Also a lot of individual investment is in retirement accounts that can’t use margin accounts.
Excellent point. Add to that the proliferation of mutual funds and ETF's, as opposed to individual stocks way back when.
I was working for EF Hutton in 1987, and I still remember Black Monday in October. Didn't make a whole lot of money (I was a lousy closer back then), but it was a good experience.
I'm now putting that experience to good use in my new career as a bartender at a wine bar (I was able to exit the rat race earlier than I imagined). LOL, it's a helluva lot easier to sell good wine than "blue sky."