These Stocks Are More of a Gamble Than An Investment

As with seemingly everything in markets these days, it all ties back to the Reddit Wall Street Bets message board.

No, we’re not talking about GameStop (ticker: GME). Rather, Castor Maritime (CTRM). The dry-bulk commodities transportation firm was trading around 20 cents earlier this year until it was swept up in momentum as users of the message board recommended the company, sending shares as high as $1.95.

The stock was identified as a potential gamble using methodology from recently published research paper—from Alok Kumar of the University of Miami, Houng Nguyen of the University of Danang, and Talis Putnins at the University of Technology Sydney and Stockholm School of Economics. The group proposed looking at the average volume over 30 days compared to market cap as a way of determining what they called lottery stocks. “We assume that gambling in stock markets involves disproportionate amount of trading in lottery-like stocks,” they said.

Castor topped the research group’s list of New York Stock Exchange- and Nasdaq-listed companies that were potential “lottery stocks.” Barron’s added to a filter to the list to look at companies with market caps of at least $500 million and published the list in January.

We ran our version of that screen again this month. Castor Maritime topped our list this time.

Sundial Growers (SNDL), the cannabis stock, and Genius Brands International (GNUS), the children’s media company, appear high on the list too. The top NYSE-listed stock was AMC Entertainment (AMC), the movie chain operator that, with GameStop, became a poster-child for the so-called meme stock revolution.

And what about GameStop itself? It’s not in the top 20, but the methodology does put the video-games retailer high: Out of more than 3,000 stocks, GameStop ranks 128th as a lottery stock.

The stock scoring lowest in the lottery stock rankings was Google owner Alphabet (GOOGL).

Ranking	Company
1.	Castor Maritime
2.	Sundial Growers
3.	Genius Brands International
4.	TherapeuticsMD
5.	Ideanomics
6.	AMC Entertainment
7.	Ocugen
8.	Ebang International Holdings
9.	ElectraMeccanica Vehicles
10.	Workhorse Group
11.	Jiayin Group
12.	Invesco Mortgage Capital
13.	ChromaDex
14.	Transocean
15.	Gevo
16.	Bionano Genomics
17.	Clovis Oncology
18.	Nano Dimension
19.	W&T Offshore
20.	Tellurian
Source: FactSet

President-elect Donald Trump named a Silicon Valley investor close to Elon Musk as the White House’s artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency policy chief, signaling the growing influence of tech leaders and loyalists in the new administration .

David Sacks , a former PayPal executive, will serve as the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar,” Trump said on his social-media platform Truth Social.

“In this important role, David will guide policy for the Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness,” he posted.

Musk and Vice President-elect JD Vance chimed in with congratulatory messages on X.

Sacks was one of the first vocal supporters of Trump in Silicon Valley, a region that typically leans Democratic. He hosted a fundraiser for Trump in San Francisco in June that raised more than $12 million for Trump’s campaign. Sacks often used his “All-In” podcast to broadcast his support for the Republican’s cause.

The fundraiser drew several cryptocurrency executives and tech investors. Some attendees were concerned that America could lose its competitiveness in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence because of overregulation.

Many tech leaders had hoped the next president would have a friendlier stance on cryptocurrencies, which had come under scrutiny during the Biden administration.

“What the crypto industry has been asking for more than anything else is a clear legal framework to operate under. If Trump wins, the industry will get this, and more innovation will happen in the U.S.,” Sacks posted on X in July.

The tech industry has also pressed for friendlier federal policies around AI and successfully lobbied to quash a California AI bill industry leaders said would kill innovation.

Sacks’ venture-capital firm, Craft Ventures, has invested in crypto and AI startups. Sacks himself has led investment rounds in many. He has previously invested in companies such as Slack, SpaceX, Uber and Facebook.

Sacks was the former chief operating officer of PayPal, whose founders included Musk and Peter Thiel . The group, called the “PayPal mafia,” has been front and center this election because of its financial muscle and influence in drumming up support for Trump.

These Stocks Are More of a Gamble Than An Investment

And the no.1 Is a Reddit favourite.

Tech investor was one of the most outspoken supporters of Trump in Silicon Valley