‘This Is Not Financial Advice’ Shows Human Side of Crypto, Meme Craze, and Influencers

investopedia.com:

On February 5, 2021, then 33-year-old retail investor Glauber Contessoto emptied out his bank account, maxed out his credit cards, and put everything he had in Dogecoin—69 days later, his initial investment of $180,000 was worth over $1 million. 

Contessoto was like millions of new traders who flocked to crypto exchanges with all the money they could gather, placing big bets on mythical securities that seemed to magically rise until the day the music stopped and the losses mounted. More than 20 million new traders and investors opened online trading accounts for cryptocurrency and stocks amid the pandemic. The combination of stimulus money, ultra-low interest rates, and work-from-home boredom fueled multiple bubbles across the capital markets.  Those bubbles popped, as we know, but not before taking new traders like Contessoto and his friends on a wild ride. 

Directed by Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci, This is Not Financial Advice shows how cryptocurrency and the democratization of not only the stock market, but financial literacy itself thanks to social media, has changed the way people access financial information and invest. But the film also offers an at-times-painful look into the pitfalls of investing in meme stocks and crypto. 

«What gets lost in the media hype around the crypto and meme stock boom and bust is that real people's lives were profoundly affected by it,” says Caleb Silver, editor-in-chief of Investopedia. “This is Not Financial Advice reminds us about that in a profound and important way while educating us about how to understand today's markets through a compelling narrative.»

Premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, the documentary follows Contessoto and other every day retail