10,8% of investors trade Forex - OBI 2017 results

The Association of Individual Investors has published the results of 15. Nationwide Investor Research. The survey addressed to retail financial market participants was attended by almost 5000 people from all over Poland. Some data is very surprising. We have prepared the most interesting facts from the report for you.

A statistical investor is ...

The study was thorough 4711 people. This is not an extreme, considering that the Forex traders community alone is estimated at around 50 thousand. people. And yet SII is above all the stock market. Nevertheless, it is in our opinion a sufficient statistical test to make the majority of the data reliable.

The survey shows that a statistical Polish investor is a man aged 42 with investment experience at the level of 8 years. In his portfolio there are 7 companies, shares hold up to a year and do not participate in general meetings (96,2%).

SII applied a comparison to a statistical investor from behind our western border. How does a statistical German investor present itself?

It has an average of 56 for years, has been investing since 22 for years, in the portfolio it owns companies to 19, buys shares of companies paying regular dividends, putting on a long-term, and participates in general meetings. From such a profile one can read that the approach to investing is much more conservative, aware and diversified in relation to the statistical Pole.

16,6% can not analyze

44% of people when making investment decisions is guided by technical and fundamental analysis. In the case of people with capital higher than 500 thous. PLN this share is even larger and amounts to 50,2%. Interestingly, by analogy, 16,6% and 10,1% of investors admit that they can not use any method of analysis.

The data shows that the Polish investor is quite wealthy. The dominant group of investors are people with capital in the 50-100 range thousand. PLN (20,3%), but almost equally are investors in the next threshold from 100-500 thousand. PLN in the portfolio (19,3%).

OBI 2017 - SII

Forex is still a margin

10,8% - this is the percentage of respondents who indicated that they actively trade on the Forex market. The ranking was dominated by investments in equities with a share of 85,5%.

This means that of the 4711 surveyed, only 509 people are currency traders. Again, given that the survey was conducted by SII, which focuses primarily on the stock market, nobody should be surprised by such a low statistical result.

OBI 2017 - SII

Are we careful?

As the main motivation of our investments in 49,8% of cases, we indicated the diversification of revenues. In second place is the accumulation of savings for retirement (20,3%), and on the third the protection against inflation (18,4%). So, does anyone think about entering the investment market for a purely commercial purpose? Few. Only 8,9% marked this answer.

Meanwhile, 2,6% chose the "other" item, which is to equate investing with a hobby or fun (over 120 people from all respondents).

Weaknesses of the capital market

The dominant number of votes (41%) indicated the capital gains tax as the main weakness of the Polish market.

The next places with participation in the 26-28% range included:

• low level of financial education,
• low liquidity,
• high transaction costs,
• lack of respect for minority rights,
• susceptibility to fluctuations in foreign markets.

Interestingly, the smallest number of votes, because only 0,7%, fell on the policy impact on the capital market, while in last year's study such an answer marked as much as 43%.

Do you have the same opinion? Let me know in the comments.