Some are in it just for the money, others to help buy a meal. Then there are those who trade for fun or to spend time among friends. Millions of investors – pensioners, security guards, high-school students – dominate China's stock markets, conducting about 80 percent of all trades. Retirees gather in brokerage houses dotted around China also to enjoy some company and savour the air conditioning on hot days. Some start as young as 13, trading from home with an eye on future careers in finance. Winning isn't guaranteed. This year, among the most turbulent in China's financial history, its stock markets more than doubled in the six months to May, only to crash amid concerns that growth in the country, which makes everything from cars to steel, is slowing faster than previously thought. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

Recording artist Lady Gaga performs during a stop of The Monster Ball Tour at the MGM Grand Garden Arena March 25, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Performers dressed as Pikachu, the popular animation Pokemon series character, perform in the Pikachu parade in Yokohama on August 7, 2016. Some 50 life-size Pikachu characters, the most famous from the Pokemon game, marched along the city’s waterfront street as visitors took mobile phone pictures and videos of them in scorching sunshine. Some participants said they attended the event to search for rare characters of Pokemon – a word short for “pocket monster” – for the megahit smartphone app, which was launched in several countries around the world last month. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP Photo)

Characters dressed as Elmo and Cookie Monster who pose for tips take a photo by request from a tourist (2nd R, black pants) in Times Square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 29, 2016. (Photo by Rickey Rogers/Reuters)

Bull Rider Dalton Kasel rides The Good Stuff during the second round of the PBR Unleash The Beast Monster Energy Buckoff at Madison Square Garden in New York, January 8, 2022. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)

The artist Luke Egan, also known as Filthy Luker, gets Horrible Harvey, his inflatable monster on October 26, 2022, pumped up for his debut at the annual Halloween in the City celebrations in Manchester, United Kingdom this weekend. (Photo by Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire Press Association via Getty Images)

Thiago Salgado from the US flips in the air after riding Razzmatazz during Round 3 of the 2023 PBR Unleash the Beast Monster Energy Buck Off at the Madison Square Garden in New York on January 8, 2023. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)

Hot air balloons rise over Innes Common Park during a dawn lift on March 29, 2012 in Hamilton, New Zealand. Each Autumn over 30 hot air balloons grace the sky as part of the Balloons Over Waikato Festival. (Photo by Sandra Mu/Getty Images)