Trading apps : The dangerous tricks of ‘get rich quick’ schemes

1. Investing
(Photo: Freepik)
Many remember the name GameStop from last year’s media storm when day traders manipulated the market and pushed up prices of the distressed company GameStop using social media and new generation no-cost trading applications. اضافة اعلان

Financial advisors’ clients are aware that prudent investing does not entail earning from individual stock trades. They are also aware of day traders’ market manipulation tactics. So instead of short term, they focus on utilizing the risk and return characteristics of several stock and bond categories to construct a diversified portfolio that is fine-tuned to correspond with their unique investment objectives, time period, and risk tolerance.

Nonetheless, there has been a barrage of newfound platforms and applications that seek to incite and encourage rapid investments into highly complex derivative markets — something that even the most professional investors often study for years before being effectively proficient at.

The following article will outline what such mobile trading platforms do in order to get your hard-earned finances into their accounts — and why you should avoid them like the plague.

Play silly games, win sillier prizes

Unlike most conventional self-directed online brokers, which advocate prudent investment, many of these new applications urge beginners to quickly get in over their heads — and underwater — by pushing users to make impulsive, uneducated, high-risk trading decisions.

They then make use of the same compulsive tendencies that got users glued to their cell phones. The apps employ many of the same “bait-and-switch” strategies that gaming and gambling sites do to entice players to spend, and lose, more of their money.

That is why they are most commonly referred to as game-day trading applications.

Many of these applications sign up new users and allow them begin trading within minutes. Some do not need minimum account balances, and the majority do not charge fees on stock trading. They do all they can to get consumers to start buying and selling stocks, but they do not assist new investors in realizing the consequences of ignorant investing.

The worst apps all have one thing in common: they push you to trade frequently.

These applications are purposefully designed to exploit addictive behavior. They are intended to increase dopamine production.

Dopamine, or the pleasure hormone, is released by the brain when we consume great food, exercise, or engage in helpful, interesting, or ego-boosting in-person or online activities. It is the chemical that causes us to crave more.

Game-day trading applications trigger a dopamine cycle, which takes advantage of users’ propensity to get-rich-quick schemes and worries of losing out on “can’t-miss” opportunities. The more you trade, the more you are enticed to trade and the number of trades, not the outcomes, is what matters to these platforms.

Some of these applications utilize gateway strategies to entice users to progress from stocks to trading options and leveraged exchange-traded funds or ETFs . Few investors understand how these highly speculative instruments function — and how much they stand to lose if they make poor trading decisions.

Most conventional online brokers use protections to ensure that investors fully grasp the features and hazards of the assets before granting access to them. However, some of the most popular game-trading applications do not include such safeguards. And investors wind up losing much more money without knowing why.

Another issue these organizations do not usually explain is the short-term capital gains taxes that consumers may face if they conduct a lot of day trading.

Brokerage companies that aim to persuade clients to continually purchase and sell stocks are referred to as “boiler rooms” in the financial business. Regulators frequently punish and attempt to shut down these businesses. However, with every head cut off the snake’s body, another two emerge.

Investing or gambling?

Smart investors recognize that the aim of investing is to put their money to work in a way that coincides with their unique short- and long-term financial goals. This generally entails establishing separate funds for each purpose and dispersing them among a targeted and diverse mix of stock and bond assets.

There have been multiple stories about young children who have become addicted to these application, which highlighted the importance of financial literacy education in schools.

The earlier students learn about how investing and financial planning interact, the more likely they are to consider investment as a tool for reaching financial stability rather than as a thrill-seeking hobby similar to gambling.

The takeaway

No matter how hard they sell, refrain from utilizing apps for day trading. The succulent marketing ploys, at the end of the day, are just that — tactics to ensure that a beautiful honeypot is set up to drain you of all of your hard-earned finances.

If you are serious about investing, look into accredited investing platforms in Jordan, preferably ones that do not feature hundreds of ads about becoming “financially independent” within days.


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