Nvidia fell sharply overnight, with institutions selling and retail investors buying wildly?

# Ye Zhen

Source: Wall Street News

Nvidia plunged intraday from +5% to -5%, triggering sharp volatility in the tech sector. The real sellers, however, were institutions: Goldman Sachs data showed fund flows tilted toward selling, with extremely crowded long positions exacerbating the sell-off. Meanwhile, retail investors bought the dip at the fastest pace since 2012, with net purchases of single stocks including Nvidia reaching $360 million in the first 80 minutes of trading — exceeding the total buy volume for the entire previous session.

Nvidia’s sharp intraday reversal into negative territory dragged down the broader tech sector overnight. But retail investors were **not** the source of the selling pressure; quite the opposite, they were buying at a historic scale, while institutional investors were the real sellers.

During U.S. trading on Thursday, Nvidia’s price saw a dramatic reversal, diving from a 5% intraday gain to a 5% loss. The sharp swing directly weighed on the performance of large-cap tech stocks broadly.

Strong retail buying has provided a potential buffer for the market. In the first 80 minutes after the opening bell, retail net purchases of single stocks including Nvidia hit **$360 million**, already surpassing the full previous session’s total of $336 million, signaling extremely high risk appetite.

In sharp contrast to retail dip-buying, Wall Street institutions dominated the sell side during the violent swing. Extremely crowded long positioning in Nvidia heading into the session led to intensified downward pressure as institutions sold in unison.

## Retail dip-buying hits record high

According to Vanda Research, during Nvidia’s decline, retail buying reached the **largest volume since 2012**. Retail activity in the first 80 minutes hit a record, with non-unidirectional flows helping explain the extreme intraday volatility.

Vanda noted that, despite early softness in prices, retail investors on the whole **did not join the selling**. Instead, they remained consistent net buyers throughout the session as prices fell.

Notably, retail bullishness was not limited to Nvidia. Vanda observed spillover buying into other names on Thursday, including AVGO, IGV, and SOXX. If the trend held, the day was on track to be the strongest single-stock retail buying session in months.

## Institutional flows dominate the sell-off

Behind the retail buying spree stood institutional investors as the **primary sellers**. According to Goldman Sachs’ trading desk, overall trading activity was moderate (5/10), but market-wide flows were **about 5% tilted to the sell side**.

By institution type:

- Long-only funds (LOs) leaned toward selling, with supply concentrated in macro products, information technology, consumer discretionary, and healthcare, while buying appeared in materials and communication services.

- Hedge funds (HFs) showed an even stronger selling bias, with most sales in macro products, followed by industrials and financials; their buying was mainly in IT (mostly short covering in software), consumer discretionary, and healthcare.

Furthermore, extreme positioning amplified the decline. According to Goldman Sachs flow strategists, heading into the sell-off, positioning in Nvidia was at an extreme level (8/10). Such high crowding means broad losses for market participants once the trend reverses.

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