John Authers, Columnist

Trading Stocks in 2020 Was No Game. Or Was It?

The proportion of U.S. shares held by individuals has started rising again amid the explosion in ETFs and popularity of Robinhood. Is that a good thing?

Is Robinhood an example of stock-market democratization or gamification?

Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg
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I mentioned earlier this week that markets have grown far more institutionalized over the last half-century. Some would object that the word is pejorative and say that they have been “professionalized.” Either way, the idea is the same.