 12%-13%, Google by 9%, while Microsoft is treading water.

On the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, young people bought mainly shares of the defense company Elbit Systems, major banks, the chip manufacturer Tower, and the chip equipment inspection company Nova. Trendy stocks were also purchased, such as the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange itself, the renewable energy company Enlight, and the pharmaceutical company Teva.

Close to 9% of young investors' portfolios at Psagot hold indices that track cryptocurrencies, 28% have investments in the S&P 500 index, and 21% have funds that track the TA-125 index.

Chaim Krichli, VP of Psagot Trade, explains the rapid growth by the fact that the brand is familiar and the system is simple. The company plans to offer active investment advice with AI. Psagot also charges low fees: 0.066% for a securities transaction in Israel and 0.106% abroad, with no management fees for the account.

"The investors have matured. Most of them are not day traders but guys who buy and hold their leading stocks for a long time. Our next stage is entering the world of IRA (independent trading accounts in the field of provident funds)," Krichli noted.