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WallStreetBets vs WallStreet: It's not about the money anymore

thinkingthrough.substack.com

141–150 of 475 posts

Re: WallStreetBets vs WallStreet: It's not about the money anymore

#141

Once again, this insistence on viewing 'Wall Street' as a monolothic entity. The largest asset management firm on Earth holds over 9 million Gamestop stock, none of the big banks that received bailouts in 08 are affected by this, 99.9% of hedge funds are not affected by this, high frequency traders are probably making a bundle. Institutional money was long Gamestop before this story entered the public consciousness.…

Thank you, I appreciate this level headed response. The populist outrage fueled by anonymous Reddit users who are often either lying outright or wildly speculating is completely out of control.

We really need to get those vaccines out, people are going insane...

Re: WallStreetBets vs WallStreet: It's not about the money anymore

#142

As someone who is not very educated in finance, I'm curious how to interpret today's events. Is nasdaq/robinhood/everyone else transparently manipulating the market on behalf of hedge funds? Or are these standard mechanisms in place for preventing the stock market from swinging wildly out of control? I don't know if it's standard to completely block trading on one or more stocks.

WSB has basically recreated a "boiler room", which is an ages old scam where a small group of insiders would encourage people to buy stock, drive them value up, and then the insiders dump the stock. The key insight here is that for every person selling the stock and making millions, somoene has to be buying. There's a narrative about short squeezes forcing a small number of hedge funds to buy stock, but in practice m…

What's the difference between reddit users taking action on the advice of other reddit users and everyday folks taking action on the advice of CNBC talking heads? In both cases, someone is saying, "This security might be a good buy."

Re: WallStreetBets vs WallStreet: It's not about the money anymore

#143
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're saying they're even dumber than they appear at first glance? Sorry, but pissing money away (or actually likely giving it to some Wall Street institution) to send some ill-defined "message" really can't be called anything but dumb.

Even as an econometrician, I would never call it dumb. It's a virtual incarnation of Occupy Wall Street. These guys are probably spending less than those who protested several years ago did. Heck, you can buy a stock and still go to work. No need to forego weeks of labor.

I guess I find it really weird and unfocused and so mixed in with people who are greedy/stupid that the whole thing just seems absurd.

Re: WallStreetBets vs WallStreet: It's not about the money anymore

#144

They are blocking buying, and only allowing selling GME, BB and others. How is this not evidence of a corrupted free market system? A CEO of one company can call up his connections in retail trading platform firms, CNBC, and Nasdaq and protect his profits? Why is Reddit the scandal and not that? Reddit is full of rocket emojis and YOLO jokes. But what we see here, especially with the moralizing about gambling, is an…

Robinhood is a free service. The customers don’t pay anything. If the order internalizers decide to stop paying them for their order flow, then they have to route to the exchanges. which charge fees. Trading is still ongoing at the exchanges. It’s just the free platforms, where it’s shut down. If someone wanted guaranteed access to the exchange, then they shouldn’t have used a free broker. Are you saying that Robinho…

Absolutely yes. If you can't provide a free service, then do not advertise it as a free service.

Re: WallStreetBets vs WallStreet: It's not about the money anymore

#145
post #18

I've read /r/wallstreetbets -- it's about the money.

Apparently there's an early buyer of one of these stocks who made $40 million off of it; I last read they only sold $14 million of their position so far.

https://www.reddit.com/user/DeepFuckingValue

Re: WallStreetBets vs WallStreet: It's not about the money anymore

#146
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is gambling money away. The sentiment is that they are knowingly _throwing_ it away to send a message.

So you're saying they're even dumber than they appear at first glance? Sorry, but pissing money away (or actually likely giving it to some Wall Street institution) to send some ill-defined "message" really can't be called anything but dumb.

Do you know how this whole thing started? It seems you're just coming in and dismissing the whole thing, when the person who started it with $50k is now sitting on gains of $50m and even people who bought in yesterday are up almost 2x.

Re: WallStreetBets vs WallStreet: It's not about the money anymore

#147
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is gambling money away. The sentiment is that they are knowingly _throwing_ it away to send a message.

Are we talking about cutting your own nose off to spite someone else's face?

Not sure I understand the metaphor, but I think so. Here's a good intro to the mythology.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=AsTCB0ud2zM

Re: WallStreetBets vs WallStreet: It's not about the money anymore

#148
post #63

As someone who is not very educated in finance, I'm curious how to interpret today's events. Is nasdaq/robinhood/everyone else transparently manipulating the market on behalf of hedge funds? Or are these standard mechanisms in place for preventing the stock market from swinging wildly out of control? I don't know if it's standard to completely block trading on one or more stocks.

If you buy stock with the purpose of pushing the price up so that other people will buy it, that’s market manipulation. What WSB crowd is doing is market manipulation. That's illegal. WSB is doing everything openly and even celebrating it. Getting mad when openly breaking the law is not rational response. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/78i Brokers like Robinhood are reacting because they want too keep SEC…

Not so clear cut. If you hype stock to PROFIT from it by selling before it crashes, that is market manipulation. If you hype stock because you believe it is an amazing opportunity, and you happen to diversify before it crashes - that is talking about things in public.

A bunch of people hyping each other up? Also talking in public about what they like. If that moves markets? That happens.

If that opportunity is a short squeeze (which it still appears to be - newest data I can find is GME is still at 120%+ short interest), then it gets really really confusing - and I'm not sure how this is going to sort out.

People going on public news networks saying they've 'got out' and other articles talking about folks no longer being short - that would be clear market manipulation if not true.

Re: WallStreetBets vs WallStreet: It's not about the money anymore

#149
post #63

As someone who is not very educated in finance, I'm curious how to interpret today's events. Is nasdaq/robinhood/everyone else transparently manipulating the market on behalf of hedge funds? Or are these standard mechanisms in place for preventing the stock market from swinging wildly out of control? I don't know if it's standard to completely block trading on one or more stocks.

If you buy stock with the purpose of pushing the price up so that other people will buy it, that’s market manipulation. What WSB crowd is doing is market manipulation. That's illegal. WSB is doing everything openly and even celebrating it. Getting mad when openly breaking the law is not rational response. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/78i Brokers like Robinhood are reacting because they want too keep SEC…

WSB is not buying the stock with the purpose of pushing the price up beyond realising that by buying and holding, it makes covering short positions more difficult to cover.

It is not illegal.

Re: WallStreetBets vs WallStreet: It's not about the money anymore

#150
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you buy stock with the purpose of pushing the price up so that other people will buy it, that’s market manipulation. What WSB crowd is doing is market manipulation. That's illegal. WSB is doing everything openly and even celebrating it. Getting mad when openly breaking the law is not rational response. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/78i Brokers like Robinhood are reacting because they want too keep SEC…

> What WSB crowd is doing is market manipulation. Shorting GME more than number stocks exist is not market manipulation? HFT isn't? Bailing out greed isn't? Why is this notion of market manipulation such a narrow one-way street?

And they stop the manipulation by more manipulation? Why isn’t the trade blocked entirely for those stocks? Having the ability to sell seems like an inviting open door towards a specific outcome. I closed my RH account today
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