The investing world is undergoing a dramatic change, and at the forefront of the movement is a crop of new platforms that marry the lightning-fast vibe of social media with the discipline of Wall Street. Dub, a fintech company started by Steven Wang, is one of the most highly discussed names in the business. It’s making waves among both novice investors and seasoned venture capitalists.
Wang departed Harvard at only 19 to start Dub, seeing a special opportunity in the midst of the pandemic. That’s when retail investing and influencer-driven decision-making started to intersect in a big way. He saw that younger individuals—many of whom were brought up on TikTok and YouTube—wanted to invest but didn’t necessarily possess the knowledge or confidence to create their portfolios. His vision was straightforward but potent: make investing as normal and interactive as following a social media news feed.
Copy trading is at the heart of Dub’s platform. Rather than picking stocks individually, users can subscribe to a portfolio held by popular investors, hedge fund experts, or even individuals who track the public actions of personalities such as Warren Buffett or Nancy Pelosi. For a monthly or annual fee, users can automatically replicate these portfolios through an associated brokerage account. And if you invest at least $1,000, you can share your strategy and get paid royalties when others decide to follow you. It’s a two-way street that makes investing in a marketplace for learners and leaders alike.
This model has taken off with Gen Z. According to Dub, about half its users are under 28, with many of them being the most active on the app. While the average user is between 30 and 35, Dub’s social features and targeted ads—especially on platforms like Instagram—have attracted even younger users, some as young as 15. What draws them in is the social feel of the app. It takes the anxiety element out of investing, allowing users to track winning strategies and learn in the process.
Dub’s success has been rapid and formidable. The app has registered over a million downloads and secured over $47 million in funding. And while some fintech startups falter when it comes to compliance, Dub took over two years collaborating with the SEC and FINRA before releasing the app. Wang reiterates that Dub is an entire broker-dealer, designed with consumer protection and education in place. The platform has tools such as risk scores and portfolio stability measures to guide users in making intelligent decisions.
Dub also caters directly to the creator economy. Over 200 portfolio creators—hedge fund professionals and prominent Twitter and YouTube traders among them—fuel the platform’s most successful strategies. Creators can charge for access, and Dub takes a fee, providing individual investors with a means of building an audience and making money off of their knowledge. By doing so, it defies the notion that only insiders on Wall Street can be successful in the world of investing.
Nevertheless, not everyone is convinced about copy trading. Detractors would say that the majority of active investment strategies underperform passive index funds in the long term. Others are concerned that Dub will invite herding, with too much emphasis on popular personalities. Wang disagrees, stating that a lot of studies into active management ignore key data. He also cites the size and ongoing expansion of the hedge fund market as proof that individuals still desire access to actively managed approaches. And as opposed to arbitrary tips on social media, Dub provides transparency and performance monitoring in order to hold creators accountable.
As investing increasingly merges and intersects with digital content and online communities, sites such as Dub are assisting in the redefinition of how individuals interact with markets. Whether this new paradigm will provide long-term success for the common investor remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: social media and investing are more intertwined than ever, and for a next generation of investors, that future arrives today.
