Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin · Monday, November 2, 2026
Citing a University of Florida finance professor who tracked over 9,000 IPOs since 1980, Lapin states that retail investors who buy at the end of the first day and hold for three years have historically trailed the overall market by about 20 percentage points.
“A finance professor at the University of Florida has tracked every IPO since 1980, more than 9,000 of them. The average first day pop is about 19%, but you almost never get that because the pop goes to big investors who were allocated shares at the offering price. If you buy at the end of the first day, which is what most regular investors do and hold for three years, you have historically trailed the overall market by about 20 percentage points.”