Democratizing the Access of Romanian Investors to Trading Financial Instruments through Specialized Platforms

By writing this paper, we aim to follow the evolution of Romanian retail investors’ access to trading financial instruments and cryptocurrencies through online platforms or specialized applications. We will follow the historical evolution of the participation of Romanian retail investors in trading on the capital market, the way in which access to trading is achieved, focusing in particular on the impact brought by the emergence of online platforms and mobile applications on the field. We will analyze the increase in the number of individuals using these specialized trading platforms, the cost of trading, but also the impact that this wave of new investors has generated on the prices of financial instruments and cryptocurrencies traded. We will also follow the reaction of the financial supervisory authorities in relation to the phenomenon, on a wider European and American level. Last but not least, we will also analyze the recent reaction of the Romanian legislator to this new reality as well as the simplification attempts from the point of view of the declaration of taxable income resulting from the trading of financial instruments, indicating the financial advantages and disadvantages generated by the current legislation for the Romanian investor, natural person.