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The Battle of GameStop

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Re: The Battle of GameStop

#281

Post by christophilus »

pmorici wrote: post #22
gruez wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's a never-ending shit-show. At least some of us are getting rich in /r/wallstreetbets. This is sad because most of what you've said can be applied to lotteries as well, which historically has been criticized as being a "tax" on the poor. The end result is the same: people putting themselves in a worse place financially (on average), just so they can cope with their bleak existence.

I wouldn’t compare what happened with GME to the lottery at least not for the people who understood why they were doing what they were doing.

Exactly. I first heard the bull thesis from Michael Burry. Hardly a gambler. GME was comically over shorted in a console release year. Burry predicted a short squeeze way before WSB picked it up.

Re: The Battle of GameStop

#282

Post by cwhiz »

WSB isn’t doing anything that isn’t typical on actual Wall St.

The market is, and always has been, a ridiculous game. WSB is just showing the world. But the folks on actual Wall St would prefer no one else can see how the sausage is made.

Re: The Battle of GameStop

#283

Post by thrwyoilarticle »

katbyte wrote: post #98
gruez wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's a never-ending shit-show. At least some of us are getting rich in /r/wallstreetbets. This is sad because most of what you've said can be applied to lotteries as well, which historically has been criticized as being a "tax" on the poor. The end result is the same: people putting themselves in a worse place financially (on average), just so they can cope with their bleak existence.

But we all know what the lottery is, sadly playing the stock market is glamorized beyond belief rather then shown for what it is:gambling

Bets is in the name.

Re: The Battle of GameStop

#284

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

killtimeatwork wrote: post #209
watwut wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> partied through college, skipped classes, hardly worked, majored in women’s studies / art history / literature / Some of those things are not like the other. I studied computer science, plenty of people partied and as far as I can tell, people who studied humanities like literature had to work more. It was not easier major in terms of how much you have to work. I liked computer science, so I am always surprised abo…

The reality is that, 50 years ago, when only the smartest people attented colleges, a college degree used to be a proxy for aptitude (a combination of intelligence and willingness to work hard). It didn't matter that much what you studied, just having that college diploma meant that you're smart enough to be able to contribute in a non-trivial manner in any company, and will likely be heading for a managerial positio…

> The reality is that, 50 years ago, when only the smartest people attented colleges, a college degree used to be a proxy for aptitude (a combination of intelligence and willingness to work hard).

I don't believe that's true at all. Historically, in the US anyway, a university education was a wealth signal more than an intelligence or work ethic signal.

Re: The Battle of GameStop

#285

Post by thrwyoilarticle »

konjin wrote: post #155
IIAOPSW wrote: post #15

I've wrote this elsewhere. The thing that's clicked for me after reading the comments on wsb is that populism, amplified by the modern internet, is going to radically change the finance world in a similar way to how it radically changed our political landscape. These people aren't just investing in GME to enrich themselves. They are doing it to spite the people who they percieve as rigging the game. They are doing it…

If this helps anyone: I bought options for Palantir because whats his face is a vampire. I will continue my vampire based trading ~~strategy~~ gambling, so all CEO better start stealing blood from teenagers if they want my money.

I bet on housing because betting against housing is betting that politicians will stop catering to homeowners for the benefit of wider productivity and social mobility. I'm willing to incorporate your vampire take into my greater bastard theory.

Re: The Battle of GameStop

#286

Post by shrikant »

shouldiquitamzn wrote: post #17

I’ve made millions on WSB options plays. I can finally quit my job and stop being a cubicle slave. The visceral reaction from the media on this is disgusting. Major hedge funds got caught on the wrong side of this, and have been making a huge stink about it. CNBC to the rescue, demonizing young middle class Reddit investors. This whole thing has opened my eyes to how even my FAANG compensation is peasant money, it’s…

Since this comment is one of the top threads, I'm just going to re-post my earlier comment from one of the sub-threads:

This comment about having made millions leveraging on SPY and QQQ over the course of 100+ trades doesn't check out, given that a few days back, this commenter created this throwaway account to complain about finding it hard to quit their job at Amazon because the pay is so good.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25878201

IOW, they're lying for Internet points.

Re: The Battle of GameStop

#287

Post by nomay »

PartiallyTyped wrote: post #271
asiando wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a joke. You’re willing to go broke so they lose 2% of their capital? Good job.

I am already broke. The money I invested isn't enough to change my life, but the returns are. I can fast for a week or two, I can walk to school instead of taking the metro. I am poor af and they can't take that away from me. But you know, melvin capital is already 30% of their equity down in January. They have everything to lose. I have nothing.

>melvin capital is already 30% of their equity down in January

The thing is, they won (bigly) almost every year since their inception, it's a relatively minor mishap for them even if they gain nothing for the rest 11 months.

Guess what, they and their clients will be laughing their asses off and move on along with their high life.

Re: The Battle of GameStop

#288

Post by thaumasiotes »

PartiallyTyped wrote: post #277
thaumasiotes wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What happens if nobody sells? This has nothing to do with the ratio of short shares to float. What happens if there are 300 shares floating, 20 short shares, and nobody sells?

They owe more shares than there are available and they pay interest on said shares. Even if nobody sells, the interest gets accumulated and they are bleeding.

...yes? That's all shorting. You have to pay the borrow costs as long as you're borrowing the stock.

But how is having short interest of 140% of the float different from having short interest of 80% of the float?

Re: The Battle of GameStop

#289

Post by bombcar »

PartiallyTyped wrote: post #277
thaumasiotes wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What happens if nobody sells? This has nothing to do with the ratio of short shares to float. What happens if there are 300 shares floating, 20 short shares, and nobody sells?

They owe more shares than there are available and they pay interest on said shares. Even if nobody sells, the interest gets accumulated and they are bleeding.

And that interest can get very VERY high - the cost to borrow shares when no shares are available can run to $shareprice A DAY (see "hard to borrow").

Re: The Battle of GameStop

#290

Post by DCF »

hendzen wrote: post #172
pyrrhotech wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn, here I was thinking /u/DeepFuckingValue was winning by turning 53k into 13M, more than any of the jealous fucks here will make in their lifetime working their miserable engineering jobs and afraid to take any risks in life https://www.reddit.com/user/DeepFuckingValue

I'm happy that guy did well. But one guy taking a negative expected value bet and winning big doesn't really help all the other little guys on WSB who got roped in to buying GME at 100+ today or might even be ITM on their calls but will get crushed by insane spreads, theta decay due to halts and don't have the capital to exercise. I'm not spiteful of KG and the other people who are making the real money off all the c…

>But one guy taking a negative expected value bet and winning big doesn't really help all the other little guys on WSB who got roped in to buying GME at 100+ today

I don't disagree with your post overall, but do want to give some credit to the particular user being discussed. He had a solid bull value thesis that was well thought out and not at all based on memes, with the short squeeze potential being a mere afterthought. He has a great youtube channel where he explains his thesis in-depth. While he posts occasionally on WSB he does not seem to fit the wild gambler image that WSB has.

I don't have enough experience or knowledge to speak intelligently on whether his play was actually negative or positive expected value but it was not a random gamble.

Just felt the need to throw this out there because with all the attention this is getting I've seen him unfairly (in my opinion) being grouped with the admittedly large amount of people who are essentially just gambling.

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