[Goldman Sachs: Retail Investors Contribute Approximately 30% of U.S. Stock Trading Volume, June Trading Volume Hits Record High] BlockBeats News, July 16, Goldman Sachs data shows that retail investors currently account for about 30% of daily trading volume in U.S. stocks. In May this year, retail stock trading volume was 10% higher than the peak during the 'Retail vs. Wall Street' battle in January 2021, and further set a new record in June. The options market has also seen a surge in activity, with single-day trading volume exceeding 50 million contracts multiple times this year, doubling compared to three years ago. According to Citadel Securities data, July has become one of the strongest months on record for retail buying intensity, with no single-day net selling observed so far. Continuous buying has also forced some low-positioned institutions to chase prices at higher levels. Goldman Sachs estimates that the asset scale of retail investors' self-managed brokerage accounts has reached $12 trillion, accounting for about 10% of the U.S. corporate equity market. When including directly and indirectly held assets, the scale of U.S. individual investors reaches $111 trillion. Bobby Molavi, head of execution services at Goldman Sachs, described this as the 'great white whale' of capital markets. However, there are still differing opinions in the market regarding the AI narrative driving this round of market trends. Commentator Ed Zitron warned that OpenAI's high computational costs and infrastructure debt could lead to an 'AI version of the Lehman moment.' Meanwhile, Howard Marks, co-chairman of Oaktree Capital, believes that AI's productivity potential could offset short-term financial pressures.