Trading places: the rise of the citizen investor

In the gamification of the stock market, increasing numbers of Irish people are playing the markets alone on free apps or in large groups inside private chat rooms such as Discord

Rosanna Cooney: ‘In seven weeks with little skill and no financial advice, I’ve made a return of more than €13,000 on an €8,500 investment’. Picture: Fergal Phillips

Bored and locked down, I went on a diet for something to do.

And, at the same time, my partner started investing for something to do.

I lost 4 kilos and he made a killing.

The vision of how a life-long wealth gap would develop between us was suddenly apparent.

With nervous hands I made my first trade on December 22. And today, I’m up a somewhat astonishing 168 per cent.

I come from a ...