TheShrike 

The fact of the matter is the smart guys on the street made huge bets that blew up in their faces. That's normal and fine. Happens all the time on Wall Street. The part that they can't wrap their heads around is who handed them the loss. Retail never wins, so instead of everyone admitting that these guys got lucky on a 1 in a million shot, everyone is looking around to see how the "system" must have screwed up.

This.

Do you think WSB can get organized sufficiently again to pull this off once more?

Last night I was browsing reddit before bed, and I was seeing relentless spam in subreddits pushing NOK, AA, and even Dogecoin. Doge did make a run last night before everyone cashed out this morning when they woke up and saw it.

I don't think WSB should target crypto, the barrier to entry is too high to gain mass participation. Hell I literally watched Doge double last night and even I didn't touch it, because I was too lazy to transfer from Coinbase to KuCoin to trade it.

Mike

SMCJB 

But social media and our politicians say otherwise? At the same time... WSJ :- Robinhood Raises $1 Billion to Meet Surging Cash Demands https://www.wsj.com/articles/robinhood-raises-1-billion-to-meet-surging-cash-demands-11611928504

I have avoided tagging some FCM's into this thread so they don't get pulled in. Do you know when Robinhood would be subject to putting up the extra cash? Is it overnight like us?

I have a hard time believing they were able to react quickly enough to pull down $600 billion in LOC to not be in violation at least one of the days. I see your link but didn't see something stating otherwise, did I miss it? Still drinking coffee...

Politicians are aligned because they think Robinhood acted against its users in order to protect its backers who also were short GME. I watched some of the CEO's interviews yesterday, including the one on Chris Cuomo where Chris actually grilled him a bit at the end and he seemed to really be doing poorly at answering... but I do believe this was not the case. I think it was straight up a cash requirement on deposit and not influence from their investor due to conflict of interest.

This also aligned with their statement yesterday about their intent to allow limited long buying today. They are limiting it based on their ability to cover their deposit requirements. This is my speculation.

Mike

Big Mike 

Do you know when Robinhood would be subject to putting up the extra cash? Is it overnight like us?

I don't. I would also point out that while in the futures world we normally post overnight, the exchange and FCMs have the right to call any time they want. I believe in 2008 CME was margining FCMs, twice per day, and not just overnight.

First interview with Keith Gill/WSB's "DeepF—ingValue"/YouTube's "Roaring Kitty". Not as interesting as I would have liked, but a first look at the guy who started it all....

WSJ :- Keith Gill Drove the GameStop Reddit Mania. He Talked to the Journal.
Trader known as DeepF—ingValue on the WallStreetBets forum helped turn the investing world upside down. “I didn’t expect this.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/keith-gill-drove-the-gamestop-reddit-mania-he-talked-to-the-journal-11611931696

Guess he did well overall...

After Thursday’s market close, his E*Trade brokerage account, viewed by the Journal, held around $33 million, including GameStop stock, options and millions in cash.

Big Mike 

This. Do you think WSB can get organized sufficiently again to pull this off once more? Last night I was browsing reddit before bed, and I was seeing relentless spam in subreddits pushing NOK, AA, and even Dogecoin. Doge did make a run last night before everyone cashed out this morning when they woke up and saw it. I don't think WSB should target crypto, the barrier to entry is too high to gain mass participation. Hell I literally watched Doge double last night and even I didn't touch it, because I was too lazy to transfer from Coinbase to KuCoin to trade it. Mike

Mike, I think there is a big disconnect in the discussions here, and in the news media surrounding what happened with GME and what actually goes on in the WSB subreddit.

You use the word "organized" above. You've read the sub, I've read the sub pretty regularly in the past few months. I don't think you can legitimately call what goes on there organization.

It's more of a mob brigading and seizing what is going on in the moment and then piling on to that latest cool thing that's happening. That happens to be a "war on hedge funds" at the moment.

A few months ago it was Tesla, a few months before that it was Purple Mattress, the cycle repeats over and over again. It's whatever is in the moment on the subreddit that the mob are willing to gamble on. They don't care. That's why you see every low priced stock with advertised short interest getting run up.

