The Schwab Trading Activity Index (STAX) climbed 3.05% in January to 49.96 from 48.48 in December, marking its highest level since February 2025, Charles Schwab (SCHW) said on Monday.
“The STAX was strongest toward the end of January after earnings season began, and we saw a good amount of dip buying after earnings,” said Joe Mazzola, head trading and derivatives strategist at Charles Schwab.
The index gained every week in January, with most of the net buying from the information technology sector. It has now outperformed the S&P 500 in five of the last six months.
Following the IT sector, net buying was strongest in financials, utilities, health care, and materials, according to the index. Five of the 11 S&P 500 sectors saw net inflows, with consumer staples and industrials posting the highest net outflows.
While sectors with net outflows outnumbered those with inflows, information technology inflows were so substantial that they drove the STAX higher overall.
Popular stocks bought by Schwab clients during January included:
Names net sold by Schwab clients during the month included:
- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
- Costco Wholesale (COST)
- Boeing (BA)
- CoreWeave (CRWV)
- Alibaba Group (BABA)
The STAX is a proprietary, behavior-based index that analyzes retail investor stock positions and trading activity from Schwab’s millions of client accounts.