Stock Market Statistics and Facts for 2025
The stock market is probably the most essential component of the free-market economy. It supports democratized access to trading and exchange of capital while attempting to level the playing field for investors of all kinds. That’s not to say that professional money managers and big investors don’t have certain advantages and privileges. Still, only a free-trade stock market offers an arguably fair chance for everyday individuals.
One does not necessarily need statistics to understand the effect these markets can have on the global economy. That became evident to everyone ten years ago, when the world was plunged into the second most damaging recession in history. The Great Recession was a testament to how fragile the economy can be.
However, what’s more troubling is that we are probably not aware of all the effects that crisis will have on the course of history. It’s important to keep a careful eye on things: Preventing a crisis is far better than dealing with its fallout, especially when the next one could prove to be even more catastrophic.
Key Stock Market Statistics for 2025 - Editor’s Choice
- In 2024, the S&P 500 average return stood at 23.31%.
- In 2025, the global market cap soared to $127.4 trillion.
- About 43.8% of US household assets are tied to stocks.
- On average, the market performs the poorest in September.
The total market capitalization in the stock market is expected to reach $127.4 trillion in 2025.
(Statista)
The United States easily leads the world in this regard, with over $44.8 trillion in stock market capital in 2025.
In 2025, the top 18 stock exchanges in the world have a market capitalization of more than $1 trillion.
(Strike)
The top five most valuable markets are currently:
- Nasdaq Stock Exchange - $30.2 trillion
- New York Stock Exchange - $25.3 trillion
- London Stock Exchange - $4.1 trillion
- Shangain Stock Exchange - $4.0 trillion
- Hong Kong Stock Exchange - $3.4 trillion
About 43.38% of US houseshold assets were tied to stocks in 2024.
(The Federal Reserve)
Stock ownership among American adults has reached record levels once again last year, as more and more households turns to equities as their preffered form of long-term investment.
Stock market declines of 5% to 10% generally require a month’s recovery time.
(Guggenheim Investments; Spence)
Most commonly experienced market declines are the easiest to recover from, especially when compared to bigger pullbacks. A drop of 10-20% usually takes four months of recovery, while a 20-40% decline takes 15 months.
The most significant market drops we’ve experienced were drops of more than 40%, which last for an average of 22 months but take about 58 months to recover from, making them potentially catastrophic.
When it comes to full-blown stock market crashes, like the one in 2008, the average recovery time is 151 months (13 years).
On average, stock market corrections happen once every two years.
(Yardeni Research)
A stock-market correction is a market decline of more than 10% but less than 20%. These sorts of drops are significant but just below the threshold for starting a bear market. Even though they used to happen about once a year at the beginning of the 20th century, market corrections have become less frequent after World War II.
Since the 1980s, there have been 21 corrections in the S&P 500. The average length is 188 days, with an average 21.7% decline in stock market value percentage. During that same period, declines have surpassed 20% only six times.
Valued at $3.57 trillion, Apple leads the world’s corporations in market capitalization in 2025.
(CompaniesMarketCap)
In August 2020, Apple became the first publicly traded US company to reach the $2 trillion global equity market capitalization milestone. Interestingly, Apple was also the first US company to cross the $1 trillion mark, and then double its value in the span of two years.
Currently, its biggest competitor is Nvidia with a market cap of $3.29 trillion, as the company saw a massive surge in market cap in the past five years, growing by more than 2,000% in that short period.
Only 10 companies have a market cap of over $1 trillion in 2025.
(CompaniesMarketCap)
Many companies have been dipping in and out of the coveted trillion-dollar club, but only a handful have managed to remain there before the market closes.
With a 29.12% market share in 2025, the information technology sector leads the US stock market in market capitalization.
(Yahoo! Finance)
The face and the size of the US stock market have changed drastically as technological innovation and the rise of giant corporations move the share of capitalization more toward modern digital solutions.
Financial services hold the second place with 15.20% of market capitalization, followed by consumer cyclical with 11.66%.
More than 80% of the stock market is now automated.
(CNBC)
Automation is taking over numerous industries, and stock markets are certainly not immune to the appeal and advantages of machine-run algorithm trading. They are used by the leading stock picking services to deliver the best stock to their clients.
Computers use advanced mathematical models to make high-speed trading decisions, creating a market that is focused on short-term movements and sell-offs rather than on long-term outlook, to the dismay of many analysts and investors.
The off-exchange trading market share reached 51.5% in December 2024.
(Members Exchange)
The rise was primarily attributed to the increase in retail trading in the last part of the year.
The stock market usually performs the worst in September.
(Investopedia)
The September Effect is one of the most fascinating phenomena of the financial world. Both the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 have averaged a slight decline each September since 1950. Since Nasdaq started operating in 1971, its composite index has also slightly decreased during this month of the year.
What makes stock market facts like this one so interesting is that such occurrences were never related to market events and news and kept happening in stock markets across the globe.
The September Effect has begun to dissipate in recent years, and large market declines in September are not happening as much as they did before 1990. One of the explanations for this is that investors have started selling their stocks in August as preparation for the September Effect.
The average return of the S&P 500 index is around 10.98% as of 2025.
(Investopedia)
The S&P 500 has been used since the 1920s to measure the performance of the US stock market with a single revision in 1957. From 1957 until 2022, the S&P 500 managed to have an average return of 11.8%, which is more than most fund managers can do. Even so, there have been years with considerable oscillations when the return was much higher or lower.
For example, in 2024, the average return stood at at 23.31%.
The communication services sector rose by 38.9% in 2024.
(Fidelity Investments)
The tech sector followed by rallying 35.7% last year, once again being boosted by the development of AI.
The "Magnificent Seven" stocks saw average gains of 63% in 2024.
(Yahoo! Finance)
The seven biggest tech companies once again outperformed expectations, and now acount for more than half of the total gains on the S&P 500.
Sources
I have always thought of myself as a writer, but I began my career as a data operator with a large fintech firm. This position proved invaluable for learning how banks and other financial institutions operate. Daily correspondence with banking experts gave me insight into the systems and policies that power the economy. When I got the chance to translate my experience into words, I gladly joined the smart, enthusiastic Fortunly team.
