“Your investment Julie?” he asked.
“I’m gonna do some research first,” Julie answered, while tapping on her smartphone.
“Well played, Julie. Well played,” the host said.
“We can do research?” Brad, the first candidate asked, under the laughter of the fake audience.
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Then comes a voiceover: “Investing is not a game,” the narrator said. “Always do your research before making an investment decision. Learn more at Investor.org. Before You Invest, Investor.org.”
The satire was poorly received on social media. Indeed, many of the retail investors who invested in the so-called meme stocks, like GameStop (GME ) - Obțineți raportul de clasă A GameStop Corp și AMC Entertainment (AMC ) - Obțineți raportul AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. Clasa A , last year suffered big losses after the two companies’ shares slumped amid uncertainties about their future.
Meme stocks gained in popularity with retail investors and young traders on social platform Reddit during the pandemic.
AMC shares, for example, have lost more than 54% of their value since January.
‘Shouting’ in ‘Our Face’ The euphoria surrounding cryptocurrencies in 2021 has also died down. Bitcoin, the king of cryptocurrencies, and Ether, the second-largest digital currency by market value, fell from their November highs. The crypto market has lost over $1.7 trillion since November, according to data firm CoinGecko .
“Very disappointing to see SEC disparage investors in meme stocks as if they must have done it thoughtlessly – esp when @SECGov permits most trading to take place in dark pools,” former SEC Branch Chief Lisa Braganca commented on Twitter. How about a video about dark pools @GaryGensler ? Or better yet, get trading into the open.”
“Videos like this really make you wonder where the @SECGov’s priorities really are….hmmmmm.” another user commented.
“I don’t wonder! They are shouting it in our faces bro ??? Sec is not going to protect retail investors, very sad ?,” said another user.
“Pretty sad when the @SECGov literally mocks the people that they pledge to protect. I would like to hear from @BarbaraRoper1 to see what they are doing to protect us from the PFOF abuse,” posted another Twitter user.
Underneath the YouTube video, the SEC posted a message saying the satire was for educational purposes.
“The SEC’s ‘Investomania’ public service campaign uses a game show concept to educate investors in a playful way that investing is not a game and that they should do their due diligence when making investment decisions.”
“Bottom line — don’t play games with your financial future. You can learn how you can avoid getting caught up in game-like investing, and test your knowledge in our Investomania quiz at http://Investor.gov/investomania,” the agency concluded.