Young men who trade stocks daily feel like failures

Surging retail trading isn’t just transforming markets; it’s also highly correlated with demoralisation in young men, according to a new study.

One-quarter of men aged 18-29 said they trade stocks daily, and almost two-thirds of them (64%) report feeling like failures, according to a study of 2 000 men published Wednesday by the Institute for Family Studies, a pro-marriage think tank.

The findings were strikingly similar to outcomes among men who gamble: Of the 23% of young men who said they gambled daily, including on sports and events, 66% reported similar angst, according to survey, which asked the young men a variety of questions about their personal behaviours and outlooks.

Daily fantasy sports and pornography use were similarly correlated to feelings of failure, the survey found.

Read: SA workers turn to gambling to pay debt, study finds

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The struggles of young men are generating growing alarm among academics, pundits and billionaires. They warn that men are lagging in education and employment, gambling with their financial health on sports or event betting platforms and facing mental health crises.

At the same time, the line between gambling and investing has been blurred.

Stock volumes from retail investors have doubled over the past 15 years, and day traders have driven record options volume.

Now platforms like Robinhood Markets and Interactive Brokers Group are trying to capitalise on interest from Gen Z by also offering event-betting alongside stock-trading.

Read: Playing to win: Why investing should not be confused with gambling

Some research suggests young people have embraced risky financial behaviours to try to generate returns in a world where home ownership and other markers of financial success are out of reach.

Eighty percent of Gen Z investors said they’d invested or considered investing in stocks, options, crypto or prediction markets because they feel financially behind and see these investments as better tools to meet their financial goals, according to a Northwestern Mutual study.

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The IFS researchers hypothesised that day trading, gambling, playing fantasy sports and porn use – among other activities – may be both coping mechanisms for dejection, stress and loneliness and also exacerbate them.

Young men who engaged in these activities less than daily were about half as likely to report feelings of demoralisation.

Overall, 42% of survey respondents said the statement “all in all, I am inclined to think that I am a failure”, described them very or somewhat well. This feeling was particularly strong among men without college degrees and those who were neither employed nor in school.

Read: Crypto trading should be regulated like gambling, UK panel says

The study also found disillusionment with the American dream, even as young men fostered high hopes for the future. Seven in 10 respondents said that success is more a matter of who you know than ability or hard work, but 84% still said they had ambitious plans for their futures.

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