The Ibovespa hit a new record, reaching 177,742 points at its peak on Thursday, January 22nd. With this mark, the benchmark index of the Brazilian stock exchange has accumulated a 10% increase so far in 2026 and 45% over the past 12 months.
Despite the strong performance of the local stock market, much of that profitability did not fill the pockets of Brazilian investors, who significantly reduced their positions in the stock market last year.
Recent data from Anbima shows that, from January to November 2025, retail investors reduced their direct equity holdings by 23%, while increasing their exposure to fixed-income products. In the private banking segment, this relationship remained almost unchanged, failing to keep pace with the growth in equity values.
In January of this year, individual investors accounted for 11% of the trading volume, the lowest rate in recent years. By 2025, this share was 12.4%, and in 2020, it was 21.4%.
Even with the stock market booming, between October and December of last year, B3 registered a decrease of 122,715 individual investors on its platform. Nevertheless, the total number of investors with positions held in custody rose 2.05% for the year, to 3.98 million, the vast majority of whom were individuals.
Although the variation was positive, the growth rate was the lowest in recent years. In 2024, even with the Ibovespa falling by 10%, the number of investors with positions in custody increased by 5.32%. In 2023, this rate was 8.65%; in 2022, 9.76%; and in 2021, 27.2%.
The period was also marked by the lowest growth rate of individual investors holding custody positions on the stock exchange in recent years.
In 2025, the increase was 2.05%, to 3.98 million investors. In 2024, even with the Ibovespa falling by 10%, the growth of investors with positions in custody was 5.32%. In 2023, this rate was 8.65%; in 2022, 9.76%; and in 2021, 27.2%.
The reduction in stock market positions also occurred through equity funds, of which individuals accounted for R$ 19.4 billion of the R$ 53 billion redeemed from January to November, according to the most recent figures from Anbima. For the year, this fund category lost R$ 54 billion in redemptions.
Redemption requests made local funds the biggest sellers of stocks on the Brazilian stock exchange. On the other side of the table, international investors were the biggest buyers, entering consistently and profiting both from the appreciation of assets and the strengthening of the real. In dollar terms, the index rose 51% year-on-year.
With regular investments, foreign investors put R$ 26.87 billion into the Brazilian stock exchange last year. In these first weeks of 2026, the stock exchange received more than R$ 8.77 billion in foreign capital.
The strong inflow of foreign capital was related to portfolio rotation abroad, with investors reducing their concentration in American and growth assets.
In recent months, analysts at Santander have pointed out that the movement has been intensified by the migration of growth stocks to value stocks in global portfolios.
This movement also benefited the local market, which is more concentrated in banks and commodities, and should continue to favor the inflow of capital into the country, according to experts.
“We believe this rotation still has room to continue in the coming months. This is favorable for Brazil, which is widely perceived as a value market,” Santander states in a report.
