In a video posted on TikTok, a user with the handle @tradingwithshujaa celebrates having turned his lunch money into $700 on a single day-trade, something he does alongside his busy schedule as a high schooler.
The video, and many others like it, is a reflection of the fact that investing has become more popular among high school students. Greenlight, a trading platform that lets kids invest in stocks with parental permission, told the Wall Street Journal in November that trades by those under 18 was up 77 percent the month prior from the same time two years earlier. Financial planners say that starting to invest young is a good thing, because of the opportunity it creates to build wealth over time, among other benefits.
However, as interest in investing increases among Gen Z and Gen A, many are skipping slow, steady strategies and instead opting for high-risk tactics like day-trading and purchasing cryptocurrencies — drawn by the promise of fast profits and viral success stories. While these approaches can deliver a dopamine rush when they actually pan out, experts and student investors alike warn against them, saying they carry massive risks. They recommend that high schoolers instead take a measured approach that’s far likelier to result in gains over time.
Social media has played a part in driving teen interest in higher-risk investment strategies, according to studies and experts. Day-traders and crypto investors who flaunt their wins on TikTok and Instagram can appear inspirational to teens who hope to mirror their success and get a quick payout, but who actually have little chance of doing so. Reagan Graeme, a senior at St. Mark’s School of Texas and founder of the Investment Club said, “What you’re seeing on social media is a very, very top percentile of people who actually know what they’re doing, or most of the time, who just got lucky.”
Kurt Tholking, who sponsors the Middle School Investment Club at St. Mark’s, said that new investors generally lack the knowledge and expertise to replicate those types of successes. “Those are not financial strategies that would be taught to students or young investors,” he explained. “They tend to involve high risk or extreme knowledge, which usually requires years of experience, studying or research.”
Graeme explained that risk bluntly. “Day-trading is akin to gambling,” he said. “That’s because you’re not betting on that long-term arc of the market as it moves up. You’re almost betting, in this second: will it go up or down? And that’s no different than an over-under for how many touchdowns Dak Prescott’s going to score.”
Data helps to illustrate that, typically, day-traders are at a huge disadvantage compared to investors who play the long game. Quantified Strategies found that just 13 percent of day-traders stay consistently profitable over six months. After 5 years, just 1 percent hit that mark. Current Market Valuation put it another way: only 1 to 3 percent of day-traders are able to outperform the stock market. Plus, for high school students considering day-trading in a literal way — buying stocks during hours the market is open and selling them before the market closes — it’s worth noting that the S&P 500, an index that tracks the top 500 companies, grows most during overnight hours when the market is closed, and actually trends downward, on average, during the day, according to a 2018 analysis by The New York Times and Bespoke Investment Group.
Walker Stevens, a junior at St. Mark’s School of Texas who has been investing for five years, has experienced firsthand the risk of day-trading. “When I first started investing, I primarily day-traded since I thought I would be able to make a significant profit in a short amount of time,” he said. “But I quickly learned that long-term investing is much more sustainable and consistent.”
Starting to put money in long-term investment tools like diversified stock portfolios or mutual funds at an early age has multiple benefits. Student investors can learn sound financial strategies and gain wealth over time.
“The power of compounding is ridiculous,” said Graeme. “If you start investing at 16 for your retirement, by the time you’re 65 and retiring, it’s a crazy multiple.” He’s right. Assuming a 6 percent gain per year (a benchmark that SmartAsset says represents the average rate of stock market growth over time, after adjusting for inflation), someone investing for two years will experience a 12.3 percent increase in the value of their portfolio. If they invested for 12 years instead, they would experience a 100 percent increase.
Most people know that investing can yield high returns over time. One of the challenges is picking investment tools or portfolios that balance a good rate of return with risk tolerance, since there’s often a trade-off between the two. High schoolers are realizing that if they start learning about financial growth strategies early, they can be more knowledgeable and experienced when they start investing more seriously as an adult. “Learning to invest at an early age,” club sponsor Tholking said, “can provide a strong foundation for future financial stability.”
At the end of the day, experts say, investing as a high school student is more of a learning experience — or the start of a good long-term strategy — than an instant money generator. Tholking, Graeme and Stevens all offer the same advice: research, invest and give your stocks time to grow. While social media might make short-term day-trading seem lucrative and easy, it’s important to realize that people only post their wins, not their losses.
This article was originally published in Remarker on September 26, 2025.