Finance Monthly - December 2021

Finance Monthly. Inve s tmen t 39 The term ‘gamification’ has become mainstream, primarily through its deployment by huge companies, such as McDonald’s real estate tokens and Nike’s +Fuel app. While it has been praised for its ability to foster creativity and experimentation for both work and learning, concerns have been flagged around its riskiness. These anxieties are particularly apparent in the world of stock market trading. Companies such as Robinhood have been celebrated in some quarters for democratising the stock market. But regulatory bodies have accused the people behind certain trading apps of manipulating users’ actions in trading. Established investors and regulatory bodies continue to reel from other tectonic shifts in market trading practices, such as the emergence of “meme stocks”, as in the case of the GameStop saga in early 2021. To refashion a well-worn comparison, instead of likening Wall Street to a casino, is gamification truly turning it into one? Or is the influence of trading apps being overplayed, when the biggest seismic shifts to market trading are driven by social media? This article takes a closer look at these two practices to find out.