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Robinhood is automatically initiating GME sell orders on users' behalf

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Re: Robinhood is automatically initiating GME sell orders on users' behalf

#111

This is probably legit, unlike delisting it. You are taking a loan from them with the understanding that they can (in some circumstances) liquidate your investment to lower their own risk. This absolutely seems like one of those circumstances.

A margin call on a stock you halted trading in smells like fraud.

It’s like the bank banning selling your home then repossessing it when the value falls.

Crooked entirely.

Re: Robinhood is automatically initiating GME sell orders on users' behalf

#112

Yeah, brokerages will do that if the stock takes a big drop like it did today. Oh, did you not read that part of your margin agreement? According to thread, some are just now getting to that part. Those same folks shouldn't have been trading GME on margin. If it's any consolation, I've had Fidelity, IB, et. al., do the exact same thing when a trade turned sour. Difference is, I didn't run to Reddit to display my igno…

I honestly didn't read the agreements on Robinhood. Before you call me stupid or irresponsible, I'm going to say practically no one reads these agreements, and even fewer understand them.

The NYT a few days ago had an opinion piece on how no one reads the TOS for things like this. A very choice line:

> A 2012 Carnegie Mellon study found that the average American would have to devote 76 work days just to read over tech companies’ policies. That number would probably be much higher today.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/opinion/sunday/online-ter...

When I bought my house, the attorneys sat down with me and had me read through and explained to me every single term of the purchase agreement and my mortgage, checking that I understood them. Absolutely no one has done this for Facebook, throwing a few hundred into Robinhood, etc. It's not worth it, and the terms change with such frequency that it would be outdated immediately.

I don't think having such impossible terms that you "agree" to are in good faith.

I'm not ignorant, I'm pretty typical, and I'm not going to spend 1/3 of my time simply sitting reading TOS.

Re: Robinhood is automatically initiating GME sell orders on users' behalf

#113

Yeah, brokerages will do that if the stock takes a big drop like it did today. Oh, did you not read that part of your margin agreement? According to thread, some are just now getting to that part. Those same folks shouldn't have been trading GME on margin. If it's any consolation, I've had Fidelity, IB, et. al., do the exact same thing when a trade turned sour. Difference is, I didn't run to Reddit to display my igno…

The difference here is they prevented people from starting new positions while still allowing closing them .. effectivly being the cause of the drop.

> cause of the drop

Not sure I understand this perspective. GME was a balloon floating around in a needle shop.

Re: Robinhood is automatically initiating GME sell orders on users' behalf

#114
post #112

Yeah, brokerages will do that if the stock takes a big drop like it did today. Oh, did you not read that part of your margin agreement? According to thread, some are just now getting to that part. Those same folks shouldn't have been trading GME on margin. If it's any consolation, I've had Fidelity, IB, et. al., do the exact same thing when a trade turned sour. Difference is, I didn't run to Reddit to display my igno…

I honestly didn't read the agreements on Robinhood. Before you call me stupid or irresponsible, I'm going to say practically no one reads these agreements, and even fewer understand them. The NYT a few days ago had an opinion piece on how no one reads the TOS for things like this. A very choice line: > A 2012 Carnegie Mellon study found that the average American would have to devote 76 work days just to read over tec…

This is not about reading a TOS, this is about borrowing money from a brokerage and then losing them on the stock market

Re: Robinhood is automatically initiating GME sell orders on users' behalf

#115

This is probably legit, unlike delisting it. You are taking a loan from them with the understanding that they can (in some circumstances) liquidate your investment to lower their own risk. This absolutely seems like one of those circumstances.

A margin call on a stock you halted trading in smells like fraud. It’s like the bank banning selling your home then repossessing it when the value falls. Crooked entirely.

I agree that it’s crooked to block buying of gme stock, but the resulting margin calls are well within the risks you agree to once you start trading with borrowed money

Re: Robinhood is automatically initiating GME sell orders on users' behalf

#116
post #112

Yeah, brokerages will do that if the stock takes a big drop like it did today. Oh, did you not read that part of your margin agreement? According to thread, some are just now getting to that part. Those same folks shouldn't have been trading GME on margin. If it's any consolation, I've had Fidelity, IB, et. al., do the exact same thing when a trade turned sour. Difference is, I didn't run to Reddit to display my igno…

I honestly didn't read the agreements on Robinhood. Before you call me stupid or irresponsible, I'm going to say practically no one reads these agreements, and even fewer understand them. The NYT a few days ago had an opinion piece on how no one reads the TOS for things like this. A very choice line: > A 2012 Carnegie Mellon study found that the average American would have to devote 76 work days just to read over tec…

> When I bought my house, the attorneys sat down with me and had me read through and explained to me every single term of the purchase agreement and my mortgage

Really? Because that would make closing take forever. I mean, even after the purchase agreement and mortgage terms, there are a ton more documents to go through.

Re: Robinhood is automatically initiating GME sell orders on users' behalf

#117
post #112

Yeah, brokerages will do that if the stock takes a big drop like it did today. Oh, did you not read that part of your margin agreement? According to thread, some are just now getting to that part. Those same folks shouldn't have been trading GME on margin. If it's any consolation, I've had Fidelity, IB, et. al., do the exact same thing when a trade turned sour. Difference is, I didn't run to Reddit to display my igno…

I honestly didn't read the agreements on Robinhood. Before you call me stupid or irresponsible, I'm going to say practically no one reads these agreements, and even fewer understand them. The NYT a few days ago had an opinion piece on how no one reads the TOS for things like this. A very choice line: > A 2012 Carnegie Mellon study found that the average American would have to devote 76 work days just to read over tec…

This is about having a very basic understanding of buying stocks on margin entails. It isn't your money, they do what they need to in order to protect themselves. You don't need to read their TOS because this isn't specific to Robinhood. It applies with every broker.

Re: Robinhood is automatically initiating GME sell orders on users' behalf

#118
post #112

Yeah, brokerages will do that if the stock takes a big drop like it did today. Oh, did you not read that part of your margin agreement? According to thread, some are just now getting to that part. Those same folks shouldn't have been trading GME on margin. If it's any consolation, I've had Fidelity, IB, et. al., do the exact same thing when a trade turned sour. Difference is, I didn't run to Reddit to display my igno…

I honestly didn't read the agreements on Robinhood. Before you call me stupid or irresponsible, I'm going to say practically no one reads these agreements, and even fewer understand them. The NYT a few days ago had an opinion piece on how no one reads the TOS for things like this. A very choice line: > A 2012 Carnegie Mellon study found that the average American would have to devote 76 work days just to read over tec…

That makes sense, but presumably the financial industry pretty regularly needs to enforce specific terms in financial contracts. So here we're seeing -- from one day to another -- people complaining that Robinhood and other financial intermediaries won't let unsophisticated traders easily access particular kinds of financial trades and products, and also that complicated terms may apply to those same trades and products. Couldn't these two issues be related?

(I don't mean to accuse people of hypocrisy by mentioning this! I just mean that I genuinely think financial intermediaries are in a tough spot as they're pressured to allow everyone to trade things where quite a lot of customers don't quite know what they are or what they signify.)

Re: Robinhood is automatically initiating GME sell orders on users' behalf

#120

Smelled like scam, is a scam. So glad I didn't fall into the robinhood trap, I was really close to. Edit: yes this comment isn't related to the linked article.

Fidelity and every other brokerage of which I have knowledge would let you do the same thing (get into a bad trade, and then liquidate your position when you exceed margin limits). This isn't a "Robinhood" thing, this is an "ignorant gamblers who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a margin account" thing.

except for the line where they prevented trading on said stock.
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