Dave Portnoy's Rise As A 'FinTwit' Influencer

Influencers on Finance Twitter have seen a rise in popularity recently as retail traders have turned to the social media platform for trading advice.

Benzinga is pointing out some of the biggest names, in a series on these "FinTwit" influencers.

This week, it's "Davey Day Trader" Dave Portnoy.

A watermelon and pizza connoisseur, who last week inadvertently filmed a Chicago carjacking while taste-testing a passerby’s McDonald’s Spicy McChicken sandwich, is followed not only for his entertainment value but also for his trading advice.

His Focus: As founder of Barstool Sports, a partner of Penn National Gaming, Inc. PENN, it’s not surprising Portnoy’s trading is focused on the sports betting sector. He does weigh in on other sectors, however, and recently supported retail traders as they tried to take on the Wall Street elite by running up meme stocks.

Man Of The People: Portnoy and VanEck Vectors, a U.S. investment firm, recently launched an ETF that holds stocks trending on social media. The move came following the GameStock Corporation GME and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc AMC mania. The VanEck Vectors Social Sentiment ETF BUZZ doesn’t hold meme stocks, however. Some of the top holdings in the fund are Twitter Inc TWTR at 3.52% and DraftKings Inc DKNG, which makes up 3.37% of its holdings.

Swaying The Crowd: Like Chamath Palihapitiya, Portnoy’s tweets sometimes bring controversy. A wild card who can become aggressive for seemingly no reason, Portnoy’s live trading videos often echo a person watching their favorite sports team win or lose, which makes him exciting to watch. Portnoy is also known to pick fights with hedge funds and sets up Wall Street-versus-Main Street duels in doing so.

“PRISON TIME. Dems and Republicans haven’t agreed on 1 issue till this. That’s how blatant, illegal, unfathomable today’s events are. It also shows how untouchable @RobinhoodApp @StevenACohen2C Citadel Point72 all think they are. Fines aren’t enough. Prison or bust,” Portnoy wrote in a tweet aimed at hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen amid the furor over Robinhood's trading halts in January.

See also: Elon Musk And His Rise As A 'FinTwit' Influencer

He Sticks To His Game: Although sometimes venturing outside the sports sector, Portnoy usually sticks to what he knows, tweeting out advice on how to play Penn National.

“Don’t trust me. I could be wrong for 1st time in 20 years. I’m not a financial advisor. But only a fool wouldn’t buy the dip. $penn,” he wrote during last week's red streak.

Last month Portnoy took to Twitter to post a video in support of another e-gaming stock, claiming to have taken a $2.7 million position in Canada's Score Media and Gaming Inc. SCR, although he made his fans guess the company based on clues.

“Fine! It rhymes with ‘the door,’ that’s all I’m saying. And I had to figure out how to buy it because it ain’t American,” he said on the video.