Inside the $1 billion cottage industry cashing in on the retail-trading phenomenon

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Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI
  • A booming cottage industry has taken root amid the retail trader phenomenon.

  • Courses, retreats, coaching, and other services are growing as day traders look for an edge in the market.

  • Those in the industry say traders are bored, desperate to improve, or desire to go full-time.

Somewhere in Bali, a group of investors — mostly men — file through the gates of a luxury villa, replete with tiki huts and couches by the poolside. This isn’t just a vacation, they say. The goal, in part, is to make tons of money, Aaron Luce, the leader of the weeklong retreat for day traders, tells the camera.

“This is a beautiful pool spot. We’re all going to be chilling for the week when we make loads of money trading,” Luce says in a YouTube video documenting the experience, which includes a montage of traders looking at candlestick charts and, intermittently, taking breaks and cannonballing into the pool.

This kind of retreat is a relatively new phenomenon, offered to traders looking for an edge amid the explosion of interest in the stock market since the pandemic.

In recent years, a cottage industry has taken root amid the hype for stock trading. Social media is rife with businesses offering courses, getaways, one-on-one coaching, and other services that claim to improve traders’ performance and get them in the right mindset to turn a profit.

And demand, evidently, is booming — in large part due to traders who are swinging to go full-time, desperate to improve, or, in some cases, are simply bored, sources in the space told Business Insider.

The industry offering these kinds of services to day traders swelled to around $1.68 billion in 2024, and is on track to grow 11% each year to hit $3.92 billion in 2033, according to one estimate from Business Research Insights. A separate analysis from Dataintelo Consulting estimated that the market was valued at around $2.5 billion in 2023, and is on track to more than double to $5.8 billion by 2032.

Google search interest in “Day trading courses” is up 10% over the past year, according to data from the Google Trends analytics tool Glimpse. Searches for “Trading retreat” and “Trading coach” are up 26% and 69% over the past year, respectively, while interest for “Trading therapist” has skyrocketed 263%.

On Coursera, enrollment in online trading courses soared 213% in the five years leading up to 2024, according to data the online course provider shared with Business Insider.

The online trading platform Webull also says it’s seen the number of users on its learning platform grow 37% over the last 3 years.



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