One swipe - one buy order: Gen Z invests in stocks emotionally?

In the booming digital era, with just a few swipes on TikTok, young people can watch dozens of videos analyzing stocks, giving investment instructions or suggesting portfolios to “prepare to double profits”. That is the era of “Finfluencers” - people who do finance with content, not necessarily with professional knowledge.

One swipe can decide your portfolio

On TikTok, hashtags like #chungkhoan, #dautu have attracted hundreds of millions of views. Many clips are only a few dozen seconds long with rising candlestick charts, plus the call to "buy now before you miss the wave", enough to make many people rush to buy stocks. Investment decisions no longer come after analyzing reports full of data, but have become part of the digital lifestyle, trendy and emotional.

According to a YouGov 2025 survey, more than 68% of Gen Z investors in Asia have made financial decisions after watching videos on social media. In Vietnam, this trend is becoming more and more popular. As technology takes over, AI and algorithms are gradually taking on the role of new investment “guides”.

Unlike newspapers or financial sites, social media doesn’t judge content based on accuracy, but on engagement. The more sensational a video is, the more likely it is to go viral and be recommended. As a result, the investment market is being pulled closer to the “emotional zone”, where trends can be more important than the nature of the business.

Many stocks have soared thanks to social media influence and then quickly plummeted when the trend cooled. In the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned about fininfluencer marketing, promoting stocks without disclosing benefits, posing great risks to inexperienced investors.

In Vietnam, consulting "rooms" on Telegram, Facebook groups or TikTok clips showing off "investment tips" are still exploding every day, making the boundary between financial knowledge and advertising tricks more fragile than ever.

On the South China Morning Post (SCMP) - a prestigious English-language daily newspaper based in Hong Kong, founded in 1903 and now one of the leading news sources about the region and the world , the story of Alex Rawi Ruto, a 17-year-old student in Jakarta (Indonesia), shows that the younger generation has seen investing as a path to financial independence. Alex follows TikTok videos to learn and aims to switch from ETFs to individual stocks to increase profits.

Not only Indonesia, Gen Z across the region is becoming a new investor force. A survey by Tiger Broker shows: 35% of Gen Z invest in REITs and ETFs; 45% choose blue-chip stocks such as Apple, Boeing or Carnival.

Brokerage apps like Robinhood even offer free trading and no minimum balance requirements, allowing people to invest from just a few dollars.

Samuel Rhee, Investment Director of Endowus (Singapore), commented: "Convenience and low-cost incentives have strongly attracted young people to enter the market."

Many Fininfluencers claim they want to make finance easy to understand and fun: Yong (Singapore) has more than 36,600 YouTube followers, sharing basic knowledge about finance; Chin Yi Xuan (Malaysia) took to TikTok to answer questions about robot advisors and dividends; Nigel Ng (Singapore) used videos to explain “What are stocks?” in a lively way.

From a platform that was originally created for lip-syncing and entertainment, TikTok has now become a place to democratize financial knowledge, bringing investment terminology closer to the masses.

Learning to invest from TikTok is not wrong, but critical thinking is always required.

Misinformation can spread like wildfire. Young investors are vulnerable to psychological traps: buying out of fear of missing out (FOMO), selling out of panic, and ultimately losing both money and opportunity.

A viral video can send a stock soaring for a few days. But only consistent cash flow and profits can keep a stock's value over the long term.

Algorithms can suggest, but cannot take responsibility for investors.

Finfluencers and AI are inevitable trends in the process of financial digitization. Thanks to that, investing becomes closer, more popular and more attractive to Gen Z. But in a world where emotions spread faster than reason, the ability to self-evaluate and verify information is a vital skill.

Smart investors don't turn their backs on TikTok or technology, but learn how to use it properly: Watch videos for suggestions, but verify with real data; Follow trends, but understand the business; Take advantage of speed, but protect reason.

Ultimately, the core lesson remains the same throughout the ages: Investing is about knowledge, not emotion. A swipe can open doors, but only knowledge can keep money.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/mot-cu-vuot-mot-lenh-mua-gen-z-dau-tu-chung-khoan-bang-cam-xuc-173675.html