The stock price of NVIDIA, a leading player in artificial intelligence (AI), has continued to decline this year, but individual investors are reported to be buying NVIDIA stock in large quantities. Investors, believing in the growth potential of the AI market, are actively engaging in low-cost purchases, keeping the investment enthusiasm for NVIDIA alive.
According to financial market analysis firm Banda Research, individual investors have poured a total of $5.85 billion (approximately 8.31 trillion won) into NVIDIA stocks as of the 24th (local time) this year. This is more than double the net purchase amount during the same period last year. Notably, on the day when the stock price plummeted due to the news of the low-cost AI model launch by DeepSeek in late January, net purchases amounted to $562 million (approximately 805.2 billion won), setting the highest record for a single transaction day since 2014.
Although NVIDIA lost $600 billion in market capitalization in just one day due to the DeepSeek issue, individual investors saw this as an opportunity for low-cost purchases. The stock price has since partially recovered but is still down 8.4% this year.
According to investment platform Interactive Brokers, NVIDIA was one of the two most traded stocks this year. As of the 18th of this month, approximately 554,000 net purchase orders were placed on the platform, particularly concentrating over 200,000 orders during the tech stock decline at the end of January.
Positive outlook for NVIDIA continues on Wall Street. Dan Ives, director of Wedbush Securities and a proponent of the AI boom, noted that "NVIDIA remains the golden icon of the AI revolution" and that "this fact will not change, even with the emergence of variables like DeepSeek."
Some investors are betting that NVIDIA's stock price will surge following the earnings announcement scheduled for this week. According to data from the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), some of the most actively traded contracts in the NVIDIA options market were call options that would yield revenue if the stock price rises to $145 or $160. As of the 25th, NVIDIA's stock closed at $126.63, which is 15% lower than this year's peak price of $149.43.
FactSet expects NVIDIA to report a 59% increase in net profit and a 72% increase in revenue compared to the same period last year in this quarter's earnings announcement. Traders anticipate significant fluctuations in NVIDIA's stock following the earnings report. On average, NVIDIA's stock has fluctuated about 8% following its last 12 earnings reports, and a similar movement of around 9% is expected this time.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) analyzed that "for some investors, investing in NVIDIA is no different from investing in the future of AI." Despite NVIDIA's stock price falling daily, many investors see the recent price drop as a temporary adjustment.
Max Shekser, a lawyer who started buying NVIDIA stocks in 2019, told the WSJ that "despite the DeepSeek issue, I have not sold my NVIDIA shares" and added that "if I have a reason to sell NVIDIA, I would also have a reason to sell all my AI stocks." He noted that he had started purchasing NVIDIA when its stock price was $4.82.