Top 55 Interesting Stock Market Statistics And Facts

As you begin investing your money further or you start to get more curious about the stock market, it might intrigue you to learn about how the financial markets work. 

When I was reading some of the best investing books, my curiosity took over and I also began researching some data too. 

Looking at stock market statistics and facts was a great way to get a better understanding and take my financial education to the next level.

Personally with anything I’m learning, I always find that seeing data and facts helps me absorb the information quicker. 

So whether you are researching information, looking to learn, or just curious — hopefully you’ll find these stock market stats and facts interesting and valuable.

Interesting Stock Market Statistics

While I narrowed down this list of stock market statistics and facts, there are tons of interesting data points. The ones listed in this section were a combination of amazement, shock, and even surprising.

• The most recent stock market bull run had been going on for a record 10 years. [CNN]

• The 2020 stock market crash (Coronavirus crash) was the fastest fall in global stock markets in financial history, and the most devastating since the 1929 Wall Street crash. But the downfall would be a short-lived and in April the global stock markets re-entered into a bull market. [Wikipedia]

• On average, the stock market performs the poorest in September. [Investopedia]

• Currently, over 80% of the stock market is automated. [CNBC]

• The U.S. represents about 40.01% of the total global stock market capitalization. [Seeking Alpha]

• 52% of US adults have money in the stock market. [Liberated Stock Trader]

• About 10% of US households hold international equity. [A Wealth of Common Sense]

• August 22, 2018 marked the longest bull market in history at 3,453 days (roughly a 10-year run). [Quartz]

• Prior to 2018, the record for the longest bull market was during the dot-com boom and subsequent bust clocking in at 3,452 days. [Statista]

• Since 1980, 40% of stocks fell at least 70%, resulting in a “catastrophic loss,” and many never recovered. [Investopedia]

• Stocks have risen 1,100-fold over the past 70 years. [Investopedia]

• “Fundamental discretionary traders” account for only 10 percent of trading volume in stocks today. The other 90 percent is robotic quantitative and computer algorithms. [CNBC)

• Among non-investors, 53% say they don’t have the money to invest and 21% say they don’t trust stockbrokers or financial advisors. [Bankrate via CNBC]

• The wealthiest 10% of Americans own 84% of the stock market. [NBER]

• Over one year, 60%+ of fund managers failed to beat the market index. And Over three years, 92+% of fund managers failed to beat the market index. [SPIVA]

• Over 50 years your share of the market’s cumulative return will reduce from 100% to a horrific 39% when using costly mutual funds [The Little Book of Common Sense Investing – John C. Bogle]

• In the last 20 years (2000 to 2020), we have had only 2 (2000 to 2002 & 2007 to 2009) recessions, until the short-lived Coronavirus one. [Wikipedia]

• For 9 out of 10 households, even a shift in value of 10% — enough to qualify as a “market correction” — would “at most, have a 1 or 2% impact on their wealth holdings.” [The New York Times]

• The richest 1% of households controlled 50 percent of the total value of stocks in 2019. [Goldman Sachs via Yahoo]

• On average, women invest more conservatively than men. Over the long run, this can result in lower returns and greater risk of your assets not keeping pace with inflation. [Investopedia]

• By 2017 Robo Advisors were managing $200 billion in assets. [Barrons]

U.S. Stock Market Statistics

The U.S. stock market is the largest in the world, but we aren’t always at the top of the economic leaderboard. Regardless, you’ll most likely be invested heavily in the U.S. stock market.

Below are some interesting stats and data.

• Since the Articles of Confederation – the first U.S. constitution signed in the 18th century – there have been close to 50 total recessions in the United States. And in the last 80 years, there have been a total of 15 recessions. [My Trading Skills]

• In 2020, stock markets in the United States accounted for over 54% of the world stocks. The next largest country by stock market share was Japan, followed by the United Kingdom. [Statista]

• The U.S. stock market is currently the most expensive in the world with a Cyclically Adjusted Price-Earnings (CAPE) Ratio of 30. [Nasdaq]

• The U.S. houses only 17% of the world’s stocks, meaning U.S. companies are much bigger on average. [Nasdaq]

• The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ are the largest stock exchange operators worldwide. [Statista]

• The NYSE itself is bigger than the world’s 50 smallest major stock exchanges. [The Money Project]

• Stock ownership before 2008 was 62%, but only 55% of Americans are invested now. [Gallup]

• Of Americans with money in the market, half have less than $40,000 invested. [The Washington Post]

• The U.S. stock market’s largest sector is the technology sector, which accounts for 26% of the total value. [Washington Post]

• The technology sector had increased 16% since before the 2008 financial crisis. [Washington Post]

• More adults in the United States own homes than stocks. [Chicago Tribune]

• All economists agree that predicting stock prices is tough; however, only slightly over half (59%) of Americans agree with that statement. [Investopedia]

• As of 2020, more than half of U.S. households do have some investments in the stock market. [Pew]

• The annualized return on equities in the United States from 2000 to 2019 amounted to 4%, while U.S. bonds registered a return of 4.9% in the same time period. [Statista]

• The total market capitalization of the U.S. stock market is $36,258,650.9 million as of September 2020. [Sibilis Research]

Global Stock Market Statistics

Although you’ll probably be heavily invested in the U.S. stock market, you need to understand some of the global statistics that exist too.

