Gen Z's Trading Trap

With smartphones and social media dreams, Gen Z is rushing into the stock market, and learning painful lessons about risk, addiction, and the cost of easy money.

- Samreen Hamdani

When Faizan Mir made his first trade, he felt like he had found a secret door. It was 2020, deep into the pandemic lockdown. The world outside his home in Anantnag, Kashmir, had fallen still, but inside his small room, life seemed to speed up.

On his phone screen, a few clicks sent numbers jumping, turning green. His heart raced. His mind raced faster.

He made ₹600 that day. More than what his father earned in a full shift at the orchard. It felt magical.

He didn't know it then, but that day would change everything.

Across India, Faizan was part of a quiet revolution that was only just beginning. In those lockdown months, millions of young Indians, some still teenagers, discovered trading. With free apps, viral Instagram reels, and Telegram groups promising riches, the stock market no longer looked like an old man's game.

By 2024, nearly half of all stock investors in India were under the age of 30. It's a staggering jump from just a few years ago. What was once a slow climb toward wealth had turned into a race. A race most young traders did not understand they were running uphill.