#In One Chart: Throwing up the white flag? Retail investors dumped stocks at Monday’s open, JPMorgan analysis finds

Retail investors sold companies including Apple
AAPL,
-0.49%,
Nvidia
NVDA,
-0.01%,
Netflix
NFLX,
-2.60%,
Advanced Micro Devices
AMD,
-1.92%,
Microsoft
MSFT,
+0.11%
and Tesla
TSLA,
-1.47%
— and their number-one purchase was the ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ
SQQQ,
-1.24%,
which also is a bet against the stock market.

The analysis did not include the wild rally off the lows which turned the Dow
DJIA,
+0.29%,
S&P 500
SPX,
+0.28%
and Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+0.63%
higher, and a message left with Cheng wasn’t immediately returned.

Viraj Patel, currency and global market strategist at Vanda Research, said it’s too early to say the retail investor has completely capitulated. “Whilst we’ve seen buying fatigue, retail hasn’t capitulated yet in a way that would mark the equity bottom,” he tweeted.

Over on the Reddit Wall Street Bets forum, there was gallows humor. One post had a meme of a Wendy’s fast-food chain, with the tagline, “Welcome back to work, Diamond Hands.” Diamond Hands is the internet slang for an investor who refrains from selling.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
ES00,
-0.85%
slipped Tuesday morning in another volatile session.

If a rate-hike cycle is the proverbial removal of the punchbowl, it looks like retail investors might be leaving the party on the eve of Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee decision.