For a potentially nice diversified portfolio, you’ll potentially have some exposure to global companies. 

Currently I invest in Vanguard index funds and I have a fund that is focused on global stocks. It’s a small percentage since it can be very volatile, but gives me some exposure to markets beyond the United States. 

• The global market capitalization has exceeded $80 trillion — a 320% increase from $25 trillion in 2009. [Business Insider]

• The global top 100 companies have a market capitalization of $20.04 billion – a 15 percent increase year over year. [PwC]

• Analysts at Goldman Sachs predict that the global market cap will continue heading towards $100 trillion. [Business Insider]

• 2017 marked the first time in history that a calendar year passed without a monthly decline in an all-country index. [MarketWatch]

• Best performing major indices from the last twenty years (1998–2018) [ Trading View]
  • NASDAQ 100: 468%
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average: 191%
  • German DAX: 163%
  • S&P 500 with 158%

• World stock market cap by country (Top 10) [Seeking Alpha]
  • United States: 40%
  • Japan: 7.5%
  • China: 7.5%
  • Hong Kong: 6.5%
  • United Kingdom: 4.4%
  • France: 3.2%
  • Germany: 2.9%
  • India: 2.8%
  • Canada: 2.8%
  • Switzerland: 2%

• Over 93% of global stock value is divided between three continents. [The Money Project]

• There are 60 major stock exchanges in the world. [The Money Project]

• Sixteen stock exchanges each have a market capitalization of over $1 trillion, accounting for 87% of the global market capitalization. [The Money Project]

• Major stock exchanges by market capitalization (Top 10) [World Federation of Exchanges]
  • New York Stock Exchange (NYSE): 24,220 billion
  • NASDAQ: 11,860
  • Japan Exchange Group: 6,288
  • Shanghai Stock Exchange: 5,023
  • Euronext: 4,649
  • London Stock Exchange Group: 4,596
  • Hong Kong Stock Exchange: 4,443
  • Shenzhen Stock Exchange: 3,547
  • Deutsche Börse: 2,339
  • Bombay Stock Exchange: 2,298

• Stock exchanges on the tiny islands of Malta, Cyprus and Bermuda all range from just $1 billion to $4 billion in value. Even when these are added together, the three exchanges only account for 0.01% of total market capitalization. [The Money Project]

• World stock market by sector: [MSCI World Index]
  • Information technology: 19.1%
  • Financials: 16.3%
  • Healthcare: 12.9%
  • Consumer discretionary: 12.6%
  • Industrials: 11.3%
  • Consumer staples: 8.1%
  • Energy: 6.5%
  • Materials: 4.7%
  • Utilities: 2.9%
  • Real estate: 2.9%
  • Telecommunication services: 2.6%

Stock Market Statistics and Facts About Companies

Now that we covered some data that is interesting about the stock market, the U.S., and global markets — it’s worth seeing some stats about individual companies too.

• Before the financial crisis happened in 2008, the most valuable companies on the stock market were ExxonMobil, General Electric, Microsoft and AT&T. Now the most valuable are all technology companies: Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft. [Washington Post]

• Apple is the world’s most valuable public company, and it became the first company to reach a $1 trillion valuation on August 2, 2018. [CNBC]

• Amazon’s market value crossed $1 trillion dollars on September 4, 2018. [The New York Times]

• Share buybacks boosted the 2.2% dividend yield to an overall of 3.5% by reference to market capitalization. [PwC]

• August tends to be the most popular month for share buybacks. [MarketWatch]

• A total of $704 billion has been distributed to shareholders by the top 100 companies. [PwC]

• In April 2019, Microsoft breached the $1 trillion threshold for the first time. In October 2019 the company had a market cap of $1.063 trillion, which Apple then beat it with $1.065 trillion. [Business Insider]

There you have it, some of the most interesting stock market statistics and facts!

Now pending when you are reading this post, some non-historical numbers and data will change. I’ll do my best to periodically update as new research and numbers become available over time.