Fancy some GameStop stock?

[Spoonman]

18 minutes ago, Alan Stock said:

Also, why are the Reddit trader folks so against the hedge funds etc, is short selling and such damaging to the little guy in the stock market? 

 

It's more that the greedy fucks were, in their ideal world, hoping that Gamestop died. No pensions, no jobs for the people, etc. That's how they make their money, on the misery of others.

 

Now the shoe is on the other foot, and thousands of people have put small - large (relative terms) of cash into GME to buy some stock, which drives up the price. Simple stock market, except... except... the hedge fund dudes have to buy back the stocks that they were hoping would cost them nothing. They now stand at $440 each.

 

The funny thing is that it's the same game, but the people that are used to winning are not. It's like watching Man U (or whomever is good) being beaten my literally your local VILLAGE team, not even a Div 2 team. You and the boys play football against ManU and are up 10-1. Prize money is £50k each. Doesn't matter to the owners of ManU or the rest of the premiership, they earn enough, but for you it's huge. and it's huge for your village club.

 

Now I want this footy scenario to play out.

[dumpster]

26 minutes ago, Alan Stock said:

Also, why are the Reddit trader folks so against the hedge funds etc, is short selling and such damaging to the little guy in the stock market? 

Watch Betting on Zero, if it's still on Netflix.  

 

It's about a hedge fund manager who intensely dislikes multi level marketing schemes. He particularly goes after Herbalife, a company that uses aggressive marketing tactics to sell diets nutrition shakes all over the world. He travels the world, assisting people who lost money in a class action lawsuit against Herbalife. He appears on chat shows telling people to stay away from the company, and basically comes across as a decent human being who is trying to protect people from being duped by this massive company. His hard work gives Herbalife a bad name. What a hero.

 

Everything he says about Herbalife appears to be true. But from the start there's a conflict of interest. He is a hedge fund manager, and he stands to make millions and millions of dollars for him and his investors if Herbalife go bust. They have been "Betting on Zero" and if Herbalife go out of business he will make a fortune.

 

It's a fascinating documentary which explains all about short selling, but at the same time raises a moral question.   Herbalife is a company that deserves to go under. But when the hedge funds gets involved they have such a vested interest in the company struggling that they do everything in their power to make it happen. The hedge fund manager wants to put himself across as a hero, protecting people from this company. But is he really? Like, whose interests is he serving. Good movie.

 

 

 

[Oz]

11 minutes ago, LaveDisco said:

This is really going to be a big deal. Rich, important people banding together to influencing the market for their own gain is fine. We'll even bail them out if it goes wrong. But poor people doing it? Shit's going to get real.

The issue might be some of these are the same people in two platforms. Nothing is preventing a hedge fund manager from also using reddit or an iphone app. I think this us vs. them debate may be reductive.

 

Maybe they fucked themselves over because on the fund they are betting with other people's money and on the app they've put their own money. So they loose investor's money (then reimbursed by the government) and on the other side they make millions on their iPhone app. 

 

[MW_Jimmy]

12 minutes ago, Alan Stock said:

Also, why are the Reddit trader folks so against the hedge funds etc, is short selling and such damaging to the little guy in the stock market? 

 

I think there are three reasons why they became so invested in this:

 

1) Some underlying nostalgia for retail - these hedge funds took the GameStop stock down slowly over many years, wrote all their articles saying it was a bad investment, and continued to profit. Mid-summer GameStop stock was around $3 and they got a new CEO and made moves on digital and online marketplace. At this point the hedge funds didn't change - they took out shorts again - not content with the massive profits made from the misfortune of the company it seemed like they wouldn't be happy until they squeezed maximum value from them - $0

 

2) Punishing bad financial decisions - the hedge funds took short stock of over 100% on GameStop (I believe this is the only stock in this unique situation) and really should've covered their positions so that this couldn't have unfolded, and they didn't.

 

3) Pride - it's turned into a war of attrition and now they've taken it this far they won't want to blink first, no matter the outcome.

[therearerules]

7 minutes ago, Spoonman said:

 

They now stand at $440 each.

Genuinely surprised it broke through $420.69

[Spoonman]

New Challenger!

