'We love this stock': GameStop effect spreads as calls for probe build

By Sagarika Jaisinghani and Shriya Ramakrishnan

 

A GameStop store is seen in New York, U.S., January 27, 2021. REUTERS/Nick Zieminski

 

(Reuters) - The battle between small-time traders and hedge funds that has shaken U.S. and European stock markets moved into Asia on Thursday, with surges in several Australian companies joining a list of social-media hyped moves that have cost financial institutions billions of dollars.

 

Heavily shorted Australian shares, including Webjet and Tassal Group, climbed more than 5% even as Sydney's benchmark ASX 200 index fell 2%. [.AX]

 

In New York, GameStop, the video game chain at the heart of the slugfest between Wall Street and Main Street, added another 37% in early trading after a two-week, 1,700% surge that has hammered fund investors who were betting the stock would fall.

 

Driven by an army of individual traders who work through online brokerage apps like Robinhood.com and discuss stocks on anonymous social media messaging boards, the dramatic jump in the stock price of companies including GameStop, BlackBerry Ltd and AMC Corp drew more calls for regulatory scrutiny from commentators.

 

"The frenzy raises all sorts of questions with respect to possible market manipulation," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at retail broker CMC Markets UK.

 

"It is already illegal for institutions to coordinate in the manner currently being seen in moving prices on these stocks, raising questions about the legality of what is currently taking place right now on these forums."

 

The short squeeze - where traders have to abandon loss-making "short" bets on a stock falling because it has instead risen - also fueled a 2% slide in the benchmark S&P 500 on Wednesday as investors sold other assets to cover their losses.

 

Futures tracking the main New York index were down another 0.6% on Thursday. [.N]

 

 

Reddit discussion threads were again humming with chatter about the stocks on Thursday as membership of the trader-focused group WallStreetBets raced past 4 million.

 

In one discussion, thousands of participants responded "We love this stock" to a post that called for more buying of GameStop and cast retail traders as Iron Man against a hedge fund Thanos in a nod to the superhero movie "Avengers: Endgame".

 

BlackBerry and Nokia, however, slipped more than 5% in premarket trading after recording hefty gains this week and derivatives positioning pointed to a greater rise in the number of orders betting GameStop would fall.

 

"The idea that this is about hedge fund short-sellers transferring funds to a mass of ordinary retail buyers is a compelling story," said Paul Donovan, chief economist of UBS Global Wealth Management.

 

"But it is also a story that is unlikely to hold true beyond the brief period of the frenzy."

 

GAME ON

 

The war began last week when famed short seller Andrew Left of Citron Capital bet against GameStop and was met with a barrage of retail traders betting the other way. He said on Wednesday he had abandoned the bet.

 

Regarded by market professionals as "dumb money", the pack of traders, some of them former bankers working for themselves, have become an increasingly powerful force worth 20% of equity orders last year, data from Swiss bank UBS showed.

 

The only-way-is-up nature of stock markets over the past decade, fueled by a constant flow of newly created money from major central banks, has also made it less risky to bet on shares rising.

 

The U.S. Federal Reserve kept those taps firmly open at its latest meeting on Wednesday.

 

This week's turmoil caught the attention of the White House, with President Joe Biden's economic team - including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on her first full day on the job on Wednesday - "monitoring the situation."

 

Massachusetts state regulator William Galvin called on NYSE to suspend trading in GameStop for 30 days to allow a cooling-off period.

 

"The prospect of intervention here is clearly high, but this will just galvanize the (WallStreetBets) community as it just brings home the feeling of inequality in financial markets," said Chris Weston, head of research at broker Pepperstone in Melbourne.

 

"It's fine to prop up zombie companies through Fed actions but if retail follows a path that greatly distorts asset prices by targeting short sellers, then this gets shut down."

 

Reddit said on Wednesday that it had not been contacted by authorities over the surges.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-28

 

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This started a long time ago when this guy named u/deepf^cknigvalue  started posting his long OTM calls for GME.  That is all he has been doing for the last 2 years is buying calls.

 

Yesterday he posts his latest, check it out. On Friday a lot of calls will be realized so the stock could go even higher!

11 hours ago, Don Chance said:

This started a long time ago when this guy named u/deepf^cknigvalue  started posting his long OTM calls for GME.  That is all he has been doing for the last 2 years is buying calls.

 

Yesterday he posts his latest, check it out. On Friday a lot of calls will be realized so the stock could go even higher!

 

There are quite a few posts on WSB saying that Friday is not the day these calls will be realised, and that this is misinformation from the Hedge Funds in an attempt to get the individual consumer day traders to sell. The WSB Mods and are others are all calling "hold", don't sell until they say to sell. While I am not 100% as to the accuracy of this information, it does highlight the (mis)information battle that is going on. These Hedge Funds who prey on vulnerable companies to make their fortunes are for once getting beaten at their own game, and are trying every trick in the book, dirty or otherwise, to stop it happening.

