Influencers Are Luring Investors Flummoxed by Meme Stonks and Options
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou and Donald Moore, 18 June 2021
The U.S. was already doing a poor job of teaching people how to manage their money. Then meme stonks came along.
Now with everyone desperate for financial advice, a deluge of new companies and their influencer leaders are all at your service, fighting to be the first place you turn to chat about stocks, budgets or finances — at times, for a fee..
Jackson Fairbanks, 20, founded Asset Entities in August with his brother and two friends. Over the past year, they say they have attracted more than 150,000 members on the chat app Discord, including a team of over a dozen paid moderators. They try to serve as a clearing house of tips and investment strategies.
“A lot of people join our community looking to get rich quick,” Fairbanks said, noting that the surge in GameStop Corp. and other so-called meme stocks has made many investors think they can find instant returns. “But we always stress that in the stock market nothing is guaranteed.”
For monthly fees of as much as $50, subscribers can get access to live trading calls, educational courses and chat rooms on stocks and cryptocurrencies.
