International Women’s Day: the quiet rise of the female investor

• More women are investing, and the momentum is visible in our data.

• A stronger buy-and-hold tilt means fewer costly mistakes and more time for compounding.

• The next frontier is not more trading, but confidence, diversification, and long-term discipline.

International Women’s Day on 8 March 2026 arrives with a familiar contradiction. Women’s economic role keeps expanding across countries, industries, and education. Yet in many places, investing still starts later for women, or not at all. Cash often stays on the sidelines longer than it should.

Our internal data suggests that this pattern is shifting. Not overnight, not evenly, but in a way that is hard to miss: more women open investment accounts and the market participation gap narrows year by year.

Women now represent 23.5% of our direct client base, up from 19.8% in 2021. The story is not only the higher share. It is the speed of the shift. Since 2021, the number of female clients has grown by 40%, compared with 13% growth for male clients.

The change is also visible at the very first step of an investing journey, where intent turns into action: putting cash into an investment account. In 2021, women represented 25.1% of newly funded clients. In 2026 so far, that figure has risen to 28.9%. Not only are more women opening bank accounts –

more women are taking the step that matters: putting their money to work. In other terms, they are investing. Compounding cannot work from the sidelines. Market participation is step one.

Switzerland’s snapshot of a bigger trend

Momentum shows up most clearly in Switzerland: since 2021, the number of our female clients on the Swiss market has grown by 668%, lifting women’s share to 23% from 14%, up 9 percentage points.

Men’s market participation rose strongly as well, with male client numbers up 320%. But their share fell to 77% from 85%. In simple terms, more men invest, but women are catching up faster and closing the investment gap.

The lesson to draw from this is practical. When access improves and education becomes easier to reach, “maybe later” often turns into “I’m invested”. Starting is the first step towards financial empowerment.

The simple advantage: diversification and discipline

Our client profiles suggest women often approach markets with fewer sharp turns. In our current global client base, 86% of women fit a buy-and-hold profile, versus 73.5% of men. Only 4.2% of women fit a trader-type persona, versus 9.0% of men. That matters because frequent short-term decisions can add friction, through costs, taxes, and poor timing.

The portfolio mix adds a useful layer. Today, 35% of Saxo’s female clients invest across multiple asset types, versus 39% of males. “Multi-asset” simply means holding more than one type of investment, for example stocks plus exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or stocks plus bonds.

In 2025, women using a multi-asset approach deliver, on average, a 1.1 percentage point higher return than women invested in a single asset type. Just as importantly, the share of women ending the year with a positive return is 12% higher among multi-asset investors than among single-asset investors. The message is not that multi-asset is “fancy”. It is that spreading risk can improve the odds of a good outcome.

Multi-asset portfolios tend to work best when they are built with clear roles. Growth assets aim to build wealth over many years. Stabilising assets help cushion the ride when markets wobble. A cash buffer can cover near-term needs, which reduces the pressure to sell after a drawdown.

The gap behind the gap: life circumstances, not talent

The biggest headwind for women is rarely skill. It is life circumstances: pay gaps, career breaks, and uneven caring responsibilities. Across developed economies, women often earn less over a lifetime, take more career breaks, and live longer. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows women’s monthly pensions are about one-quarter lower than men’s on average. The World Economic Forum (WEF) also shows the global gender gap remains far from closed.

This is exactly why market participation matters. Structural gaps in pay, pensions, and career patterns do not disappear on their own. Investing will not solve them entirely. But starting earlier, staying invested, and earning market returns over decades can soften the impact. Compounding is one of the few tools that works quietly in the background, regardless of job title or sector.

At the same time, it is important to create awareness for the broad variety of female investors. Our internal data shows wide variations. Average female assets are broadly unchanged since 2021, but that average hides meaningful differences. Portfolio sizes vary significantly by age group and by market. Younger investors are often still building capital. Mid-career investors balance growth with stability. Older investors may focus more on income and capital preservation.

In other words, the conversation is not about one profile. It is about life stages, income structures, and financial goals. Participation in the market is the first step. Design, discipline, and time are what turn participation into outcomes.

Risks

Three risks deserve attention.

First, averages can mislead. Differences within each group are larger than differences between groups. No one should rely on stereotypes as an investment strategy.

Second, under-confidence can be costly. If someone believes they are “not good at investing,” they may remain in cash too long or follow others at the wrong time.

Third, attention risk affects everyone. Checking a portfolio daily can turn a long-term plan into a short-term emotional reaction. Too much noise often leads to too much action.

Less noise, more time: the Women’s Day lesson investors can use

On 8 March 2026, the most useful investing story for International Women’s Day is not a single “best stock” or a one-year leaderboard. It is participation: more women taking the first step, funding an account, and building habits they can stick with.

Our Swiss data shows that momentum clearly. It also shows a behavioural tilt that matters in real life: more buy-and-hold investors, and fewer short-term switches when headlines get loud. That tends to help long-term outcomes for a simple reason, fewer avoidable mistakes mean more of the return stays in the account.

The best part is that none of this requires perfection or a finance degree. It requires a process that fits real life. Investing tends to go wrong in predictable moments: when markets fall, when life gets busy, or when confidence dips. A good plan anticipates those moments.

Compounding is not loud. It rarely feels dramatic. It is more like good sleep: boring in the moment, powerful over time.

At Saxo, we are proud to see a strongly growing female investor base in Switzerland and across our markets. Happy International Women’s Day, and here is to more first deposits turning into long-term confidence and progress.

This material is marketing content and should not be regarded as investment advice. Trading financial instruments carries risks and historic performance is not a guarantee of future results.

The instrument(s) referenced in this content may be issued by a partner, from whom Saxo receives promotional fees, payment or retrocessions. While Saxo may receive compensation from these partnerships, all content is created with the aim of providing clients with valuable information and options.