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Exchanges Ban Trades, Biden Administration ‘Monitoring Situation’ After Reddit Drives Wall Street Hedge Funds to Brink of Bankruptcy in Gamestop Short: Bankers are absolutely furious with the market's first populist uprising
National File ^ | 01/27/2021 | Jack Hadfield

Posted on 01/27/2021 6:50:03 PM PST by SeekAndFind

Wall Street traders and hedgefunds are currently very upset, as the “unwashed masses” lose them billions in a short squeeze of GameStop and other stocks.

Users of the subreddit r/WallStreetBets are fighting back against the multi-billion dollar hedgefunds in a rather creative way. GameStop became one of the most shorted stocks on Wall Street last week, after a newsletter from a short seller, Andrew Left of Citron Capital, encouraged people to short the company. Gamestop had a short interest of 102% of its shares, making it one of the most shorted on the market.

To “short” a company is to bet on the price of the stock falling, in simple terms. The hedgefunds would borrow shares of the company from other investors, sell the shares on the markets at the current high price, then buy them back at the expected future low price, and return them to the investors, pocketing a profit.

In response, the users of the subreddit saw a perfect opportunity to “own” the hedgefunds, as the newsletter from Left allegedly noted some of them buying GameStop stock. By buying GameStop stock, they could initiate a “short squeeze,” sending the price of the stock up, and forcing the hedgefunds to buy more of the stock to cover themselves.

Who is winning the war:

Most shorted names exploding higher, as top hedge fund position plummet pic.twitter.com/aEGnf5eCbH

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 27, 2021

The stock was then bought enmasse, with GameStop ending up as the most traded equity on the planet on Tuesday, beating out Apple, Tesla, and Microsoft. As a result, the price skyrocketed by hundreds of percent, and one of the hedge funds, Melvin Capital Management, had to be bailed out for $2.75 billion. The stock price went even further up after Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, tweeted out “Gamestonk.”

THEY DID IT: $GME was the most traded equity on the planet today w/ $20b in volume, more than $SPY, $AAPL and even the Mighty $TSLA. Surreal. pic.twitter.com/UxJPttsg4t

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 26, 2021

Other stocks from “failing” companies that were targeted for shorts have also been boosted by the self-proclaimed “degenerates.” These include AMC, the cinema company who have been shut since the pandemic, BlackBerry, the makers of the popular phones from 10 years ago, and Nokia, another previous mobile phone giant.

Understandably, many on Wall Street and in the traditional financial media were very upset with the action taken on the GameStop stocks, comparing it to “cheering on hackers” defacing websites. NASDAQ’s Adena Friedman even claimed that they would halt trading on certain stocks if they match “social media chatter” with “unusual” stock activity, and a number of trading exchanges banned trades on GameStop and other stocks.

One Wall Street hedgefund trader told the New York Post that the situation was a “bloodbath,” and expressed his frustration that the “unwashed masses have figured out how to play the shorts” and beat them at their own game. “It’s f**king carnage,” he added.

Jennifer Epstein, Bloomberg’s White House reporter, asked Jen Psaki about what the Biden administration’s response to the rise in GameStop stock was, and asked if there had been “any conversations with the SEC about how to proceed.” Psaki replied by repeating that the Biden administration had appointed the first female Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and that Yellen and the White House economic team would be “monitoring the situation.”

Biden White House Press Secretary asked about GameStop, AMC and Blockbuster stock market drama.

She responds by reminding everyone that they have the FIRST FEMALE treasury secretary & says they’re “monitoring the situation.”pic.twitter.com/Lu2PR6NAdd

— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) January 27, 2021

With the subreddit potentially coming under threat, WSB Chairman, an unofficial Twitter account for the subreddit, argued that if the subreddit was taken down for its role in the short squeeze, then “they better take down every single Wall Street hedge fund that has been endlessly using gangster tactics to make a quick buck.”

If they take down WallStreetBets, they better take down every single Wall Street hedge fund that has been endlessly using gangster tactics to make a quick buck.

— WSB Chairman (@WSBChairman) January 26, 2021

Some did come to the defence of the GameStop investors however. Speaking on CNBC, Chamath Palihapitiya, the CEO of Social Capital, was asked whether there was anything wrong with “the integrity of the system” for the stock to go up so much.

“The lack of integrity in the system is the precursor that cause GameStop to be sold short 136%, and for people to pile on and destroy a company in front of our eyes. That feels pretty wrong, and pretty un-American if you ask me,” Palihapitiya replied. “The fact that [GameStop] shouldn’t be allowed to exist because all of a sudden we decide that they should be obliterated into the ground, that feels pretty wrong to me.”

Billionaire CEO Chamath Palihapitiya debates against CNBC's Scott Wapner on people investing in Gamestop stocks pic.twitter.com/MHtvcB9umw

— SOUND (@itsavibe) January 27, 2021

The Hill’s Saagar Enjeti highlighted that short sellers had been manipulating the market for years, using the media to “force massive runs on well meaning companies all so they can make billions on the flip side… leeching off the American financial system,” and now they were upset at having the game flipped back on them by what he describes as the financial markets first “populist uprising.”

