It’s been a decade since the notorious ‘dot-com bubble’ hit the stock market but while it went from boom to bust within five years, technology and trading has been inextricably linked ever since.

As with the majority of trends, the sudden rise in internet-based companies – or dot-coms as they became known – created the opportunity to make a quick buck for some while others weren’t quite so lucky.

The dot-com bubble took hold as many companies became quick to learn that adding an e-prefix or .com to their name sent their share prices soaring.  Rock-solid confidence in the technology soon overtook the traditional tried and tested indicators used by investors such as P/E ratios.

By the time the dot-com bubble reached its climax in March 2000 (with the NASDAQ climbing to 5132.52) it had created tremendous levels of private investment and given birth to the UK’s first breed of day traders.

Technology continues to create opportunities now as it did then with the internet in particular shaping the landscape in which the financial markets operate. While investors were quick to buy into the internet for gain during the dot-com bubble it has since become a preferred vehicle for them to research and execute trading activities as well as ensuring the survival of the day traders.

The emergence of online stockbrokers has become big business with increasing numbers (60%) of investors now preferring to trade online, according to responses to the most recent TD Waterhouse Investor Confidence Survey, which surveyed 1,000 individual investors across the UK towards the end of last year.

The speed and convenience of internet trading has led to a new group of private investors who may have otherwise never considered trying their hand in the stock exchanges while at the same time it has helped drive the costs of trading down.

Bringing with it easy access to company reports and all the stock market information an investor could wish for, the internet has certainly transformed not only who trades but how they trade. Almost two thirds (64 percent) of investors participating in the Investor Confidence Survey said they rely on the internet to help them make investment decisions while a further 32 percent have completely branched out – preferring to use the services of an execution only broker.

It is often remarked that a stock market bubble provides funding that revolutionises the sectors involved, but the benefits do not necessarily go to the people who provide the cash.  So, thinking back to ten years ago, did the dot-com bubble change the way you invest?

Will the new decade herald the emergence of a new breed of self-reliant individual investors?

Some seem to think so according to TD Waterhouse’s annual Investor Confidence Survey of over 1,000 individual investors across the UK, with over half (53 percent) of respondents stating that they now rely more on their own decisions when making investment choices compared to just under a fifth (19 percent) who said they look more to professional advisers and brokers than they did last year.

This disparity reflects an increasing trend of self-reliance, which may suggest that retail investors have become a more sophisticated bunch as they adapt to today’s unpredictable financial markets.

The research goes on to show that 64 percent of respondents state the internet as their most popular source of information followed by the financial press (58 percent).  Overall, the number of UK investors looking to professionals for advice on their trading activities has fallen slightly to a third (33 percent) while those seeking “do-it-yourself” tools from execution-only brokers has risen from 5 percent in 2008 to 20 percent in 2009.

In fact, the survey shows when it comes to investment services more UK investors (32 percent) are actively trading through execution-only brokers now compared to a year ago, while just 26 percent prefer to trade through an advisory broker.

It has been a rocky 15 months and we have seen many financial institutions falter and crumble under the pressure of liquidity constraints. If the news media is anything to go by, this has given rise to a general distrust in the transparency and accuracy of company statements and information from authority figures. While continually low interest rates have made it difficult for investors to gain returns from traditional investment options or cash on deposit.

Is it this kind of sentiment that has driven so many retail investors to go solo in their trading efforts or is it simply good sense to diversify your sources of information amid increased market volatility?

When it comes to executing trades, the survey reveals online trading is the method of choice for 60 percent of UK investors. TD Waterhouse has also seen a surge of online trading during the course of the last year, with August being a record month of online equity trades.

Volatility in the financial markets has certainly played its part. When looking at actual trading trends in more detail, a review of the most traded shares by TD Waterhouse customers shows that the trend was more towards buying than selling, with buys 17 percent of the sells in 2009.

Most customer activity focussed on Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Barclays, with all three stocks accounting for 66 percent of the overall top ten trades during the year.

With the volatility of banking stock there will be winners and losers, but the key questions for 2010 remain whether market volatility in general (and the temptation of making short-term gains despite the risks associated with stock market investment) has lured new “opportunist” traders who may not have considered trading before?

Or has the financial and economic crisis simply given birth to a new breed of lone traders who would much rather make their own decisions than rely on the advice of others?