- I was just hard core GameStop, GME, 100%.
We're going to the moon.
- [Narrator] The GameStop frenzy brought many new investors
into the market.
- I just start pounding away
and just like okay, buy, buy, buy
and it keeps going up and up and up.
And so I'm getting excited.
- [Narrator] Nearly seven million people downloaded
the eight most popular trading apps,
including Robinhood in January.
That's more than double the previous month.
But this community of online investors existed
before GME took off.
It's been growing throughout the pandemic
and it lives on social media.
- Robinhood users have been going crazy for Hertz.
- Here you go, NASDAQ versus NYSE, new highs today.
- That break yesterday gave you a monster winner.
- [Narrator] YouTube channels, Reddit forums,
Facebook groups, Discord chats
and TikTok influencers like Taylor Price
are all talking trades.
- This community is meme culture,
it's Gen Z, it's Millennial
and it's people who don't want to work the nine-to-five.
The reason I am able to trade full time
is solely because of the Discord group.
- [HaiKhuu] I got SM Energy at 214.
- [Narrator] So who's a part of this growing community
of traders seeking and sharing investment information
on social media?
And how are the communities helping them chase the market?
- Hello, my name is Collin Chung.
I'm 33 years old.
I'm CEO of Omni Group Consulting
and I'm new to the investing market.
- [Narrator] Collin Chung started trading on January 25th
as hype around GameStop was spreading
and the company stock was gaining.
- That morning, I throw in maybe $500
and it turned into $800.
- [Narrator] And as the share price climbed the next day,
Chung continued to invest.
- I was able to somehow get a few thousand dollars in there.
I wake up the next morning and it doubles.
But it was at that point
that I realized it's very much like gambling.
- [Narrator] Chung has a business background
but not in investment.
So for his stock decisions,
he turns to social media.
- I wanna talk to you guys about GameStop.
- Why is GME, AMC still down? Will it go back up?
- All the ones that I used to use,
LinkedIn, Facebook, not so much.
I'm looking at very much more real-time functionality.
Twitter, Instagram, TikTok.
- Is this a short squeeze?
- [Narrator] And of course, he's watching the market.
- [Collin] So this is my triple monitor setup.
This is primarily where I'm monitoring the stock market
for the specific stocks that I'm watching.
- [Narrator] Despite the setup,
Chung isn't considering making trading his career.
- I look at it like I'm spending $3,000
to entertain myself to see if I can make it grow.
- [Narrator] That why Chung says after taking out most
of what he needed to cover his initial investment,
he's put the rest of his returns back in the market.
And he's still holding GameStop,
an investment that's now costing him.
- If there's a profit and payoff at the end, great.
If not, I just wanna have a vested interest
in seeing where this goes
'cause I think that the results are gonna be important.
- Here's three reasons why small stocks
may have big potential.
- 20-year-old TikTok influencer Taylor Price
also saw gains during the GME frenzy.
Her follower count hit one million
but not because she was buying into the meme stock.
- I wasn't saying oh, oh, look at the situation
as a buying opportunity.
I was looking at it as a learning opportunity.
I just made 350,000 on GameStop.
What?
No way, what are you gonna do with it?
The first thing that I'm going to do
is set aside 40% for taxes.
- [Narrator] Her posts are quick and informative,
seeking to explain basic financial terms
and show her followers how to make the most
of their money.
- Your budget truly depends on your personal lifestyle.
75% of my audience is female
and you don't especially see them
being so young like myself.
They want to start controlling their own finances
when maybe in the past,
their father or their older guardian
that was male had done so.
- [Narrator] But Price didn't set out
to be a social media influencer.
She first got interested in finance,
taking college courses on the subject.
And she said she started investing
because she saw how much money others were making.
- This is how bad the market did today.
And this is how good I did today.
Right here, people.
- [Narrator] For many of her successes,
she says she also had a lot of busts
and realized that she needed to take a step back
to learn some personal finance fundamentals.
- When I had this awakening moment
about financial literacy
and what school wasn't teaching us,
that is when I said I need to take this online.
There things nobody told you about before investing
in the stock market.
- [Narrator] Price still actively invests.
She says social media is good
for qualitative analysis
but should be followed by research
and her posts aim to show that.
- Social media should be acting
as not just giving somebody a fish
but teaching people how to fish.
What? This is crazy, thank you, Taylor.
- Hi, I'm John Bevis
and I am 28 years old
and I am a full-time stock trader.
- [Narrator] John Bevis, who once held GameStop shares,
which he sold before the spike said his goal is consistency.
He wants a monthly paycheck, not a one-time bonus.
- Consistent trading to me
is able to continuously make your return
without risking too much money
and always limiting your loss.
- [Narrator] He says consistency is a goal shared
by members of a paid Discord chat he's a part of.
The group, run by a company called HaiKhuu
has roughly 22,000 participants
and includes both a text chat and voice call.
- [HaiKhuu] Yeah, I got SM Energy at 214 and now it's at 12
but I sold off at like 11.
- Well, the Discord group has benefited me
in almost a way a can't explain
because of the amount of knowledge
and effort and support they put towards their members.
- [Narrator] Bevis started trading full time
about a year and a half ago,
leaving his job in construction,
which paid him $45 an hour.
So far, trading isn't paying him quite as well.
He says he's bringing in anywhere from 800
to $2,000 per month
but he says that's enough for now.
- I'm not taking large vacations or anything like that.
I can travel if I want to
but that will take time away from me here trading
and that's what I love to do.