When Hedge Funders and others loot our markets its all good. But when retail investors destroy a hedge fund then all of a sudden CNBC analysts start calling for regulation, blame foreign powers, and talk "fundamentals"

I call BULLSHIT: https://t.co/DzoUsyy1T6 https://t.co/SxSksAu6oT

— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) January 27, 2021



Of course, the second biggest winners of the whole situation, just behind the users of r/WallStreetBets, are those who are simply sitting back and watching everything unfold with a bucket of popcorn.

It’s a state of the art video game distributor pic.twitter.com/372VHBWuQV

— LeftyCrypto🌹 (@LeftyCrypto) January 26, 2021

Pov: you just bankrupt a hedge fund pic.twitter.com/JdcUF21oYV

— puma (@OpticsPolice) January 27, 2021

businessmen after having a 2 hour crying fit because of redditors: pic.twitter.com/SNTNvDvVBF

— atrophy wife 🎀 (@zuza_real) January 27, 2021



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Conspiracy; Society
KEYWORDS: gamestop; hedgefund; hedgefunds; investments; reddit; stockmarket
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1 posted on 01/27/2021 6:50:03 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
Wall Street traders and hedgefunds are currently very upset

...and we're supposed to care...why?
2 posted on 01/27/2021 6:50:59 PM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: SeekAndFind

They can do it to us, but we better not dare do it to them.

When will they arrest all the short-sellers so they don’t have to pay them?


3 posted on 01/27/2021 6:51:34 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (You are in far greater danger from authoritarian government than you are from a seasonal virus.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I believe they are trying blackberry, nokia and amc, now.

I think the crackdown will be swift.


4 posted on 01/27/2021 6:52:00 PM PST by dynachrome ("I will not be reconstructed, and I do not give a damn.")
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To: SeekAndFind
Biden Administration Regime ‘Monitoring Situation’

That can't be good.

5 posted on 01/27/2021 6:52:03 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: SeekAndFind

HOW DARE POOR PEOPLE MAKE MONEY!!


6 posted on 01/27/2021 6:52:23 PM PST by Husker24
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To: dynachrome

Have considered silver as well.


7 posted on 01/27/2021 6:53:44 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear
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To: SeekAndFind

FWIW, the good guys seem to be jumping on AMC big time.


8 posted on 01/27/2021 6:55:18 PM PST by JonPreston (Q: Never have so many, been so wrong, so often)
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To: SeekAndFind

Weirdest damn thing i’ve ever seen. Conservatives and whacko liberals (AOC comes to mind) are on the same page on this one. Is “Unity” finally here?


9 posted on 01/27/2021 6:55:41 PM PST by bigdaddy45
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To: JonPreston

Aren’t they a China biz?


10 posted on 01/27/2021 6:56:40 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear
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To: Husker24

“HOW DARE POOR PEOPLE MAKE MONEY!!“

They won’t . A bunch of millennials with no investing experience will lose everything they put in.
They sound a lot like the uninformed who borrowed money to buy stock in 1928.
Nothing wrong with poor people investing. But these kids are gambling .


11 posted on 01/27/2021 6:57:07 PM PST by HereInTheHeartland (Leave me alone, I have no incriminating evidence on the Clintons)
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To: SeekAndFind
The proper solution is for these hedge fund managers to step in front of a moving Amtrak train.

It is the honourable way.

12 posted on 01/27/2021 6:57:14 PM PST by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's for sure.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Trump Curse?


13 posted on 01/27/2021 6:58:16 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: dynachrome

Nasdaq is considering halting so firms can ‘rebalance’. whatever that means.

Wallstreetbets got an offer from Dave Portnoy to use his medium tomorrow.


14 posted on 01/27/2021 6:59:55 PM PST by RummyChick (To President Trump: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3923111/posts)
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To: Paladin2

Oh they’re blaming it on him....

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/gamestop-stock-how-trumpism-explains-the-surge/ar-BB1d9hlc


15 posted on 01/27/2021 6:59:58 PM PST by bigdaddy45
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To: SeekAndFind

16 posted on 01/27/2021 7:00:36 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
When will they arrest all the short-sellers so they don’t have to pay them?

I'm not sure you understand the situation. It's the short sellers that are crying. You see it's okay for them Hedge Funds that short sell to run a business into the dust but when the worm turns and they HAVE to buy back the stock at a HUGE loss, it is they that may be facing bankruptcy. The shoe is on the other foot and it's tight and getting tighter every day.

17 posted on 01/27/2021 7:00:49 PM PST by BipolarBob (USA - Born July 4, 1776. Died Jan. 20, 2021 in the Year of our Covid - a new error.)
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To: Deaf Smith

“...step in front of a moving Amtrak train...”

Chairman BiXiden and his minion Hunter [”He’s a Gas and Oil Man...” & a former Amtrak exec] would approve.


18 posted on 01/27/2021 7:01:15 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: HereInTheHeartland

Here’s the thing... a lot of them put in $500 maybe? Its the Robin Hood effect. It will be a great lesson for them. Meanwhile, a LOT of them will make a lot of money.


19 posted on 01/27/2021 7:01:23 PM PST by bigdaddy45
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To: RummyChick

Where is that, RC?


20 posted on 01/27/2021 7:01:25 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear
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