Retail trading: 'There's still a lot of excitement,' YouTuber Matt Kohrs says

YouTube Host and Investor Matt Kohrs joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss sentiment among retail traders as the markets remain volatile as well as the outlook for crypto.

Video transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

- So, Matt, first want to get your reaction to what we're seeing in terms of what's happening not just with the markets and, obviously, a lot of people watching what's happening with crypto as well.

MATT KOHRS: Happy to be here. Thanks for having me. So in terms of the overall market, especially through the lens of retail, anecdotally I could share with you that if you're looking on Twitter, on Reddit, on Rumble, on YouTube, there's still a lot of excitement. And to me, that's kind of important just because of the fact that the market as a whole, I believe the SPY is roughly down 17%.

And a lot of the major meme favorites among blue-chip stocks, it's been a rough year. And I think that just all adds up to the restrictive monetary policy, which it seems like we still have a little bit more to go. But beyond the anecdotal evidence of people still exciting and kind of refusing to get out, just a study came out this morning that just 1%, a singular percent of retail traders are going with the opinion of selling in 2023 because of what's going on with the market, as in 99 out of 100 retail traders are still interested in the markets and interested where everything's going.

And for the second part of your question of what's happening in crypto, I would argue roughly the same situation. It's been a brutal year. I mean, I believe Bitcoin at this point in time is down about 65% ish. It's been brutal, but it's also a good learning lesson of this is the cyclical nature of the market.

I believe that there are going to be a lot of crypto coins and tokens that end up failing and going to zero. But if we're looking at the thing that got it all started, Bitcoin, I would argue that it's kind of, in my opinion, an interesting investment at this moment in time just because we already know from the SEC, we don't necessarily have to worry about regulations or anything among that just because it's already decided that it's a digital commodity.

And if we're looking at things such as monetary policy, not only here in the US, but globally, that makes a very enticing case for Bitcoin. So overall, for anyone listening right now, my opinion is this. And it's kind of just reverberating the words of Warren Buffett, of being greedy when others are fearful. And for me personally, I'm just looking to shop on a discount.

- Yeah, and Matt, it's interesting that you're saying there's still excitement within the market. We had TD Ameritrade on earlier this week, which, of course, puts out that retail report every month, saying that at least with their clients they were net sellers when it came to the last month. So where are you seeing the money moving if it isn't necessarily in crypto? It's not in the usual meme stocks.

Is it in the tech names? Is it an EV names? I mean, talk to me about what you're seeing.

MATT KOHRS: So, I mean, once again, I think I get a certain view of the retail market. But just coming back to the, I guess, survey, the poll survey that came out, I believe, on Market Insider this morning, about 72% ish, right, about three out of four are still focusing on singular names. They're not looking at mutual funds. They're not looking at ETFs. They are still kind of throwing their support behind whatever company personally resonates with them.

I wish I knew the exact sectors it was or wasn't going into. But really, I guess what I would argue is even though I don't have that type of data, I think the rise of retail in 2021, of course, there's a little bit of a comedown from that. But still overall, we are net positive. And the average Joes like you and me still interested in the market.

- And I want to talk to you about meme stocks on our top trending ticker on our site, which is GameStop, after reporting a decline in revenue for the first quarter. But, obviously, as you can see there, the stock up about 6% there. Where are we in terms of the meme stock story when it comes to GameStop?

MATT KOHRS: I mean, that's the golden question. Are we closer to the start? Are we closer to the end? And in reality, I'm not a fortune teller. I'm not clairvoyant. But we're still seeing a lot of people day-over-day talk about it, trying to throw out theories of what is right, what is wrong, just all these hypotheses that are being tested. And yes, there is, such as the earnings announcement, you get these fundamental updates.

But through the world of meme stocks, I think this is one of the biggest things that a lot of people end up getting wrong. And I don't think it's intentional by any means. But what I'm seeing here is traditionally value always equaled fundamental value. And you could define that however you want.

But I think with the rise of retail really starting at the start of 2021 and continuing now almost two years later, I would argue that the equation for the value of a company, it's a little bit more complicated. And my thesis is that it's at least value equals fundamental value community value. And we're seeing that not only in things such as GME and AMC, but before this, maybe to not as much of a degree, that's what we saw behind Berkshire Hathaway.

I mean, these events out in Omaha-- he's the Oracle of Omaha for a reason. He had a massive personal following, the same thing with Tesla and Elon. And we're getting more and more examples of this. And I don't think that type of investment is going away any time soon. In reality, it just boils down to a little bit more of a complicated formula for what is value in the market.

- Times like this, a lot of people quoting Warren Buffett, right? This is kind of when you go long. But Matt, appreciate you joining us today, as always. Matt Kohrs, YouTube host.