They simply do not care about the underlying. Anything with advertised short interest from Wall Street is in play right now. Anything. And, in a couple weeks or months this will die down, and the subreddit will be onto the next thing. That's the same reason there's nothing to really investigate here. A mob sparked a run on a stock with a huge short interest. It created a chain reaction and set off an epic short squeeze.

That's pretty much it.

TheShrike 

You use the word "organized" above. You've read the sub, I've read the sub pretty regularly in the past few months. I don't think you can legitimately call what goes on there organization.

LOL well that's for sure

I actually don't read it. I just scroll past it rapidly in my feed, using Joey, 99% of the time. But you are right, it's chaos and not organized. Wrong choice of words, I guess I've been watching too many news channel reports on what's happening.

Mike

swinger 

Pension fund managers aren't the target investor base for an equity raise by the WSB names - the trapped shorts are. I'm sure every investment bank is urging all these companies to issue shares, and many of them will. It's practically management malfeasance to NOT raise equity at these inflated prices.

Very good point. And in fact I believe AMC is already planning a share sale.

^

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amc-explodes-301-305m-share-075559466.html

Also I think it's funny that Andrew Left said they would stop publishing their short selling "research"

He didn't actually say Citron would stop short selling. Only that they're trying to remove the target off their backs by publishing short research AFTER they have their shorts in place. Hmm....

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citron-stop-publishing-short-selling-143130686.html

TheShrike 

Mike, I think there is a big disconnect in the discussions here, and in the news media surrounding what happened with GME and what actually goes on in the WSB subreddit. You use the word "organized" above. You've read the sub, I've read the sub pretty regularly in the past few months. I don't think you can legitimately call what goes on there organization. It's more of a mob brigading and seizing what is going on in the moment and then piling on to that latest cool thing that's happening. That happens to be a "war on hedge funds" at the moment. A few months ago it was Tesla, a few months before that it was Purple Mattress, the cycle repeats over and over again. It's whatever is in the moment on the subreddit that the mob are willing to gamble on. They don't care. That's why you see every low priced stock with advertised short interest getting run up. They simply do not care about the underlying. Anything with advertised short interest from Wall Street is in play right now. Anything. And, in a couple weeks or months this will die down, and the subreddit will be onto the next thing. That's the same reason there's nothing to really investigate here. A mob sparked a run on a stock with a huge short interest. It created a chain reaction and set off an epic short squeeze. That's pretty much it.

This is well-said.

I wonder how many who got caught up in this really understood the situation they were getting into.

I'm not trying to be condescending. If you can squeeze the shorts that's a neat trick, and if you can do it in an over-priced stock that has a big short interest already it's even neater. It's also really, really risky. When the shorts have to cover it will push the stock up, sure. But if you are riding that surge and think it will take you to the moon, there's the fact that an overpriced stock that got more over-priced through a short squeeze is not a very stable thing to be long in. When the other holders start to sell, it will be a free-for-all to get out. Who knows where you would get out? Or if the markets would be at all orderly or liquid as you attempted to do so?

This is not a band of intrepid little guys putting it to the big guys. This is a lot of small traders who are finding out that nothing goes to the moon, and that there is never free money in the markets, especially something as intensely risky as riding this kind of wave.

I hope no one loses the rent money on this, but I imagine some will, when the dust settles.

Bob.

bobwest 

This is well-said. I wonder how many who got caught up in this really understood the situation they were getting into. I'm not trying to be condescending. If you can squeeze the shorts that's a neat trick, and if you can do it in an over-priced stock that has a big short interest already it's even neater. It's also really, really risky. When the shorts have to cover it will push the stock up, sure. But if you are riding that surge and think it will take you to the moon, there's the fact that an overpriced stock that got more over-priced through a short squeeze is not a very stable thing to be long in. When the other holders start to sell, it will be a free-for-all to get out. Who knows where you would get out? Or if the markets would be at all orderly or liquid as you attempted to do so? This is not a band of intrepid little guys putting it to the big guys. This is a lot of small traders who are finding out that nothing goes to the moon, and that there is never free money in the markets, especially something as intensely risky as riding this kind of wave. I hope no one loses the rent money on this, but I imagine some will, when the dust settles. Bob.

Right on Bob. This has morphed into a mania at this point. Tulip bulbs, dotcoms, beanie babies, etc. and we all know how those end. Not too good for the people holding the bag at the end.