Market's fate rests on floaters

These investors stay in or out of the market for long periods

Judging retail attitude is tricky and involves a lot of data interpretation. One variable is breadth. Institutions focus on the top 500 stocks. If there's positive breadth (advances exceeding declines) and activity in smaller scrips, retail sentiment is upbeat. 

We can also compare net index movements versus net institutional attitude. The net institutional attitude is the sum of the net buy/sell positions of domestic institutions and Foreign Portfolio Investors. If net institutional attitude is positive but the Nifty is falling, there's retail selling. Vice-versa, if net institutional attitude is negative but the Nifty is up, there's retail buying.  

Mutual