What are the top topics for investors and traders in the financial space? Anyone with a keen interest in finance knows how imperative it is to understand market trends, predict behaviour, and stay updated on the most relevant and trending topics. 

After analysing what users most often track on our platform, we aggregated the most popular topics by asset class and have presented them below. The popularity of these topics stems from their relevance in the market today, and the frequency at which interest in these sectors has been on the rise. 

A note on privacy before the list: people are often concerned about their privacy, but the topics listed in this article are not connected to any particular users’ watchlists and the data is completely anonymised. Moreover, we do not have any information on users’ actual portfolios or whether they are long or short on any security. We adhere to a strict privacy policy, and the data we do collect is used judiciously.

 

A Changing Landscape — and its popularity

The past decade has seen a major rise in the adoption of digitisation and technologies. This can be attributed to the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, automating a vast range of repetitive or mundane tasks. For instance, modern banking is a highly automated system, done with the convenience of a smartphone. This has given way to new players to enter the industry, such as FinTech start-ups. 

Meanwhile, the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies is growing so quickly that it is overhauling entire industries and businesses on a global scale. With suspicions about its origins and regulations evaporating, its legitimacy has been validated in the market, making it one of the hottest topics for analysts to track.

Overhauling the markets, FAANG stocks had a combined market capitalization of over $4.1 trillion as of January 2020. “FAANG” consists of the stocks of the 5 most prominent American tech companies: Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX), and Alphabet (GOOG). 

Some believe that due to their astonishing size and influence, the FAANGs might be in the midst of a bubble, whereas others maintain that their growth is justified by their popularity and incomparable operational and financial performance over the years. These stocks are tracked not only by traders, but most people are interested in their movement as the stocks are included in the S&P 500 Index, making up about 15% of its combined market value. Reflecting their outsized influence on the index, they make up most of the most popular stocks tracked on our platform.

These emerging changes have not only affected the financial world but have also brought about a shift in investing habits and trends. With this plethora of options for investment and the constant moving nature of the economy, it is now a necessity to stay current.  We at CityFALCON, the “Spotify” of financial news, provide a vast amount of real-time data across a multitude of topics to keep our users current by leveraging AI, Big Data, and Machine Learning. 

Our list of most popular topics tracked is congruent with and reflective of the current trends seen in the market. However, people are often curious about what that coverage actually entails, and if our database is extensive enough to cover all the content they might need to keep up with these new financial trends. With financial news, analytics, and insights on 250k+ topics from 3000+ sources, we cover quite a bit, including alternative data and UK company filings (SEC and others coming soon). You can create your own watchlists containing the topics that pique your interest and personalise your newsfeed (or use the pre-populated watchlists we have included below). The CityFALCON score will help you select how relevant the financial content is to you and your financial assets by rating the content based on your needs. 

To make your due diligence and market tracking easier, we’ve included individual watchlists for the most popular asset classes, so you can get started monitoring their content immediately. A full watchlist is available at the bottom, which will load more than 5 topics, even if you are not a Premium user (which is limited to 5 topics per watchlist for personally-created ones). 

 

Stocks:

Widely tracked by investors, stocks signify proportionate ownership in the issuing company. These “shares” or “equities” are the most common and popular form of investment. Stock prices are also indicative of the state of the economy. Most users leverage the CityFALCON database to receive real-time data about the stocks in their investment portfolio. 

Monitor these topics in our Popular Stocks watchlist.

 

Commodities:

Hard assets, any unprocessed or partially processed goods. Commodity investments are highly popular as they are often seen as insurance (especially in the case for Gold). Certain commodities traditionally move in opposition to stocks, so are often used to diversify portfolios beyond traditional securities.

Monitor these topics in our Popular Commodities watchlist.

 

Indices:

An index is an instrument that tracks a basket of constituent securities and is often reflective of the state of the market. It is similar to a portfolio of the stocks of a particular market or market segment. A change in the index occurs due to the performance of the securities listed in it and hence reflects on the economy itself. Tracked closely by investors purchasing index funds or ETFs or simply those interested in a proxy for a specific sector or the general economy.

Monitor these topics in our Popular Indices watchlist.

 

Foreign Exchange and Currencies:

The value of one currency in terms of the other. Due to the changes in a country’s economy, tracking exchange rates is highly popular for Forex traders, investors, cross-border businesses, and tourists. Following foreign exchange and currency changes is helpful for analysts in conducting technical analysis as well. Changes in currency are reflective of the environment of a country’s economy. 

Monitor these topics in our Popular Forex Pairs watchlist.

 

Macro Topics:

These encompass topics that affect us all. With detailed information from a variety of sources, macro topics are a great source for the curious market participant to widen their knowledge and stay updated with the current affairs of the world.

