Retail traders went on a record dip buying spree Monday, reversing a 1% decline in the S&P 500 Index triggered by the US credit downgrade from Moody’s Ratings late last week.

Individual investors purchased a net $4.1 billion in US stocks through 12:30 p.m. in New York, the largest level ever for that time of day — and broke the $4 billion threshold by noon for the first time ever, according to data compiled by JPMorgan Chase & Co. quantitative and derivative strategist Emma Wu.

The S&P 500 fell almost 1.1% in early minutes of Monday’s session, but by the afternoon the benchmark had flipped into the green, before trading roughly flat as of 2:50 p.m. in New York. The retail crowd accounted for 36% of trading volume, surpassing late April to reach the highest level in history.

“Retail has learned the hard way, getting left behind during previous stocks recoveries supported by policy puts,” said Frank Monkam, head of macro trading at Buffalo Bayou Commodities. “There is almost an unwavering commitment from retail to never make that mistake again.”

The buying extends a weeks-long streak of aggressive purchases of US stocks by small investors, who snapped up equities at a record pace as the S&P 500 edged toward a bear marked during the depths of the tariff-triggered selloff in April. Now they’re enjoying the ride back up as the index approaches a 20% advance and a bull market. Meanwhile, the so-called smart money has stayed on the sidelines.

Wall Street strategists on Monday mostly dismissed the downgrade by Moody’s, advising clients to keep picking up equities. Morgan Stanley strategist Michael Wilson said investors should buy any dips in US stocks fueled by Friday’s rating cut, as the trade truce with China has reduced the odds of a recession. At HSBC Holdings Plc, chief multi-asset strategist Max Kettner said his team sees any fall in risk assets as an opportunity to scale up exposure.

“I think the retail investor is doing what is intuitively the right thing to do to, allocate capital to the places where it can earn you the most compelling risk-adjusted reward,” said Vincent Lorusso, chief executive officer and portfolio manager at Clough Capital Partners, who says buying stocks now makes sense against a backdrop of falling inflation and still-strong corporate and consumer balance sheets. “Retail investors are savvy enough to pick up on that as the area of opportunity.”

Single stocks accounted for $2.5 billion worth of retail purchases on Monday, while exchange-traded funds comprised $1.5 billion, per JPMorgan data. Small investors aggressively snapped up favorites Tesla Inc. and Palantir Technologies Inc., which had inflows of $675 million and $439 million, respectively. They also funneled cash into Bitcoin ETFs, while remaining net sellers of Nvidia Corp.