Capital com reports retail trading volumes surged 81% YoY in Q1, driven heavily by Gold ATHs and Middle East Oil volatility

A few standout data points from the quarter: * **Massive Volume Spikes:** Total executed trades were up 81% YoY. January volume was heavily dominated by Gold (making up 59% of volume as it hit record highs), while March saw massive action in Oil due to Middle East tensions (oil volume jumped 649% in a single session on March 2nd). * **European Equities:** The Germany 40 saw a 40% volume rise in January before dropping sharply in March as the market repriced geopolitical risks. * **Risk Management Data:** With the crazy intraday swings, global stop-loss usage ticked up to 22.4%. Interestingly, the data showed that unprotected positions in January took losses roughly twice as high as those with stop-losses, though March’s heavy volatility caused some stops to trigger prematurely just on market noise.