State Lawmakers Call For Investigation Amid Stock Market Volatility

Oklahoma state lawmakers want an investigation into some stock market apps, after an incident this week that pitted thousands of small investors against some huge ones. They have asked the Attorney General to look into Robinhood's actions.

Some large investors make money by betting that certain stocks will lose value. This week people on Reddit came together to buy massive amounts of stock in GameStop and other companies.

That drove the price of those stocks way up, at the expense of the large investors.

"It's a dangerous game to play, if you're playing it with money that you can't afford to lose,” said financial expert Paul Hood.

The controversy began when Robinhood and some other trading services restricted buying shares in those companies Thursday, allowing everyday people to only sell shares. That caused prices to plummet.

"The trading restrictions implemented by Robinhood are a clear example of market manipulation designed to protect big banks and hedge funds," Representative Logan Phillips from Mounds said. "The app claims to want to 'democratize finance,’ but their actions over the past 48 hours have served to silence individual investors, including thousands of Oklahomans."

Hood believes the moves by those apps overwhelmingly favored big institutions and not Oklahomans.

"We live in the greatest country on the planet, and our freedom gives us the right to do stupid things. So, if I buy a share of a stock, for 10 dollars, and you're willing to pay 300 dollars for it, for no economic reason other than chance, then more power to you,” said Hood.

Hood remembers there was a big surge of people who got into day trading a few years ago and lost lot of money. Hood urges people to stay informed so that doesn't happen again.