When the great stock market bust of 2022 occurred a few months ago, Reddit was swamped with requests for help. One user from India, u/According-Daikon-374, posted that he invested ₹4,85,000, which his father gave him as school fees, into stock options, only to lose ₹75,000 instantly. “Please provide a solution as I feel trapped now,” he wrote. “Don’t invest what you can’t afford to lose, my guy!” said one of the replies. “Best bet is to take the money out and be happy with your lesson on why you shouldn’t invest in the stock market without a plan… Unfortunately there won’t be a magic way to get that money back.”
This Reddit user isn’t alone in his predicament. Young investors — who spearheaded the great equity and crypto investment boom in 2021 — are facing losses of a magnitude they haven’t known before.
In May, Subbiah, 29, from Bengaluru, spoke to the Financial Times’ Claer Barrett about the ₹5 lakh he lost in TerraLuna. The cryptocurrency was pegged to the dollar and well known to be ‘stablecoins’, but fell by 99%, with Luna falling from $90 to less than a few cents. Subbiah had made a part of his investment through credit cards, which means he now needs to make high-interest payments while dealing with this crippling loss.
