Artem Voloskovets
⬤ Nvidia attracted unprecedented retail investor demand at Thursday's opening bell, even though the stock closed sharply lower by day's end. Individual investors snapped up roughly $360 million worth of NVDA shares in just the first 80 minutes of trading. That's the biggest opening-session buying spree on record, dwarfing the previous five-day average of around $94 million. The rush came right after Nvidia posted a Q4 earnings beat and delivered upbeat Q1 guidance, keeping retail traders laser-focused on the chipmaker. Recent patterns show similar dynamics, as Nvidia Price Holds $174 as Retail Inflows Surge, Market Cap at $4.24T highlighted earlier this month.
⬤ The surge shows up clearly in Vanda Research's "Intraday Retail Flows" chart: a cluster of tall positive bars appears late in the timeline, standing out on the right side. During that same window, Nvidia's price line reversed from the mid-to-upper $190s down toward the high $180s. The disconnect between aggressive retail buying and a falling stock price couldn't be clearer - the graphic captures retail flow spikes happening even as NVDA declined into the close.
⬤ Despite solid fundamentals in the earnings report, the session wrapped with NVDA down 5.5%, showing how quickly market action can split from visible retail activity. As one analyst noted. In the chart, those flow bars expand dramatically compared with earlier periods, while the price trend turns sharply lower. The image backs up both key points: retail participation hit an extreme at the open, yet the selloff dominated by session's end. This volatility contrasts with earlier periods when NVDA Growth Moderates After 200% Peak as Nvidia Stock Trades Flat showed more stable price action.
⬤ This matters because it shows NVDA can stay a magnet for retail traders while still swinging hard after major catalysts. The gap between record buying and a red close means near-term sentiment remains vulnerable to how traders position themselves after earnings updates. The current price action around the $180s level comes after Nvidia Hits $215B in Revenue as NVDA Shares Test $197 Resistance, marking a notable pullback from recent resistance levels.
Artem Voloskovets