 

 

[Oz]

 

[Timmo]

15 hours ago, Harsin said:

I've tried my best to follow the shares discussion in the Off Topic thread and 

 

 

I mean, I was never top of the class but this all makes me feel properly stupid.

[Boozy The Clown]

It's purposely designed to make you feel stupid. Kinda like the law.

[Oz]

 

5 hours ago, Boozy The Clown said:

It's purposely designed to make you feel stupid. Kinda like the law.

 

speaking of the law. at some point robinhood blocked users from being able to purchase any more shares. I get the feeling this was extremely ilegal. The hedge funds can set up shorts for 3 times the quantity of the actual number of shares in circulation but robinhood users are not allowed to bet against them? Sounds very ilegal to me. But I am not a lawyer. do you have a view Boozy? 

[Boozy The Clown]

My view. Whilst this is being declared as a big win against the rich. The hedge fund manager gets paid either way so it's not actually harming the real bastards. 

[HarryBizzle]

I think it helps to think of options trading as paired trades. You can't buy without selling and can't sell without buying. Whichever you do, buy or sell, you need to then do the opposite to close the trade, and you want to do it in such a way that makes you money.

 

You never actually own anything tangible and there's not even a pretence of being interested in the company in question outside of whether the share price goes up or down.

 

The whole thing is pretty odd and options trading is really just feels like a big scam. The brokers are the house, and the house always wins, as we're seeing at the moment.

[robotattack]

35 minutes ago, Oz said:

 

 

speaking of the law. at some point robinhood blocked users from being able to purchase any more shares. I get the feeling this was extremely ilegal. The hedge funds can set up shorts for 3 times the quantity of the actual number of shares in circulation but robinhood users are not allowed to bet against them? Sounds very ilegal to me. But I am not a lawyer. do you have a view Boozy? 

 

Certainly looks that way.

 

 

It's even made Ted Cruz agree with AOC.

[phillv85]

Lots of smaller folks stand to lose a lot on this as well, those that are in at $300 a share need to consider whether to cut their losses at $260, or hope to fuck it jumps again. Some people will have made an absolute killing on this, but it won’t just be hedge fund cash they’re taking home.

[dumpster]

I'm £7 up and feel amazing.

[SeanR]

30 minutes ago, dumpster said:

I'm £7 up and feel amazing.

 

[gossi the dog]

20 hours ago, dumpster said:

Watch Betting on Zero, if it's still on Netflix.  

 

It's about a hedge fund manager who intensely dislikes multi level marketing schemes. He particularly goes after Herbalife, a company that uses aggressive marketing tactics to sell diets nutrition shakes all over the world. He travels the world, assisting people who lost money in a class action lawsuit against Herbalife. He appears on chat shows telling people to stay away from the company, and basically comes across as a decent human being who is trying to protect people from being duped by this massive company. His hard work gives Herbalife a bad name. What a hero.

 

Everything he says about Herbalife appears to be true. But from the start there's a conflict of interest. He is a hedge fund manager, and he stands to make millions and millions of dollars for him and his investors if Herbalife go bust. They have been "Betting on Zero" and if Herbalife go out of business he will make a fortune.

 

It's a fascinating documentary which explains all about short selling, but at the same time raises a moral question.   Herbalife is a company that deserves to go under. But when the hedge funds gets involved they have such a vested interest in the company struggling that they do everything in their power to make it happen. The hedge fund manager wants to put himself across as a hero, protecting people from this company. But is he really? Like, whose interests is he serving. Good movie.

 

 

 

 

 

Was the hedge fund manager Bill Ackman? He lost a fortune on his short.

[dumpster]

1 hour ago, gossi the dog said:

 

Was the hedge fund manager Bill Ackman? He lost a fortune on his short.

Spoiler alert!

 

Yes that's the way it works out.  Other investors start deliberately buying Herbalife and recommending it in very public spaces to stitch him up.  Also Bruce Willis was dead all along, Rosebud is the name of his sledge and Mr Orange is the cop, while we're at it.

 

[wretcherd]

As I understand it everyone needs to sell by Saturday at the latest because the turnips will spoil Sunday morning.