Young people can have a huge impact on the stock market. This was shown in early this year, when r/WallStreetBets community members bought stock in GameStop and other companies en masse, causing these stocks to skyrocket, and causing massive hedge funds to lose millions of dollars. Despite this unprecedented event, the first few months of 2021 were the best start to a year since 2006 for hedge funds. So, what are the lessons to be learned for amateur investors?
Younger generations, who drove the stock price up as a way to make money, have been turned on to investing by the video-sharing app TikTok that offers quick-paced entertainment, Elon Musk’s Tweets, and a new AI-powered investment app Qooore.
Qooore, the novel Millennial and Gen Z-focused investment app, was developed to educate young generations about investing. Today, Millennials remain the most educated and the least employed generation in U.S. history, but they don’t know much about investing.
Being significantly affected by the COVID-19, lay-offs, and economic instability, Millennials and Gen Z struggle to raise money and repay their student loans. Qooore brings innovation by providing novel educational resources through its gamified, TikTok-like scrolling app which offers daily AI-powered trends and education signals. By exploring the world of investing through visual and experiential language, young people learn the basics of finance and the stock market.
Recent stock market wars showed how Robinhood, named after the folkloric hero who famously stole from the rich to give to the poor, made a move to protect wealthy hedge fund investors while throwing amateur investors overboard.
U.S. Democratic lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with a video blogger The Stock Guy and the co-founder of Reddit Alexis Ohanian, discussed the complicated role of hedge funds and how the U.S. government has struggled to educate the general public about investments and the stock market.
While the SEC reviews the recent trading volatility, Robinhood has raised an additional $2.4 billion to the already raised $1 billion overnight from its existing investors to shore up its balance sheet. Moreover, Google deleted nearly 100,000 negative reviews of Robinhood on the Google Play Store, which raises the question of Big Tech power.
Robinhood, whose motto is "democratize finance for all," halted purchases for GameStop and other stocks. Robinhood's actions were highly unethical and led to a strong division between the hedge funds and stock players. It’s already difficult to stand up to Wall Street hedge funds, and Robinhood’s actions make it even harder.
As part of its social responsibility initiative, Qooore has developed a Robin Who app, which focuses on changing the traders’ behavior in order to showcase the addiction to profit on the stock market. The idea of the app is to change the usual algorithms and behavior of the traders in order to make them become more aware of the complexity of the stock market.
Qooore brings more attention to the importance of gaining proper knowledge before investing money into stocks and plans to build an ethical platform that will unite all the players of the stock game. In order to do so, Qooore wants to invite the representative of Wall Street Bets to become their Board Members.
The recent stock market wars have taught individual investors about the importance of freedom of choice. It also showed that despite the change they created, hedge funds are still powerful and successful. The Robin Who app, developed by Qooore on the Product Hunt platform, showcases the importance of having the right knowledge before entering the game. It teaches people about the stock market, so they can be aware of the impact they have. So, whether you see the stock market as a place for quick profits and risky bets or as a tool for careful long-term investing, education is the key.
Photo: Helena Lopes, Unsplash