Amongst other things, the WSB consumer traders have been called Alt-Right, Trumpists, they've been accused of manipulation and illegal trading. None of which is true. A group of individuals publicly sharing advice on what do buy and sell is totally legal.  By contrast, Hedge Fund groups meeting behind closed doors to secretly manipulate and gain unfair advantage arguably is (but difficult to prove without the damning evidence).

So I say 'good'. I hope WSB is able to cause enough disruption that it stops these behemoths bottom feeds to reconsider their tactics. Even better would be stronger regulations to reign them in.

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

In New York, GameStop, the video game chain at the heart of the slugfest between Wall Street and Main Street, added another 37% in early trading after a two-week, 1,700% surge that has hammered fund investors who were betting the stock would fall.

Personally, I hope they go broke. People that make money by destroying companies deserve zero sympathy when they get caught in a situation of their own creation.

Perhaps they should get real jobs.

Social media’s threat to elections was acceptable when it benefitted a party that can’t win the popular vote, but now it threatens the right the hyper wealthy believe they have to play bluff with other people’s businesses, money and life savings.

 

They’ll shortly be issuing their demands for that thing they tell us they abhor ‘regulation’.

 

'"It is already illegal for institutions to coordinate in the manner currently being seen in moving prices on these stocks, ' 

 

Not if you run a Hedge fund tho! 

Seems every mainstream media outlet is covering GME/Wallstreetbets right now. I was trying to find out where it started and this NYTimes article pinned it down to a guy called 'Keith Gill' who goes by the name 'Roaring Kitty' on social media https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/29/technology/roaring-kitty-reddit-gamestop-markets.html
Apparently, he put $53,000 into GME back in 2019 and he's been making youtube and tiktok videos about it ever since. Also, Michael Burry (portrayed in the 'Big Short' movie by Christian Bale) had 5% of his $330 million Scion management fund in GME, so he likely made more from GME than he did from the housing bubble in 2008. 
There's also lots of focus on wallstreetbets - some people just pile in, or invest for fun, just to be part of it, but there are some people who really do look at the underlying dynamics and do due diligence. 

8 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Social media’s threat to elections was acceptable when it benefitted a party that can’t win the popular vote, but now it threatens the right the hyper wealthy believe they have to play bluff with other people’s businesses, money and life savings.

 

They’ll shortly be issuing their demands for that thing they tell us they abhor ‘regulation’.

 

You are actually trying to insinuate that social media was backing Trump in the run up to the election??????????????

8 hours ago, biggles45 said:

'"It is already illegal for institutions to coordinate in the manner currently being seen in moving prices on these stocks, ' 

 

Not if you run a Hedge fund tho! 

And CNBC is their mouthpiece.

 

"How dare they (the common folk) feel enraged about the economy!"

"How dare they believe the system is rigged!"

"How dare they try using tech to level the playing field!"

"How dare they meme the message!"

 

Great seeing Louis Rossmann weigh in on this. Best guy for the job. I was an Apple fan once, long ago.

11 hours ago, Katipo said:

 

There are quite a few posts on WSB saying that Friday is not the day these calls will be realised, and that this is misinformation from the Hedge Funds in an attempt to get the individual consumer day traders to sell. The WSB Mods and are others are all calling "hold", don't sell until they say to sell. While I am not 100% as to the accuracy of this information, it does highlight the (mis)information battle that is going on. These Hedge Funds who prey on vulnerable companies to make their fortunes are for once getting beaten at their own game, and are trying every trick in the book, dirty or otherwise, to stop it happening.

Amongst other things, the WSB consumer traders have been called Alt-Right, Trumpists, they've been accused of manipulation and illegal trading. None of which is true. A group of individuals publicly sharing advice on what do buy and sell is totally legal.  By contrast, Hedge Fund groups meeting behind closed doors to secretly manipulate and gain unfair advantage arguably is (but difficult to prove without the damning evidence).

So I say 'good'. I hope WSB is able to cause enough disruption that it stops these behemoths bottom feeds to reconsider their tactics. Even better would be stronger regulations to reign them in.

imo the social media hoopla has drawn considerably more heat from the likes of the SEC than would of normally happened. Be nice to see them punished but these situation very rarely ever end fairly. If someone ever sold my shares to cover a bet it would be the last transaction they ever made for me and I would definitely be signing onto the class action that will soon follow..

Posts with unapproved video sources removed along with replies.  

 

 

11 hours ago, PattayaJames said:

 

You are actually trying to insinuate that social media was backing Trump in the run up to the election??????????????

You need to keep re-Reading until you understand what it is I said.

Could this be a potential conflict of interest? I know it's only 800G but she may feel obligated to help her wall street buddies more than the small investors.

