Who participated in the GameStop frenzy? Evidence from brokerage accounts

•GameStop was the first case of predatory trading credited to retail investors.•We profile retail investors participating in the frenzy using individual brokerage data.•GameStop investors had a history of investing in lottery-like stocks prior to investing in GameStop.•Several retail investors also took short positions during the frenzy.•We show that retailers did not purely engage in a digital protest against WallStreet.