Charles Schwab’s (SCHW) retail trading activity index, known as STAX, fell sharply in April even as the overall market rebounded. The financial giant’s index dropped to 50.10 from 56.04 in March, its second straight monthly decline and its largest drop of 2026. For context, STAX tracks retail investor stock positions and trading activity across Schwab client accounts, thereby giving a clearer view of how individual investors were actually positioned during the month. In this case, the data showed that clients became more cautious despite the market’s recovery.
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New trading tool for AMZN bullsAccording to Schwab’s head trading and derivatives strategist, Joe Mazzola, some selling is normal in April as investors raise cash before Tax Day and often reinvest afterward. However, this year’s move looked different. Schwab saw a meaningful rotation out of higher-beta individual stocks and into lower-beta ETFs, which pushed the index lower and pointed to weaker retail sentiment. In fact, five of the 10 most net-bought securities in April were ETFs. In addition, sentiment fell the most among Schwab’s most active traders, whose market exposure dropped to the lowest level since December.
Still, clients continued buying names like Microsoft (MSFT), Tesla (TSLA), Palantir (PLTR), Micron (MU), and Netflix (NFLX). On the other hand, investors sold Nvidia (NVDA), Amazon (AMZN), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel (INTC), and Broadcom (AVGO). This change is notable because Nvidia and Amazon were among the most popular names bought in March.
Is SCHW Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on SCHW stock based on 13 Buys, one Hold, and zero Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average SCHW price target of $119 per share implies 30.4% upside potential.