 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/yellen-robinhood-citadel-gamestop-speaking-fees

Now imagine what would happen if these Reddit warriors realized what a general strike could do.

20 minutes ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

Could this be a potential conflict of interest? I know it's only 800G but she may feel obligated to help her wall street buddies more than the small investors.

 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/yellen-robinhood-citadel-gamestop-speaking-fees

The speaking fees are not unusally high and it's very, very common for influential people to give speeches to groups.   If you are interested here's what it will cost you to get George Bush, $170,000,  if you want Michelle Obama, $200,000, for Barack Obama runs $400,000.   

 

If I were a betting man, I'd short the crp out of GME.  But I'm going to stay out of this one.  When this is all over--probably soon--some people are going to lose their ass.  Hedgies, perhaps, but mostly retail pissants.   

They have also turned their attention to Silver which will be fun too.

Last two days has been interesting ????

 

1 hour ago, meechai said:

They have also turned their attention to Silver which will be fun too.

Last two days has been interesting ????

 

And the big boys are between a rock and a hard spot. They're upset cuz the little guys figured out how the game is played and that's not fair!

This is a financial populist revolt.  

 

I'm pleasantly surprised at some of the comments by those who hate one particular populist.

 

There's hope for you all!

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It's nice to see the little guys beat the big guys at their own game. However, it is unavoidable that the little guys who bought shares recently at a high price will be screwed. The stock price is now above $300 and the target price is around $10.

A long but excellent opinion article.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-01-28/knowing-when-to-sell-gamestop-stock-at-the-top-is-impossible

15 hours ago, ExpatOK said:

This is a financial populist revolt.  

 

I'm pleasantly surprised at some of the comments by those who hate one particular populist.

 

There's hope for you all!

 

There’s a gaping gap between the financial ‘flash mobbing’ that has beaten the hedge funds and the hate mongering that characterizes your ‘populist’.

 

 

21 hours ago, J Town said:

And the big boys are between a rock and a hard spot. They're upset cuz the little guys figured out how the game is played and that's not fair!

Thank you. You are coming around to a populist way of thinking.

 

Congratulations and Welcome Aboard!

25 minutes ago, ExpatOK said:

Thank you. You are coming around to a populist way of thinking.

 

Congratulations and Welcome Aboard!

How exactly did Trump look after the little guy.

Tax and spend

Health Care

Covid

Limits on the stock market and hedge funds

Not so much

 

2 hours ago, ExpatOK said:

Thank you. You are coming around to a populist way of thinking.

 

Congratulations and Welcome Aboard!

Some background reading for you:

 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/the-reclusive-hedge-fund-tycoon-behind-the-trump-presidency

Troll post removed.

 

If you ask me this whole idea of "shorting" a stock is ridiculous, who has come up with and allowed it to happen and then how everybody else accepted it I think leads you to believe those behind hedge funds are running the show, and manipulating the market of course - amazingly all regulatory bodies go on with it...., borrow stock you don't own and then sell it to someone else... <deleted>....! ????

 

Would you buy a car or a house or anything from someone who doesn't own it....!!!?

 

Simple solution, ban the damn shorting thing..., you buy a stock from someone that really owns it, or sell a stock that you actually own, that's it, done...! Anything else is a joke....????

 

Of course you can bet on stock prices, but that's not going to be in the scale and effect it has on companies, different cattle of fish....

 

10 hours ago, Agusts said:

If you ask me this whole idea of "shorting" a stock is ridiculous, who has come up with and allowed it to happen and then how everybody else accepted it I think leads you to believe those behind hedge funds are running the show, and manipulating the market of course - amazingly all regulatory bodies go on with it...., borrow stock you don't own and then sell it to someone else... <deleted>....! ????

 

Would you buy a car or a house or anything from someone who doesn't own it....!!!?

 

Simple solution, ban the damn shorting thing..., you buy a stock from someone that really owns it, or sell a stock that you actually own, that's it, done...! Anything else is a joke....????

 

Of course you can bet on stock prices, but that's not going to be in the scale and effect it has on companies, different cattle of fish....

 

 

Shorting is a good thing. Here's why. 

 

 

The S&P500 was at 2,200 in mid 2000 and didn't reach those levels again till 2015. It took 8 years to bottom out. Imagine having a massive amount of your personal wealth locked into a 401k for that period, watching it drop and not being able to go short. 

 

Saying that, shorting more shares than exist is ludicrous.

 

You and I have to borrow shares and pay interest during the holding time. Those rules don't seem to apply to hedge funds, who shorted more than 100% of the float. 

 

Shares available to float should be limited to those made available by holders allowing them to borrow. 

 

You can't buy shares that aren't available, why should you be able to short sell more than exist? That is nonsense. 

Try shorting Onions, see what happens. 

 

Not the first time...