
Robinhood Has Gamified Online Trading into an Addiction - simonebrunozzi
https://marker.medium.com/robinhood-has-gamified-online-trading-into-an-addiction-cc1d7d989b0c
======
bkanber
Robinhood is not the first. The whole concept of day trading already "gamified
online trading into an addiction", and that started in 1975 and had its peak
popularity in the 80s. The author is really just complaining that this
gamification is now in app format.

~~~
standardUser
Was there commission-free trading in the 70's and 80's? And how did you access
it? These platforms are about access. No commission and you can trade 24/7
from your phone. I imagine day trading in the 80's was considerably move
involved and expensive.

~~~
shmoogy
Day trading was considerably more expensive a few years ago. It's free/cheap
now due to Robinhood.

You cannot trade 24/7, there is no access to futures via Robinhood. Definitely
turns people into degenerate gamblers though.

------
Barrin92
Scott Galloway is very right. It is incredibly difficult to out-earn the
market consistently, and virtually all day traders lose money. (like 95% or
so)

it really is glorified gambling and the app is designed to treat money as if
it is a sort of gaming currency. In payments there's evidence that digital
currency or credit/debit cards compared to cash increase the propensity to
spend. I think it's very likely that the 'cute' user interfaces of these apps
increase the propensity to invest.

There should be significant more regulation here to make sure that young
people don't ruin their entire financial futures or even take their lives,
like the 20 year old mentioned in the article. There are no social welfare
gains by this kind of gambling on the stock market (in fact there may be
externalities, like the volatily Scott mentions).

~~~
bkanber
Day trading has been a problem ever since it was invented, 45 years ago.

~~~
machinehermit
You realize in the 1920s many hotels had a bucket shop in the lobby that you
could place a bet on stocks?

Pretending this is something new is really laughable when things were 100X
crazier literally a 100 years ago.

~~~
standardUser
How many Americans were staying in these types of hotels? The new thing is
that stock trading is not universally accessible, even to those with very
limited means.

~~~
machinehermit
These were not special hotels, this was a feature like getting free breakfast
today. This is how crazy the 1920s thirst for stock speculation was.

Not just betting on stocks but betting on stocks with huge leverage too. You
want to bet on a $100 stock then go down to the hotel lobby and put up $10.

------
mam2
I feel people who write this kind of stuff have an ill placed sense of
superiority.

Let the (adult) people wtf they want.

If anything the world is going to be increasingly full of more addictive stuff
anyway, not less. Trying to censor 1 or 2 of them among all is doomed.

Worst case scenario people will learn self discipline through their own
mistakes

------
machinehermit
Absurd article. I first traded stocks during the dot com bubble. People have
barely caught even the smallest amount of speculative frenzy the past 20 years
since.

I don't think we will ever match the level of addiction people had when online
trading was a new thing.

~~~
robjan
I agree that online trading has been a thing for a while, but zero commission
zero friction trading is relatively new and Robinhood just so happens to be
the most popular in the US. Now literally anyone, including the least
knowledgable and sophisticated investors can gain access to the market within
hours with just a few details and an RPQ where everyone deliberately chooses
maximum risk vs reward.

You Schwabb or e*Trade account also doesn't constantly send you push
notifications saying "$TSLA has just risen by 5%!" to encourage you to keep
logging into your brokerage account.

------
lazylizard
Right he's so wise he should run the Ministry of Fun and get to decide what
kind of fun i am permitted to have!

Not that i disagree with him entirely. I just believe i should be entitled to
an opt-out form from his meddling.

------
Phillipharryt
You do have to laugh a bit when someone starts their article on addiction by
claiming their own addictions have been a net positive on their life, self
awareness? What's that?

~~~
apta
Normalizing deviant behavior, and pandering to the hipster crowd, that he's
not one of those "backward" people who refuse to engage in such vices.

------
blaser-waffle
It's really a gambling addiction. #YOLO-ing your paycheck for tendies is
fun... most of the time...

------
sfj
Article is mostly filler, doesn't talk or explain much of anything as to what
makes Robinhood addictive.

