It is no surprise that you are thinking about investing in Instagram. It is worth $100 billion and has more than 500 million active daily users worldwide. It is an ever-growing platform and very attractive for an investment portfolio. I wanted to look into whether this was possible and how you would make a start on this investment. If this is something you would like to know a little bit more about, continue through this article.
Let’s dive a bit more into how to buy Instagram stock, what the prices are like and if there are any other options you could look at investing in.
What is the Instagram Ticker?
A Ticker or Stock symbol is a unique set of letters that are assigned to a security for trading purposes. More simply, they are a shorthand way of describing a company’s stock. Investors and traders use the symbol to place orders in trade. The Instagram ticker symbol is “FB”, and its stock is listed on the Nasdaq website.
In order to invest in Instagram, you will need to buy stock in Facebook. A month after Facebook purchased Instagram, they opened an initial public offering of more than 400 million shares at $38 per share, in 2012. The prices now are more around the $200 mark, but you will need to keep an eye on this as it does fluctuate.
Why might you want to buy stock in Instagram?
It is a global, extremely powerful social media platform which holds a vast number of users. It continues to rise in popularity; it has three times the number of users as Twitter. These factors make it highly likely for continued growth in the future.
How do you buy stock in Instagram?
Let’s say you are a beginner. The first step to buying Instagram stock is to decide how much you would like to invest and how many shares you want to buy. A formula for this found on Combin explains that it is the ‘Total Amount Desired to Invest’ divided by ‘Price Per Share’ which then equals the ‘Number of Shares you want to Purchase’. The second step is to open a brokerage account. The majority of people choose to open a brokerage account online. An example of this is E*TRADE or Merrill Edge. You want to go with a broker that matches all of your goals and criteria. This account is how you will buy your stocks. The next step is to place a stock order of Facebook stock. One way of doing this is getting a market order that means you buy the stock at its current price but the transaction won’t have gone through yet. The risk here is that you get the stock at the time the transaction is processed so the price could actually vary by then. The second option is to buy limit order. This is where you buy the stock at a specific price, and your transaction will only go through if shares are available at that price.
Instagram is actually owned by Facebook, which means that in order to invest in Instagram, you would need to buy stock in Facebook.
What is the price of Instagram stock?
If you want to keep up to date with the price of a stock, it is listed on the Nasdaq website. Remember that if you want to invest in the Instagram stock, you have to buy Facebook stock. Instagram’s ticker symbol is “FB”. On the 27th January 2021, at the time of writing, it was listed as $285.48. However, the price is always changing so you will need to keep an eye on this.
Are there any risks to investing in a social media stock?
Like all investment, there are some risks. But more specifically, to investing in a social media company, the main risk comes from the industry being based solely on user engagement. One main way that Instagram makes money is through advertising brands and businesses. Around 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business. However, if users are not engaging with advertisements and engaging with these companies, no brand will want to pay to promote themselves on Instagram. Therefore, the risk is that if another similar app were created that offered something more such as higher engagement, then many advertisers would divert their business to this company and pay them the money to market their products. So, the money in Instagram would decrease, and consequently, their stock value. Another risk factor is that Facebook owns Instagram. Therefore, if either one were to receive bad press or coverage in the media for security breaches, information data issues or negative news stories, then Instagram could see a reduced number of users and earnings.
Are there any other similar companies I could invest in?
Another social media industry you could invest in is Zoom video. During the Coronavirus pandemic, Zoom Video has become a vital part of communication for companies. There is a positive trend in remote working, which suggests that it will continue even after the pandemic. For example, Unilever has closed its offices and said its staff would be working from home indefinitely.
We hope that you have found this read interesting and informative. If you want to invest, you have your next steps nicely laid out in this article. Just remember to keep an eye on the fluctuating prices, and to pick your broker wisely.