Whilst 2021 has been highly defined by healthcare and the global pandemic, there are many other important share trading themes that will impact the way we invest our money this year.

Here are 7 top-line macro share trading themes you need to keep an eye on as we move into the second-half of 2021 and beyond... 

Covid - Healthcare, leadership, and the ongoing vaccine rollout

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about many changes in our world, especially in terms of the way that people interact with each other. This situation has allowed some companies to take the lead in societal transformation, by providing the best solutions to fight the virus (pharmaceutical, biopharma, and biotech sector), offering safe and reliable ways to shop (e-commerce and shipping companies), as well as to learn, to work, and to communicate remotely (technology, business communication, and work-from-home companies).

Technology

The technology sector has always been a promising sector to invest in. As a result of Covid-19, the technology industry has now become one of the most important investment themes to monitor in 2021, especially transformational or revolutionary technologies that are helping the global economy to recover.
 
5G and enhanced connectivity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, payments, cryptocurrency and blockchain, robotics, drones, and vehicle automation, as well as extended reality (XR), virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are examples of technologies that are helping governments, companies, and individuals to stay connected and rely on a safe way to keep doing business and communicate. They’re also helping implement the digital transformation many companies need to thrive in 2021 and beyond.

Low Interest Rates

In 2020, the world faced one of the biggest challenges of the last 50 years: the consequences of Covid-19 on the worldwide population and global economy. Central banks and governments around the world have had to adopt drastic measures to help curb the spread of the virus and its effects on their local economies. 
 
While governments have adopted massive fiscal stimulus packages, central banks have had to cut interest rates to zero - or near zero - and intensify (or implement) asset purchase programs, loan facility programs, quantitative easing programs, as well as other unconventional tools to adopt an ultra-accommodating monetary policy to be able to continue to support the flow of credit in the economy, stabilize financial markets, and assist economies to absorb the shock of Covid-19.

Space exploration

The Space industry is proving to offer some of the most exciting trading opportunities for 2021 and beyond. Space exploration is in the middle of a widespread transformation, with a growing industry opening up to young companies looking to participate in what they consider the social good.

With companies such as Voyager Space Holdings, Starlink, and SpaceX considering or planning to go public, as well as companies such as Virgin Galactic Holdings and Blue Origin organizing human space travel, the industry is primed for mass exposure.
 
It’s important to remember that there are different categories of space-related companies you can invest in, such as those helping in human spaceflight, those supporting national security, as well as those allowing and improving satellite communications, imagery, and data analysis.

Commodities

Covid-19 strongly impacted the commodity industry by disrupting the supply chain and reducing demand, with travel restrictions and other measures adopted around the world to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. Gold also played its "safe haven" role in 2020, as the world changes in such uncertain times and inflationary pressures might intensify with recent monetary policy decisions adopted around the world. And this current state of affairs is far from over, as Covid-19 and new variants threaten the global economy.
 
Still, with many countries opening up for travel and tourism, the potential upcoming recovery might have a positive effect on many commodities, especially for the energy, power, and transport sectors, who have been hit hard. Whether or not the Covid-19 has accelerated the energy transition, one thing is sure - it has altered the long-term trajectories to energy supply, demand, and prices.

Environmental

Sustainable businesses are emerging as one of the hottest investment opportunities, as investors are increasingly worried about environmental challenges. More and more share investors want to invest in companies that are not only looking to find solutions to fight climate change, but are implementing standards to take into account the environment and human well-being.
 
These investments, called ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), could be companies focusing on alternative energy, recycling, pollution control, clean water, sustainable construction materials, organic catering, carbon abatement, aquaculture, etc.
 
Cryptocurrencies

Whether you are already trading in cryptocurrencies or not, you’ve most certainly heard of bitcoin. As the most important cryptocurrency by market capitalization, bitcoin (BTC) is increasingly popular among retail and institutional investors looking for ways to diversify their portfolio with a decentralized asset that is rather uncorrelated to traditional markets, not to mention continues to offer the chance of great returns. 
 
While it’s the first cryptocurrency to have been launched in 2009, there is more to cryptocurrency than bitcoin. Altcoins encompass all the other tokens, and may generate quite impressive returns (in addition to providing a solution to existing issues with bitcoin). Ethereum, dogecoin, polkadot, cardano, binance coin, litecoin, uniswap, and chainlink are among the most popular altcoins.

You can view a list of our cryptocurrency CFDs in our ThinkTrader app. As opposed to holding the physical asset, crypto CFDs allow you speculate on whether the price of the cryptocurrency will go up or down in price. 

Bottom Line

Taking investment themes into consideration is essential in online share trading, as share trading themes will influence your asset allocation and help you make more informed decisions. In a low interest rate world still influenced by the consequences of the pandemic, it’s not always easy to find reasonable value. Many online share traders are therefore rebalancing their portfolios, looking for opportunities to boost returns with non-traditional assets such as cryptocurrencies, and trendy sectors such as space travel, the environment, marijuana, fintech, as well as biotech and biopharma.

What themes are you following? Start trading with us in our popular ThinkTrader app today.