Stock Market Insights 2020–2026: Returns, Risk, Volume & Sector Performance

By abhishek.verma75000 · June 10, 2026

Markets tell a story through data. This analysis of 100+ stocks across multiple sectors examines long-term returns, annual performance, volatility,…

The analysis identified the top 10 tickers that delivered the highest total return based on Adjusted Close prices from the start to the end of the dataset. A bar chart has been generated showing each ticker's total return percentage, and data tables are available with the detailed figures including starting price, ending price, and total return for each ticker.

The analysis identified the tickers with the highest price volatility based on their average daily High-Low range as a percentage of price. A horizontal bar chart was generated showing the top 15 most volatile tickers, with darker red bars indicating higher volatility. This percentage-based approach ensures a fair comparison across stocks at different price levels.

The monthly average trading volume across all tickers has been analyzed from January 2020 to February 2026. A line chart has been generated showing the full trend over time. Overall, average volume slightly decreased by 2.8%, starting at ~15.5M and ending at ~15.1M. The most notable spike occurred in March 2020, likely tied to market volatility during the COVID-19 pandemic onset, reaching a peak of ~30.2M. The lowest activity was recorded in October 2024 at ~10.3M.

The analysis produced two visualizations comparing average Close price growth across sectors over the full period. A bar chart displays the average percentage growth per sector, color-coded from red (lower growth) to green (higher growth), making it easy to spot the best and worst performing sectors at a glance. A second line chart shows how average monthly Close prices evolved over time for each sector, revealing trends and momentum differences between sectors throughout the period.

The analysis explored whether high-volume trading days are associated with larger daily price swings across tickers. A bar chart was generated showing the per-ticker Pearson correlation between trading volume and daily price range (as a percentage of close price), along with a scatter plot for a representative ticker illustrating the relationship visually.

Yearly returns have been calculated for all tickers from 2020 through 2026 based on Close prices. A grouped bar chart and detailed tables have been generated showing each ticker's annual performance. The analysis covers 100+ stocks across 7 years, revealing significant variation in returns across sectors and time periods.

The analysis successfully grouped the dataset by Sector and Industry, calculating unique tickers, total trading days, average Close price, and average Volume for each combination. A horizontal bar chart was generated showing the top 15 Industry groups ranked by average Close price, color-coded by Sector. Data tables were also produced with the full breakdown of metrics per Sector-Industry group.

The correlation matrix has been computed for all six numeric columns (Open, High, Low, Close, Adj Close, Volume) and visualized as an annotated heatmap. The heatmap displays correlation coefficients for every pair of metrics, color-coded from red (negative) to blue (positive correlation).

The analysis identified 3,135 outlier trading days where the intraday price range (High minus Low as a % of Open) exceeded 3 standard deviations from each ticker's mean. The top 20 most extreme days are shown in the table, and a boxplot visualizes the distribution of intraday range percentages grouped by sector.

The line chart shows the monthly average Open-to-Close price change across all tickers from 2020 onwards. Over 74 months analyzed, the market more often closed higher than it opened — 43 positive months versus 31 negative months — with an overall average gain of $0.03 per share per day. The largest positive intraday movement occurred in July 2022 (avg change of +$0.69), while the largest negative movement was in April 2024 (avg change of -$0.56). Both extremes are highlighted on the chart with triangle markers.