Stock front-running has moved along with the changing times

livemint.com:

₹50,000 will become ₹50 lakh by investing in these powerful stocks.... 2) Here are financially strong penny stocks under ₹10 and ₹20 that you can invest in.... 3) In 2024, these are the powerful shares you should invest in.

Your ₹50,000 investment will turn into ₹1 crore.... 4) Just close your eyes and invest in these three penny shares in the solar energy sector.... Each of these short reels featured a lot of hyperbole and expressed certainty over making a lot of money.

And they had thousands of ‘likes’ from those watching these reels. Now, who is to say that individuals making these reels aren’t also front-running, like those appearing on TV? Social media in a way has democratized the practice. Earlier, one had to appear on TV or have some standing in stock investment circles to think of indulging in it.

Now anyone with a smartphone can think of doing it. As Michael Kemp writes in The Ulysses Contract: “Digital platforms have, unfortunately, provided a voice to the unenlightened, who are using this voice to guide the blindly unaware." The question is why retail investors trust such individuals. First, figuring out stocks to invest in on your own requires a lot of reading and thinking.

Given this, investors have always loved others giving them stock tips. Earlier, these tips would be spread through word of mouth, but now they can reach large numbers across social media and front-running can easily happen. In that sense, there has always been a market of investors who want to be actively lied to, and that market is still the same; only the mode of delivery has changed.