Online investment is growing fast in the UK, according to new research from Allegra Strategies, which predicts there will by 2.4 million active online trading accounts by 2004. In the last year growth has been around 800%, with more than 300,000 accounts running by the end of this year.
Experienced investors were the first to move into online trading, providing an initial spurt of growth, but the sector has since been augmented by people completely new to investments trading. The report shows that UK users are most likely to male, aged 18-45, with an annual salary of more than £30,000. Nearly half have acquired stock worth over £20,000 and many are planning to increase their investments.
Also benefiting from this growth are financial information websites, as well as offline financial media which have found their audience increasing.
