Skip to main content

Social media has revolutionized the way we consume news and shop, and now Dub is attempting to do the same for investing through an influencer-driven marketplace where users can follow the trades of top investors with a few taps. This concept can be likened to a fusion of TikTok and Wall Street.

Dub was founded by 23-year-old Steven Wang, a Harvard dropout who began investing in the second grade with his parents’ blessing. The app is betting that the future of investing lies not in selecting individual stocks but in selecting people. Dub allows users to follow the strategies of traders, hedge funds, and even those mimicking high-profile politicians. Instead of making individual trade decisions, Dub users can copy entire portfolios.

The concept has resonated with users, as Dub has already surpassed 800,000 downloads and raised $17 million in seed funding – with a new round seemingly in the works. However, it remains unclear whether Dub can avoid the pitfalls of previous fintech startups.

Inspired by Gamestop

The retail investing landscape has undergone significant changes, with recent conversations with Robinhood’s Tenev about Dub, Tenev proposed to TechCrunch that copy trading could become of greater interest to regulators, and that Dub may not yet be under the “magnifying glass” due to its relatively smaller size.

Regardless, not everyone is convinced of Dub’s vision. The primary criticism of such platforms is that stock picking underperforms passive investing over the long run, with studies showing that most actively managed funds fail to beat the S&P 500.

This criticism is one that Wang is familiar with and is quick to address. He argues that many such studies are “cherry-picked” and that they may be sponsored by passive investing index companies. Furthermore, Wang points out that actively managed hedge funds like Citadel are thriving, as they consistently provide non-correlated returns year after year.

Wang also suggests that if one looks at the growth of the hedge fund space and the asset management space, it’s clear that they are successful because they are generating returns for their customers. He believes that Dub’s approach can provide a more accessible and user-friendly alternative to traditional investing.


Source Link