Game Stop vs. Hedge Funds

[HawkDawg]

I don't post here often, but what's happening is pretty shattering. Financial markets are in turmoil and don't know how to handle this. I thought this was worthy of a thread, your thoughts?

[Aseahawkfan]

It's an interesting event for certain. Retail investors using Robinhood to drive a stock price up forcing short sellers to buy the stock back at a high price taking huge losses makes for some good storytelling. The market is full of stocks. These are just a few small ones being manipulated using online coordination. The reaction to it is being sold as a conspiracy of the wealthy to keep the little guy from making them lose billions. There are a lot of videos on the event. Still not sure if the SEC should step in or leave it as an anomaly. Time will tell.

I would be real careful about investing in these short squeezes unless it's money you're willing to lose. This rise has nothing to do with a company growing based on fundamentals. This short squeeze is a game and whoever is left holding the bag when it pops will lose what they invested forever.

Then again hedge funds have been playing these games forever. Kind of amusing to see the tables turned on them.

[c_hawkbob]

I absolutely love this! And I hope Robinhood faces some pretty serious penalties for attempting tostop individual investors while allowing big money to continue trading unfettered.

[NorthHawk]

Basically a bunch of newbies used the tactics of the billionaire hedge funds to do what the hedge funds have been doing to the average investor and winning to a point.
If there is any good to this it exposes the abuses of some of the major investors and if you've ever lost money because of short sellers you're probably cheering them on.
That Robin Hood and others would stop them from buying more is in my opinion a travesty.

[curmudgeon]

Meh. Nothing will happen. $74,000,000 Wall Street money went toward installing Biden......

[c_hawkbob]

Wait, I thought Wall Street was all about Trump.

[Aseahawkfan]

Wait, I thought Wall Street was all about Trump.

Wall Street usually bets on both to keep it safe. But right now Trump supporters believe Big Tech and corporations are against them because of the social media bans, the banks not wanting to do business with Trump which predates Trump's election, and the like. Trump supporters never really thought about or did much research into the man they voted for. They just took a salesman and known liar at his word for reasons. It's strange how many Trump supporters believe him without regard for any information to the contrary changing their mind. Any information to contrary of what they believe is just a Democratic conspiracy against Trump. They' are a sour lot.

Which is why if this pandemic doesn't end soon, they will sit there and grind their sourness into further hatred and ridiculous ideas.

All they do is watch Fox News and Newsmax, then ignore any real information that is contrary to what they believe. It's been that way since Trump was elected. Both sides on the war path against the other believing any thing good or bad about the other. Any one that wants real information has to dig to find some semblance of reality within the hyperbolic rhetoric.

[NorthHawk]

You're probably right about that, ASF.

Here's an article about gamestop and what went on and some fall out.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01 ... ket-newtab

The writer makes a good point about those who have invested but don't have an exit strategy and end up losing money when the stock inevitably falls to rational levels.

[HawkDawg]

You're probably right about that, ASF.

Here's an article about gamestop and what went on and some fall out.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01 ... ket-newtab

The writer makes a good point about those who have invested but don't have an exit strategy and end up losing money when the stock inevitably falls to rational levels.

Great article, thanks for sharing. I'm just enjoying sitting back and watching the show!

[I-5]

Slightly OT, but is there a thread here about cryptocurrency, and specifically Bitcoin? I had some money sitting around (which rarely happens) in 2017 and decided to put a few grand into crypto, most of it on BTC. This was in Nov 2017 just as it was beginning it's big climb....I rode it a few weeks, maybe a couple months, then it started crashing - hard. But since I rarely ever sell investments, I decided to ride it into the ground...and glad I did. As of right now, I'm up about x5. It still could come down, but I'm in it for the long haul now.. Anyone else?

[Aseahawkfan]

Slightly OT, but is there a thread here about cryptocurrency, and specifically Bitcoin? I had some money sitting around (which rarely happens) in 2017 and decided to put a few grand into crypto, most of it on BTC. This was in Nov 2017 just as it was beginning it's big climb....I rode it a few weeks, maybe a couple months, then it started crashing - hard. But since I rarely ever sell investments, I decided to ride it into the ground...and glad I did. As of right now, I'm up about x5. It still could come down, but I'm in it for the long haul now.. Anyone else?

Not yet, but I'm starting to lean that way. Seems companies are finding uses for Bitcoin. That was one of the reasons I've been holding back is it just seemed like something people were buying and selling with no real useful value by what people were willing to pay. But now it is starting to form into something that can be used for commerce.

1. Tesla and a few other companies are storing cash in Bitcoin.

2. Tesla says they will accept Bitcoin as payment.

3. Other companies are starting to accept Bitcoin as payment.

4. You don't have to deal with the currency exchange costs using a Bitcoin to purchase overseas.

It might need a little more regulation so as not to be used to for illegal activities that can't be tracked, but it could become a global digital currency used to buy and sell goods without a currency exchange cost. That would drive its value up and turn it into a useful currency.

[NorthHawk]

There are some ETFs out there or starting that might be tempting for those who don’t understand the technology or don’t trust the
digital wallets. Some older people don’t like the idea of buying something especially currency that they can’t hold in their hands.