For a generation raised on the idea that you can get almost anything you want online, it’s only natural that the next hot investment is lurking on the internet waiting to be found.
That belief is driving a hunt among some investors for the next GameStop Corp. After watching how members of the WallStreetBets forum fueled a dizzying rally in the company’s stock and upended Wall Street’s expectations, they’re now scouring Reddit and Twitter to join in on the next potential opportunity.
Kevin Aldrian, 19, is one such trader. He’s looking specifically for a stock that could trigger a short squeeze — a trading phenomenon that’s at the center of GameStop’s wild ride. “After GME, I started searching for the next potential squeeze,” said Aldrian, an economics sophomore at the University of San Diego, referring to GameStop’s ticker symbol. “There’s no way to actually predict the squeeze, but I will monitor WallStreetBets and finance Twitter.”
Following GameStop’s boom, movie-theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and apparel retailer Express Inc., as well as telecom companies of yore such as BlackBerry Ltd. and Nokia Oyj are already making gains after their names were circulated around forums and social media.
The internet has always been a playground for indulging in both popular and niche obsessions — everything from politics to music and Hermes Birkin bags to film noir cinema. Flicking through the unverified celebrity gossip on Deuxmoi’s Instagram feed won’t cost you money, but basing your investment decisions on which emojis appear next to stocks on TikTok, Twitter and Reddit could prove financially catastrophic. Or at least that’s what experienced industry hands say.
It’s difficult for any stock trader to consistently beat the market, said Douglas Boneparth, the president and founder of Bone Fide Wealth in New York. “Many will call this a bubble while contrarians will say it’s different this time. We will certainly see. But my best guess is that some folks will make a lot money, but even more will lose trying to chase the next big thing.”
The new breed of internet-focused investors is undeterred, though. Some members of forums such as WallStreetBets pay close attention to financial metrics and argue passionately on behalf of their investment decisions. But others treat time-tested metrics such as valuation, debt-to-equity ratios and free cash flow as financial jargon that can be ignored.
Mike Janavey, a 30-year-old investor who uses the Robinhood trading app, says Twitter has been the first place he turns to when he has to make financial and investment decisions. The clothing and footwear production specialist from New York says he has been seriously investing for the past two years.
“What’s funny is I don’t know anything about stock charts, I literally have no idea about finance,” Janavey said. “I go off of what accounts I follow on Twitter, research the tickers on Twitter and if it makes sense to me, I buy it. I can’t read charts or anything like that. I go purely by being on social media.”
Janavey recently put money into BioNano Genomics Inc. and Churchill Capital Corp. IV after seeing them hyped up on Twitter. He acknowledges that there’s risk in his strategy, but says he’s managed to make solid gains so far.