According to Bloomberg, Dub founder Steven Wang launched the copy-trading platform three years after leaving Harvard. The app lets users automatically replicate trades from selected traders, positioning it as a wealth-building tool for younger Americans seeking alternatives to traditional investing and sports betting. Wang frames the model as a way for talented traders to build audiences without Wall Street gatekeeping.
Copy trading collapses the boundary between investing and social media. Performance, personality, and audience size now compete with risk management for attention, reshaping how retail capital flows. The trader gets rewarded for engagement; the follower gets exposure to someone else's risk tolerance; the platform monetizes the trust between them.
Regulators and users will watch whether these platforms function as neutral brokerage tools or lean into creator incentives when markets turn. That's when "follow the expert" stops sounding empowering and starts sounding like outsourced blame.
Dub's pitch works because plenty of young investors do want an alternative to gambling. But copy trading imports influencer economics straight into portfolio management. The trader is incentivized to chase attention, not necessarily returns. The user bears the downside. The app sits in the middle, monetizing trust it didn't earn and can't guarantee.
Filed to the Markets desk · Aug 24