Arm’s IPO Lures in Retail Traders Seeking Exposure to AI Trend

(Bloomberg) -- Arm Holdings Inc.'s highly-anticipated trading debut caught the attention of retail traders.

The chip designer garnered the most buy orders on Fidelity's trading platform Thursday, with upward of 20,000 purchase orders, according to the brokerage's website. It easily outpaced demand for retail favorites like Tesla Inc. and Nvidia Corp. Arm priced its IPO at $51 a share before opening at $56.10 just after noon in New York. The stock surged into the close, ending the session 25% higher than the IPO price.

The Fidelity data shows the aggregate number of orders entered by Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC self-directed retail customers. The information comes with a warning that the firm “strongly encourages each investor to review and research their investments to ensure they align with the investor's personal investment objectives and risk profile.”

Arm's ticker was among those trending on retail trader chatroom Stocktwits, another signal that the company was catching on with individual investors.

The surge in retail demand underscores how small traders are clamoring to get a piece of potential winners in the artificial intelligence frenzy. With the IPO market all but shut over the past two years, Arm offered the first crack at a newly public tech company and paved the way for more deals in the coming weeks.

Online grocery-delivery firm Instacart Inc. and marketing and data automation provider Klaviyo Inc. are set to price their IPOs next week. SoFi Technologies Inc. is among the banks underwriting Instacart's IPO with plans to offer shares to individual investors that use its platform. The success of the three companies will be closely watched with Vietnam-based internet startup VNG Ltd. and footwear maker Birkenstock Holding Ltd. also among those that have also filed to go public.

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