THE SMALL INVESTOR IN THE BRAZILIAN STOCK MARKET: RISE AND FALL OF AN ECONOMIC AGENT

Markets and economic agents do not spontaneously arise from opportunities to maximize gains or minimize losses. This article aims at addressing both the social and the material construction of the “small investors” boom in the Brazilian stock market within the context of the historically unprecedented “bull” market, experienced in Brazil between 2003 and 2008. First, I shall evidence the diffusion of the legitimation discourses on the practice of stock investments, moving forward to the presentation of the technological artifacts that constitute the calculation agency of such small investors, as well as their cognitive competences and investment styles. To conclude, I make an attempt to discuss the effects ignited by both the financial crisis of 2008 and the present context of a “bearish” and volatile market on the sensible retraction of the small investor participation on financial volume traded in the Brazilian stock market.