A volatile stock market led to high trading activity among retirement plan investors in April, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) IndexTM. One-third of the days had above-normal1 trading and 0.024% of balances were traded, the highest since October 2020. Early in the month, as stocks fell, investors moved from equities to fixed income. As the market rebounded, they bought back into equities.
April observations:
• On average, 0.024% of 401(k) balances were traded daily.
• 12 of 21 days favored fixed income funds.
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Inflows and outflows during the month of April:
• Trading inflows mainly went to stable value, money market funds and large U.S. equities. • Outflows were primarily from target date2 and bond funds. |
Asset classes with most trading inflows in April | Percentage of inflows | Index dollar value ($mil) |
| Stable value | 38% | $180 |
| Money market funds | 25% | $119 |
| Large U.S. equity funds | 17% | $83 |
Asset classes with most trading outflows in April | Percentage of outflows | Index dollar value ($mil) |
| Target date funds2 | 68% | $323 |
| Bond funds | 18% | $83 |
April investment portfolios: |
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Asset classes with largest percentage of total balance at the end of April | Percentage of balance | Index dollar value ($mil) |
Target date funds2 | 32% | $82,914 |
Large U.S. equity funds | 29% | $74,878 |
International equity funds | 7% | $17,974 |
Asset classes with most contributions in April | Percentage of contributions | Index dollar value($mil) |
Target date funds2 | 49% | $597 |
Large U.S. equity funds | 22% | $271 |
International equity funds | 7% | $81 |
Returns for common indices | April | 2025 YTD |
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index | 0.39% | 3.18% |
S&P 500 Index | -0.68% | -4.92% |
Russell 2000 Index | -2.31% | -11.57% |
MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index (net) | 3.61% | 9.03% |
1 A “normal” level of relative transfer activity is when the net daily movement of participants’ balances, as a percent of total 401(k) balances within the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™, equals between 0.3 times and 1.5 times the average daily net activity of the preceding 12 months. A “high” relative transfer activity day is when the net daily movement exceeds two times the average daily net activity. A “moderate” relative transfer activity day is when the net daily movement is between 1.5 and 2 times the average daily net activity of the preceding 12 months.
2 Target date funds also include the amounts in target risk funds. The amount in the target risk funds is less than 10% of the total.
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