Date of Award

1-1-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Yu, Sherry

Area of Concentration

Economics, Finance as a Secondary Field

Abstract

This paper analyzes the global stock-market and day-trading ecosystem through the structural duality between retail access platforms and institutional liquidity providers. Using Robinhood (retail) and Citadel (institutional) strictly as illustrative anchors, not as case studies, it applies five economic lenses to explain how access, execution, and information co-evolve. Empirical context is drawn from market-cap trends, volume data, volatility series, and Federal Reserve policy cycles. The core finding is that democratization and concentration advance together: retail innovation broadens participation, while institutional market making concentrates liquidity, speed, and data advantage. These forces form a closed feedback loop that delivers efficiency yet encodes asymmetry, particularly visible during tightening cycles and stress events. Looking ahead to 2030, the industry’s trajectory is likely to be shaped by regulatory modernization, technological convergence, and global integration. The paper concludes that market integrity will depend on “trust architecture”: aligning access with transparency so innovation strengthens, rather than destabilizes, the financial system.

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