I really doubt there are more individual investors in the stock market than there are individuals buying webcams and microphones, but even assuming this is true

I really doubt there are more individual investors in the stock market than there are individuals buying webcams and microphones, but even assuming this is true > which sometimes drops 30% or more, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars or more of losses. 1) This is entirely ignoring the fact that the stock market goes up more often than it goes down. Similarly, tech almost only decreases in value. A $100 webcam might be a nice upgrade, but it will never transform into a $200 webcam. 2) A dip in stock price isn't the same as actually losing money. If you're gambling your money on meme stocks, sure, unsafe bets exist. But otherwise, a 30% dip one day is meaningless without context. The S&P500 dipped 30% over the last week of March 2020. If you put in money in February 2020, watched it crash, held through to today, you would still be up 25% from your initial investment.