“Do you play on the stock market? You should do it.”
Unfortunately, the headline is something I hear sometimes, as if investing in listed stocks would be some kind of gambling or computer game. Either a zero-sum game where only the "house" wins, or a basically meaningless activity with game-bound points as a yardstick.
Unfortunately, the headline is something I hear sometimes, as if investing in listed stocks would be some kind of gambling or computer game. Either a zero-sum game where only the "house" wins, or a basically meaningless activity with game-bound points as a yardstick.
As wild as unfounded price increases in more or less bankrupt shares such as GameStop and Hertz have diluted the misunderstanding of what investments really are all about. But there is a way to "play" on the stock market that actually means investments - buying shares in gaming and e-sports companies. In November 2020, Vontobel launched a certificate with a direct focus on the megatrend with computer games. The certificate called STRAT ESPORT VON has the Vontobel E-Sports & Gaming Index as underlying. The index is managed by Vontobel and its composition changes in line with the conditions for selected companies in game-related areas such as game developers, video streaming, cloud-based games, semiconductor companies and more. The index fee is 1.25% p.a. As an investor in the certificate you bear Vontobel’s credit risk (the risk that the issuer of the certificate is not able to fulfill its obligations under the certificate).
Strategic Certificates
If you think that gaming is just a pastime for young people, then you have completely missed what is happening. It is the gaming sector that drives the demand for both advanced graphics cards and image processing software and e.g. user interfaces in the form of increasingly immersive hardware such as power feedback gloves, VR glasses and suits. Watch the movie Ready Player One (and soon Two) or read the book if you want to get an updated sense of where the gaming world is going, and perhaps in fact most of all human activity both professionally and in everyday life. The Covid pandemic advanced the industry's positions by 5-10 years and the imagination by even more. Teleworking and digital entertainment are not just here to stay, now that many both companies and their employees have a taste of methods to simultaneously increase efficiency and reduce the environmental footprint, the transition will rather accelerate from here. Of course, all business and leisure travel will not disappear. We are still social beings in need of the unique multimodal mindset that IRL meetings entail, but the majority of long journeys, especially flights, are probably gone for good.
Football, basketball and tennis in all their glory, but computer games can be made so much more interesting than physical sports where human anatomy has set the limits once and for all. It is already noticeable in the audience interest and the prize money that computer games are both more relatable and audience-friendly for many more than physical sports are. Everyone can play computer games, but that of tormenting their body to the limit to run after a ball that almost never goes to goal finds resonance with an ever smaller group of guys who mostly want an excuse to drink beer. No, take the cotton wool out of your ears, stop asking for rocket cheese in the grocery store, and realize that kids would rather boost their brains and fly into the future on a nootropic diet and VR rig, than dull their childhood trauma with solvent from the Viking Age. In addition, you can make money from your gaming, whether it is e-sports or in-game sales of digital products. How many football fans with a beer belly can say the same about their hobby?
In the future, we will have fun without harming the environment or spreading pandemics. Then the digital path could be the only one that is really sustainable. In the near future, the global gaming market is estimated to exceed $ 200 billion, which does not include, for example, equipment manufacturers and semiconductor companies. There are a number of key industries that will build humanity's way forward, such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology and nanotechnology, and together with this stands the metaverse as well as VR / AR technology and e-sports / gaming. If you do not know exactly how to find the winners when you are looking for games on the stock exchange but you are ready to take the risk in the stock markets, Vontobel's certificate is a way to gain exposure to a megatrend that is both exciting and moral. Have fun investing and playing through life at the same time. Get ready, player one!
Strategic Certificates
This information is in the sole responsibility of the guest author and does not necessarily represent the opinion of Bank Vontobel Europe AG or any other company of the Vontobel Group. The further development of the index or a company as well as its share price depends on a large number of company-, group- and sector-specific as well as economic factors. When forming his investment decision, each investor must take into account the risk of price losses. Please note that investing in these products will not generate ongoing income.
The products are not capital protected, in the worst case a total loss of the invested capital is possible. In the event of insolvency of the issuer and the guarantor, the investor bears the risk of a total loss of his investment. In any case, investors should note that past performance and / or analysts' opinions are no adequate indicator of future performance. The performance of the underlyings depends on a variety of economic, entrepreneurial and political factors that should be taken into account in the formation of a market expectation.