 

Cryptocurrencies:

The digital currency that took over the technological revolution. With the advent of blockchain technology and the increasing validity of cryptocurrencies, this topic garners interest from investors, traders, tech enthusiasts, and the general public. 

Monitor these topics in our Popular Cryptocurrencies watchlist. 

 

Financial Topics:

General topics in finance that have everyone curious. These range from small, specific topics to large up-and-coming sectors and current affairs. 

 

Major Business and Related Activities:

All activities and events regarding the current state of affairs and events in the economy. These activities usually have a large effect on the market and fuel business and investor decisions. A great tool for due diligence. 

 

People:

Influential people that are notorious for dictating the state of their economy or company share price. CityFALCON provides users with real-time tweets, which in today’s social-media-fueled world is the most efficient way to keep track of these influencers. 

Monitor these topics in our Popular People watchlist.

 

Private Companies and Brands:

Not all household names are public companies, and plenty of private companies are also very important. Unlike many other financial content platforms, CityFALCON lets you track private companies as easily as public companies. Very useful for P2P and angel investors when doing pre-investment due diligence and post-investment monitoring.

Monitor these topics in our Popular Private Companies watchlist.

 

Ratings and Research Firms:

Current research and ratings on financial institutions and securities. Investors may use these ratings to determine the likelihood of their return on investment in accordance with the terms on which they have invested. 

 

Products:

Investors often track the performance of a product in the market when determining whether to invest in a company. Business strategy and product teams can gain an edge over competitors by tracking competing products and announcements in real time. As for consumers, information about the usage and popularity of a  product is essential knowledge before purchasing it.  

 

State-Owned Companies:

SOEs are legal entities created by the government in order to participate in commercial activities on behalf of the government. These entities are highly influential and have a large impact on the market and global affairs.  

 

Financial Regulation and Related Topics:

The proper working of financial regulators is beneficial to all of us. These topics affect business and financial professionals alike and give us information about the financial climate in different economies.

 

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs):

ETFs are funds that hold assets — such as stocks or commodities  — and hence make it easy to diversify and invest in major indices. These funds are listed on exchanges and trade like regular stocks do. They’ve become so popular in the last decade, along with mutual funds, that some believe they have driven the bull market of the 2010s and may lead to a crash soon.

 

Mutual Funds:

Mutual funds are investment programmes that allow small investors to pool their resources and trade in diversified holdings through professional managers. The popularity of mutual fund investments has grown immensely during the past decade. By leveraging BigData and AI, CityFALCON provides portfolio managers and potential mutual fund investors with personalised content, which can be helpful in tracking their portfolios. 

 

Closed-End Funds:

A closed-end fund is a portfolio of combined assets that aims to raise a fixed amount of capital through an initial public offering, after which it lists shares for trade on the stock exchange. It is similar to a mutual fund except capital does not flow in and out of the underlying fund every day. As is for mutual funds, a closed-end fund is often overseen by a portfolio manager who actively buys and sells the holding.

 

Sector Categories:

Sector categories are a CityFALCON classification system that incorporates contemporary business categories beyond the traditional arrangement of economic sectors and industries. Sector categories bring economic classification into the 21st century. Use these to get a holistic and deep view of business activity and understand the overall direction and issues of the industry.

Monitor these sector categories in our Popular Sector Categories watchlist.

Locations:

The world is a large place, hence tracking news by locations is helpful in narrowing your search and focusing on what serves your interest the best. For investors interested in the economic climate of certain countries, locations help them sift their information to target the regions, cities, or even local areas that might be valuable to them. Some locations are more conducive to business or generate significantly more interest from investors for various reasons, too.

Monitor these locations in our Popular Locations watchlist.

 

Countries:

A part of our locations hierarchy but with special importance for economics, as international politics can easily shape economic outcomes. Certain countries have a larger impact on the global economy than others, and some countries are well-known for certain industries. Further, investors with diverse portfolios find the need to track multiple economies at once. Breaking down the searches into smaller segments helps you filter through the high volume of information available.

 

Cities:

Cities are the engines of economic growth. Activities and events occurring in certain cities have a global impact. If you’re an investor tracking a financial hub or just want to keep up with the current events, cities are often where it all begins.

 

Final Words

These are the most commonly tracked topics, asset classes, sectors, and locations on our platform today. Due to their popularity in the investing world, many of them also appear on our Trending page, which tracks recent trends. If you didn’t find your preferred sector, topic, or location, you can find more here.

Finally, to make life convenient, we’ve aggregated all of the shareable watchlists above into a single watchlist in case you want to track everything together. You can even share the links for the watchlists with anyone and they will be able to instantly start tracking that list as soon as it loads in their browsers. Spread the education and the power of due diligence!