Power of the People: This Company Is Taking on Wall Street

Photo by Nasdaq

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

The last year has seen a dramatic shift in the attitudes of many investors. The desire to have real power in the market has long been sought by retail investors not welcomed into the inner sanctum of Wall Street. These investors have always been on the outside looking in, reacting to the whims of those with real influence. 

But this year, that all changed. 

When members of Reddit’s WallStreetBets bought and held shares of GameStop Corp. GME, the price began to rise and eventually the play caught fire. Thousands of retail investors bought in, and the price soared more than 1,000% in a matter of days. Hedgefunds like Citidel Securities LLC, which were shorting the stock, were put on the hot seat. The firm spent billions maintaining its position.

As the price was flying, the popular trading app Robinhood Markets Inc. HOOD halted trading of GME — or rather buying GME — users could still sell their GME, but anyone wanting to buy those sold shares was prevented from doing so. The move was ostensibly to protect over-leveraged retail traders, but many from the WallStreetBets community called foul. The net effect was that the stock’s rapid ascent was cut short, the price quickly plummeted, and many customers lost faith in Robinhood’s commitment to them.

But one company is setting out to be the true champion of the people: Stonks Trading Inc. Stonks Trading, Inc, like other retail platforms, offers users the ability to trade stocks commission-free, enables margin trading, and early 2022 will offer more than 150 cryptocurrencies. But what truly sets Stonks Trading apart is that they are granting the first 500,000 users 5 free shares of the company. Stonks states it is a “user-owned, financial-management platform dedicated to giving power to the people through trading, crypto, banking, and portfolio management.”

Users are granted shares in Stonks when they sign up for the app, fundamentally making them partial owners of the company. The community-driven platform takes user feedback seriously, even giving users the chance to change the functions of the platform itself. This is the company's whole identity — for the people, by the people.

In contrast to other apps, Stonk says users will always be able to trade when they want. It will never limit or shut down trading to “protect” users.

All the technical tools traders have come to expect will be a part of the app, allowing investors an attempt to predict market trends and stay ahead of the curve while offering leveraging options and other products.

Stonks is raising capital on wefunder.com. If you are interested in becoming an investor, check out its fundraising page here.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.