Only 14% of self-directed investors on the Vanguard UK Personal Investor platform traded last year, according to new data.

Daily trading volumes were also extremely low during the year.

Of some 460,000 investors on the platform, 86.2% did not trade at all during 2022. That means that just 64,400 people used the platform to make trades.

Of that small minority who did trade, 62% - around 43,000 people - traded just once.

Just 4% of the small minority of investors who traded during the year on the platform - which works out at 2,576 people - traded more than five times.

Of the investors who did trade, most did so by moving a small percentage of assets within the same asset class - such as equity to equity - or into cash.

Vanguard said it researched the behaviour of the estimated 460,000 investors who used the Vanguard UKPI platform in 2022 in order to gauge “normal” trading behaviour and assess responses to market news.

It found that the average daily trading volume as a percentage of clients was 0.09% while the average daily trading volume as a percentage of assets was 0.04%.

Vanguard said it welcomed the results saying they were, “an indication that investors are embracing a long-term, strategic approach to investing.”

Georgina Yarwood, investment strategy analyst at Vanguard, said: “Money is a very personal subject, and it can evoke emotions and associations that make it very hard to control your investment behaviour. Certainly, a fear of loss or a desire for additional gain can disrupt the plans of even the most sophisticated investors. 

“We are delighted, therefore, to see Vanguard UKPI clients embracing an extremely disciplined approach to investing. The research is clear that investors have the best chance of successfully achieving their financial goals by tuning out the noise, focusing on what they can control, and sticking to their long-term investment plans.”