Trading as Gambling: Social Investing and Financial Risks on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit (2024)

Kou, Y., Moradzadeh, S. (2024). Trading as Gambling: Social Investing and Financial Risks on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit. In CHI 2024 - Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems Article 357 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642768

Kou, Yubo ; Moradzadeh, Sam ; Gui, Xinning. / Trading as Gambling : Social Investing and Financial Risks on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit. CHI 2024 - Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems. Association for Computing Machinery, 2024. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

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title = "Trading as Gambling: Social Investing and Financial Risks on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit",

abstract = "Financial trading has become commonplace, involving the purchase and sale of securities such as stocks and bonds. While HCI research has investigated people's financial literacy and decision-making and how to design for it, little is known as to how people form financial conversations on social media. To answer this question, we used a grounded theory approach to analyzing financial conversations in the YOLO ('you only live once') posts on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit (WSB), one of today's largest financial online communities. We describe how WSB's discursive culture portrays its gambling-like, high-risk trading by likening trading to gambling, celebrating it, and normalizing financial risk-taking. We discuss the rise of social investing, including how individual investors' affective relationships encourage their outsized risk-taking, as well as reflect on its looming financial risks, especially to already marginalized groups. Lastly, we propose implications for design and policymaking.",

author = "Yubo Kou and Sam Moradzadeh and Xinning Gui",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 Copyright held by the owner/author(s); 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems, CHI 2024 ; Conference date: 11-05-2024 Through 16-05-2024",

year = "2024",

month = may,

day = "11",

doi = "10.1145/3613904.3642768",

language = "English (US)",

series = "Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

booktitle = "CHI 2024 - Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems",

}

Kou, Y, Moradzadeh, S 2024, Trading as Gambling: Social Investing and Financial Risks on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit. in CHI 2024 - Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems., 357, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, Association for Computing Machinery, 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems, CHI 2024, Hybrid, Honolulu, United States, 5/11/24. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642768

Trading as Gambling: Social Investing and Financial Risks on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit. / Kou, Yubo; Moradzadeh, Sam; Gui, Xinning.
CHI 2024 - Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems. Association for Computing Machinery, 2024. 357 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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N2 - Financial trading has become commonplace, involving the purchase and sale of securities such as stocks and bonds. While HCI research has investigated people's financial literacy and decision-making and how to design for it, little is known as to how people form financial conversations on social media. To answer this question, we used a grounded theory approach to analyzing financial conversations in the YOLO ('you only live once') posts on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit (WSB), one of today's largest financial online communities. We describe how WSB's discursive culture portrays its gambling-like, high-risk trading by likening trading to gambling, celebrating it, and normalizing financial risk-taking. We discuss the rise of social investing, including how individual investors' affective relationships encourage their outsized risk-taking, as well as reflect on its looming financial risks, especially to already marginalized groups. Lastly, we propose implications for design and policymaking.

AB - Financial trading has become commonplace, involving the purchase and sale of securities such as stocks and bonds. While HCI research has investigated people's financial literacy and decision-making and how to design for it, little is known as to how people form financial conversations on social media. To answer this question, we used a grounded theory approach to analyzing financial conversations in the YOLO ('you only live once') posts on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit (WSB), one of today's largest financial online communities. We describe how WSB's discursive culture portrays its gambling-like, high-risk trading by likening trading to gambling, celebrating it, and normalizing financial risk-taking. We discuss the rise of social investing, including how individual investors' affective relationships encourage their outsized risk-taking, as well as reflect on its looming financial risks, especially to already marginalized groups. Lastly, we propose implications for design and policymaking.

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Kou Y, Moradzadeh S, Gui X. Trading as Gambling: Social Investing and Financial Risks on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit. In CHI 2024 - Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems. Association for Computing Machinery. 2024. 357. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). doi: 10.1145/3613904.3642768