(Reuters] – Individual investors buy stocks at a speed similar to the 2021 me-stock frenzy although the returns on retail investment sit at multiyear lows. This is due to a general sell-off on worries about rising interest rates.

According to Vanda data, retail investors purchased stocks in the amount of $76 billion over a period that ended on May 24, which is $1.3 billion per day. This compares with net purchases between January 2021 and March 2021 at $80.6 billion or $1.32 trillion per day.

Last year, investors rose to prominence when they joined forces on forums online to boost gains in short-shorted GameStop and AMC Entertainment (NYSE :), and other investments that have cost hedge funds billions.

However, retail darlings’ shares have plummeted. GameStop lost approximately half of its value in the past year. AMC has seen a 25% drop in AMC’s stock price, as compared to’s 6% decline.

Vanda data started in 2014. It has records for the three-months that the performance of the portfolio of retail investors was compared to the broader market.

That has not deterred small-time investors from buying shares of their favorite tech and growth companies such as Apple (NASDAQ:), Tesla (NASDAQ:) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:) over the past week, per Vanda, when the benchmark S&P 500 came within spitting distance of confirming a bear market territory.