Abstract
Against the GameStop frenzy in 2021, this article defines meme investors as a new group of investors in financial markets while demonstrating meme investors’ regulatory and social implications. By comparing meme investors with traditional investors under the MiFID II regime, this article finds that meme investors are significantly less wealthy than traditional investors, trade via digital trading platforms, and rely on social media information for investment decision making. This article argues that the emergence of meme investors is an expression of the public’s desire for financial inclusion and their frustration with traditional financial institutions. Therefore, properly engaging with meme investors is crucial for rebuilding the public’s trust towards regulators. After illustrating meme investors’ exposure to default risks, legal uncertainty, and online misinformation, this article calls for regulators to engage with social media meme investors and improve financial literacy among the public.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 13 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Journal of Risk and Financial Management |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 27 Dec 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright © 2022 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Keywords
- social media meme investors
- financial inclusion
- default risks
- financial literacy
- systemic risks
- public trust