Video summary

I Tracked 30 Finance YouTubers... 18 Are Losing Money!

Main summary

Key takeaways

Finance

Overview

The creator tracked multiple finance YouTube channels’ “best stocks for 2026” lists that were posted in early January. They ranked each channel’s stock-pick performance over the first ~6 months of 2026, described as a mid-season leaderboard.

A key takeaway is a “K-shaped” dispersion: many value/traditional picks were down heavily, while several AI/growth-heavy pickers were up strongly.

Markets / Macro Context

  • No explicit macroeconomic variables (rates, inflation, GDP) were discussed.
  • The framing included a general reference to a “SaaS apocalypse” that hurt SaaS-related stock picks.

Instruments / Tickers Mentioned

Most are presented as single-stock candidates from “best pick” lists (not necessarily stocks the creators held).

Large-cap / index-like / financials & media

  • S&P 500 (benchmark used)
  • S&P Global
  • Netflix
  • Mastercard

Semiconductors / hardware / AI-growth theme

  • ASML
  • TSM
  • AMD
  • Lam Research
  • Micron
  • Marvell
  • Vertiv
  • CrowdStrike
  • Intel
  • Shift4
  • Mercado Libre
  • NVIDIA (not mentioned in subtitles; explicitly noted as not included)

Tech / software / SaaS (notably weak)

  • Adobe
  • Salesforce
  • ServiceNow
  • The Trade Desk
  • Duolingo
  • Lululemon

Other sectors mentioned

  • Alibaba (e-commerce/tech)
  • Nike (consumer)
  • Celsius (consumer beverages)
  • PayPal (fintech)
  • Hims (health/telehealth)
  • Sezzle
  • TransMedics
  • Nokia
  • Bloom Energy
  • Kratos Defense
  • Fubo (streaming/media)
  • SoFi (fintech/consumer finance)

Example mentioned but rejected for rule issues

  • Arrival (example of a disqualified/invalid submission)

Repeated mention

  • Hims (appears again above)

Explicitly not included

  • Walmart / Amazon / Tesla (not mentioned in the provided context; called out as not included)

Miscellaneous / unclear symbol

  • U (appears only as the ticker “U”; context suggests “Unity,” but only “U” is shown)

“Steer/disclosure-ish” outsized gain move examples (ticker sometimes missing)

  • Air Test System

    • Referenced move: $21 → $96 by end of June
    • (Ticker not stated in the provided summary text)

  • SanDisk (within a disqualified/comment-edited case)

  • Western Digital
  • Seagate Technology

Crypto / Bonds / Commodities

  • Crypto: none mentioned
  • Bonds / commodities: none mentioned

Performance Metrics & Key Numbers

Scoring setup

  • Performance window: ~first 6 months (“in just 6 months”, “mid-season ranking”)
  • Benchmark: S&P 500

Tier ranges (described qualitatively with examples)

  • Tier F: roughly worse than -20%

    • Brian Stoffel: -33% average (5/5 losing picks), marked Tier F
    • Fire Up Wealth: -27%; includes Salesforce and ServiceNow among worst picks
    • Parikshit Tatibossian: bottom tier; includes The Trade Desk and Lululemon
    • ZipTrader: “below -20% in just six months”; includes Adobe and Salesforce

  • Tier E: -20% to -10%

    • Travis / Asymmetric Investing: -19%
    • Everything Money: -15% total (examples: Adobe, Alibaba, Nike)

  • Tier D: -10% to near break-even

    • Financial Education / Jeremy: ~8% in the red (includes an AMD pick)
    • Daniel Pronk: -7% (picks: Shift4, Mercado Libre)
    • Chris Sain: “almost breaking even” (examples: Caterpillar, Nike, SoFi)

  • Tier C: around +4%

    • Couch Investor: +4%
      • Best: Sezzle
      • Worst: TransMedics
    • Joseph Carlson: +8%
      • Good: ASML, TSM
      • Lagging examples: S&P Global, Netflix, Mastercard

