My ingrained guess was wrong

I have always believed that the stock market declines were mainly due to the strategies and actions of the big banks.

I recently read that it is actually the small savers who depress the stock market when they convert their equity funds into cash. During the period from October 16 to and including October 23, 2023, the Stockholm Stock Exchange fell in value every day.

October 2023 is the month when most Swedish mortgage holders who tied their mortgages 2-5 years ago with a fixed interest rate renegotiated their mortgages. If they have not lived according to a more normal interest rate of 4-5%, the step from 1-1.5% will be very high.

My guess is that part of the explanation for this stock market decline is that a large portion of these mortgage holders sold off their fund holdings to make extra repayments on their mortgages with the renegotiation.