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At the same time, on Instagram, 23-year-old Albert Sampouw, a.k.a @kevin.trades, and his partner, Mihir Sukthankar, promoted their Discord group to their combined 160,000 followers after posting a screenshot of a 563% gain on an AMC investment.
The pair post watch lists and stock opinions on their page for free, but charge up to $2,000 to join a community of 8,000 members called Traders Circle X, where they offer mentoring and post alerts when they buy a particular stock.
“I don’t want to call it advice because we’re not professional advisors,” 19-year-old Sukthankar said. “But the free content that we’re putting out, a lot of people in the trading community find value in.”
GENERATIONAL SHIFT
The idea of using social media for investing is far from new. Popular platforms from the 2000’s include Bogleheads, Yahoo Finance and StockTwits.
The recent phenomenon takes the medium further because of a generational shift where people feel more comfortable touting investments online, as well as trading apps like Robinhood geared towards first-time investors, experts said.
In addition, the new influencers see themselves as rebels and educators leading disenfranchised communities to economic freedom, rather than greedy tipsters looking for a quick buck.
“It’s a collaboration, and that’s where the magic happens,” said Jannick Malling, co-founder of Public, a trading app that combines brokerage services and social media.
