A research outfit called Citrini Research sent the market into a tailspin last month with a dystopian thought exercise on the AI-driven economy of the future. Traders didn’t come by this report on the Bloomberg Terminal or in the annals of a bank’s research portal.
The report dropped on Substack, the newsletter publisher that’s become a go-to for retail traders seeking to up their game with insights from some of the market’s leading voices.
While lesser-known firms like Citrini have utilized the platform to reach markets, investing icons like Michael Burry and Ray Dalio have also used it to bring their views to the masses.
As investors flock to Substack for investing analysis and commentary, it appears more and more like the platform is providing the same service for retail traders that a Bloomberg terminal does for Wall Street.
“I like Substack because it is often retail or industry operators commenting and they often have unique insights,” Amrita Bhasin, a retail trader who works in the e-commerce industry, told Business Insider. “Because it is more informal, these writers can share their authentic thoughts and it comes across as more their stream of consciousness vs. heavily edited content for an audience.”
For writers like the famed trader Michael Burry, that definitely seems to be the case. Once a fleeting presence on social media—known for often joining and deleting his X account in the same day—Burry is now posting novella-length views on stocks he’s interested in.
Ray Tariq, an entrepreneur from Melbourne, Australia, says Substack’s power lies in its ability to shorten the distance between retail and institutional thinking.
“A well-timed, well-written post can move sentiment fast, especially when it gets screenshotted and shared across X and trading chats,” he noted. “Many retail traders are wired into those channels. That doesn’t mean the analysis is wrong or right. It means the distribution is immediate.”
Tariq recalled how 10 years ago, detailed market research from finance pros was reserved strictly for those who could afford expensive subscriptions. He thinks the rise of Substack is helping change that.
Steven Wang, CEO of copytrading platform Dub, echoed that view, noting the fundamental shift in the accessibility of market research that has occurred in recent years, one that he sees as highly beneficial for retail investors.
“Substack is really powerful as a reflection of everything that’s transpired in the past maybe five to 10 years,” he told Business Insider. “I think the democratization and information talent is really budding beyond the walls of Wall Street.”
While that may be true, some finance professionals who work with retail traders urge caution.
James Sixsmith, CEO of prop trading firm Take Profit Trader, noted that Substack can certainly provide market research from finance pros for those who can’t afford to pay for a Bloomberg terminal. However, he also sees some drawbacks amid the rise of democratized market research.
“The majority of that information is now taken as the automatic truth,” he said, referring to Substack posts like the Citrini note, which helped shave 800 points off the Dow the day it was published. “This is a science fiction article, basically with one possibility that gets shared on X. It goes from Substack to X, it gets read, and then it goes viral. And now everybody that reads it in the retail world thinks it’s the absolute truth.”
Wang also noted that he sees some risk for traders who might read Substack investing content and not understand the risks involved in what an investing pro might be talking about, such as shorting stocks. He added, though, that this could be a logical next frontier for Substack, potentially providing tools or educational insights alongside the content from writers on the platform.
“I think there could be a world where Substack could build in the execution,” he said. “To take that next step, to bring it beyond just idea generation, to actually creating and almost portfolio management.”