  • Tier B: about +13%

    • Three YouTubers around 13% returns

  • Tier A and above: described as >40% returns, including extremes

    • Business with Brian (winner last year): 8th position
      • Mentions: MarketBeats ~35% return (with Intel and AMD)
      • Mentions “five more people between 40% and 50%”
    • Tom Nash: 47% returns (includes Vertiv)
    • A cluster called out as “Tom Nash with Bloom Energy / Nokia / Vertiv” associated with top-40% territory
    • Micron-driven outperformance: “In third position… real difference was made by Micron.”
    • Second position: Jose Najarro
      • Noted AMD at 165%
      • Also mentions Marvell
      • Includes “Air Test System $21 → $96 by end of June”
    • Current leader: “100 and 1%” (~100.1% returns total)
      • Channel: Yulia of The Market Monkeys
    • Additional large positive: “83% returns, the second” (subtitle ordering described as messy, but at least one finisher is clearly 83%)

Community participation / outperform counts

  • “While only 40% of professional finance YouTubers are beating the S&P 500, 50% of viewers/comments are beating the index.”
  • “98 of you are officially outperforming the stock market right now.”
  • Disqualifications:
    • ~200% return leader (Ricon Seth) disqualified because the commenter edited their comment
    • Peter Morris disqualified/flagged for listing only three names (fails “at least five stocks” rule)

Explicit Ranking Rules / Framework

Rule 1: Timeline

  • The creator must have posted their “best stock” video before Jan 7.
  • If posted late, they can still be admitted, but results are computed from the exact upload date (not Jan 1).

Rule 2: Minimum channel size

  • Channel must have at least 5,000 subscribers.

Rule 3: Stock list requirement

  • Must share at least five different stocks.
  • Fewer than five names are excluded (examples mentioned: Future Investing, Arrival Investing).

Rule 4: No day trading

  • Not allowed if they only trade short-term/technical setups.
  • Tracking is based on the video’s stock picks, not necessarily the creator’s current portfolio.
  • Example idea: a creator might have sold something like Adobe, but it still counts if they committed to it for the game period.

Disqualification handling

  • Disqualify submissions that are edited in ways that undermine verification (e.g., edited comment).

Recommendations / Cautions (Framing)

  • The video does not provide direct buy/sell advice.
  • It emphasizes:
    • Many popular creator picks underperformed—especially SaaS-related names.
    • Early-month performance was highly dispersed.
  • It treats the “best stock” videos as a game/holding competition, not proof of suitability for real portfolios.

Disclosures / Disclaimers

  • Subtitles include a rule explanation clarifying tracking is about videos, not necessarily the creator’s actual holdings.
  • No explicit “not financial advice” line appears in the provided summary text.

Presenters / Sources Mentioned

Host / creator

  • Referred to through first-person narration (“I’m tracking…”, “my channel became popular…”).
  • No specific name was provided in the subtitles within the provided summary.

Named finance YouTubers / channels referenced in leaderboard context

  • Joseph Carson
  • Tom Nash
  • Charlie (ZipTrader)
  • Meet Kevin
  • Adam Khoo
  • Amit (last name not provided)
  • Brian Stoffel
  • Fire Up Wealth
  • Parikshit Tatibossian
  • ZipTrader
  • Travis / Asymmetric Investing
  • Paul / Everything Money
  • Dividend Compounders with cheese
  • Stealth Wealth Investing
  • Deep Value Hunter
  • Ashutosh Shrivastava
  • Adreconomics
  • Jeremy / Financial Education
  • Daniel Pronk
  • Invest with Henry
  • Sven Carlin
  • Chris Sain
  • Couch Investor
  • Joseph Carlson
  • Jerry Romine / The Patient Investor / Mark Roussin
  • Business with Brian
  • Bridget (MarketBeat)
  • Joseph Hogue / Bloom Energy
  • Fintech / Nokia
  • The Market Monkeys (Yulia)
  • Jose Najarro
  • Success Pockets
  • Ricon Seth (disqualified)
  • Peter Morris (disqualified/flagged)
  • MarketBeats (implied via “Market Beats”)

Other examples mentioned

  • Felix and Winston (mentioned as not participating)
  • Additional named pickers in examples: Sven Carlin, Henry, etc.

Original video