Investing Thread

[Dish]

I thought about buying at $90 this morning. In after hours it's gotten up to $247. Never seen anything like this, it's both explainable and totally illogical at the same time.

[jesmu84]

Is this demonstrating how easily the market can be manipulated in today's social media sphere?

[The Sultan]

https://twitter.com/edsbs/status/1354258459294900235?s=21

[JWags85]

Is this demonstrating how easily the market can be manipulated in today's social media sphere?

This is a unique situation. A heavily shorted stock, largely held short by a small group of funds.  Activist investor that brought attention to it in late 2020. Then the collective power of WSB.  It's a perfect storm. 

There are far more instances of people buying stock or options in advance of "news" that gets rumbled about on social media that ends up being nothing.  Most big funds have algos that scrape social media sentiment and front run things.

[forgetful]

This is a unique situation. A heavily shorted stock, largely held short by a small group of funds.  Activist investor that brought attention to it in late 2020. Then the collective power of WSB.  It's a perfect storm. 

There are far more instances of people buying stock or options in advance of "news" that gets rumbled about on social media that ends up being nothing.  Most big funds have algos that scrape social media sentiment and front run things.

There are a number of other stocks undergoing similar, but not as ridiculous, manipulation right now.

[Heisenberg]

I thought about buying at $90 this morning. In after hours it's gotten up to $247. Never seen anything like this, it's both explainable and totally illogical at the same time.

Volkswagon in 2008 ... known as the "infinity squeeze"
https://moxreports.com/vw-infinity-squeeze/

[Heisenberg]

This is a unique situation. A heavily shorted stock, largely held short by a small group of funds.  Activist investor that brought attention to it in late 2020. Then the collective power of WSB.  It's a perfect storm. 

There are far more instances of people buying stock or options in advance of "news" that gets rumbled about on social media that ends up being nothing.  Most big funds have algos that scrape social media sentiment and front run things.

This sh!t does not work.  And they are not scrapping WSB, so it is doubly a waste of time.

Wall Street is now a bunch of old men that don't get it and are shaking their fists at change. This is why Melvin Captial is effectively gone, Citron is done, and Citadel/Point72 has lost billions in the last two days.

Sit back and watch, this is going to get epic.

[Heisenberg]

There are a number of other stocks undergoing similar, but not as ridiculous, manipulation right now.

By Thursday afternoon you will be dropping the "not as ridiculous" qualifier.

See AMC (double since the NYSE close), BB, PLTR, PLUG, and BBBY.

And it is not manipulation.  It is the proper screwing of the manipulators, that is decades overdue.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

The fact that it is a shīt-ass company like gamestop makes this all so much better. 

[Heisenberg]

The fact that it is a shīt-ass company like gamestop makes this all so much better.

Yes ... but it had to a F'ed up pile of crap like GME.  No one shorts 140% of the shares outstanding of a merely bad company.

(and Forgetful, you want to talk about manipulation and criminality.  The short is greater than the shares outstanding.  This is not legal.  So, if you want to start jailing people over this mess, start with the banks and hedge funds that broke this law and set this up.)

[JWags85]

This sh!t does not work.  And they are not scrapping WSB, so it is doubly a waste of time.

Wall Street is now a bunch of old men that don't get it and are shaking their fists at change. This is why Melvin Captial is effectively gone, Citron is done, and Citadel/Point72 has lost billions in the last two days.

Sit back and watch, this is going to get epic.

What are you even talking about? Plotkin who runs Melvin Capital is 40. Left is in his late 40s.  This was overly aggressive asymmetric short bets that blew up, not stock revolution.
Not a bunch of old dinosaurs outsmarted by reckless dudes on Reddit dumping CC balances into RobinHood.

Citron is far from done, this hurt but they are notorious for bailing on positions early. LMAO if you think this is anything by an unpleasant blip for Citadel.

Market is history is LITTERED with random stock skyrockets and squeezes without true fundamental justification. NKLA and TLRY did it in the last few years alone. And sometimes a fund or two gets blown out in the process. Leverage is a biatch. But that doesn't mean as a result the ENTIRE market will change.

Not everyone can be flawless and generationally wealthy from shorting AAPL like you.

[StillAWarrior]

I must admit that I am unfortunately somewhat ignorant on a lot of investing issues. A fair amount of the recent posts on the GME issue and others might as well have been written in a foreign language, as far as I'm concerned. I've learned some over the past couple years, and am learning more...but it's just not something that I really know much about.

All that said, this GME thing is fascinating. I just checked and it's now at $350. In trying to understand more about what is going on, I'm learning bits and pieces. The people over on that reddit page are insane -- although that's not unique to this particular situation.  The funniest thing I read over there, in response to "what stock is next" was, "[Declining to identify a 'next' stock]...at the moment the consensus is that we can make a boatload of money off of dumbass hedge funds, but think of it less like a pack of draft horses following a path and more like a room of angry, shitting monkeys who happen, for the time being, to be throwing their crap in the same direction."

[JWags85]

I must admit that I am unfortunately somewhat ignorant on a lot of investing issues. A fair amount of the recent posts on the GME issue and others might as well have been written in a foreign language, as far as I'm concerned. I've learned some over the past couple years, and am learning more...but it's just not something that I really know much about.

All that said, this GME thing is fascinating. I just checked and it's now at $350. In trying to understand more about what is going on, I'm learning bits and pieces. The people over on that reddit page are insane -- although that's not unique to this particular situation.  The funniest thing I read over there, in response to "what stock is next" was, "[Declining to identify a 'next' stock]...at the moment the consensus is that we can make a boatload of money off of dumbass hedge funds, but think of it less like a pack of draft horses following a path and more like a room of angry, crapting monkeys who happen, for the time being, to be throwing their crap in the same direction."

BINGO. This is is largely a community of reckless degenerates. Not a coordinated skilled group of renegade amateur traders. It's still pretty incredible to watch in real time

[The Sultan]

BINGO. This is is largely a community of reckless degenerates. Not a coordinated skilled group of renegade amateur traders. It's still pretty incredible to watch in real time

And the thing is, the bubble is going to pop, they always do, and some of these "reckless degenerates" are going to lose a lot of money in the process.

[StillAWarrior]

BINGO. This is is largely a community of reckless degenerates. Not a coordinated skilled group of renegade amateur traders. It's still pretty incredible to watch in real time

Yeah, that was the money quote that caught my attention. I put the remainder in just for a little context.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

From Seeking Alpha:

The stock market is seeing a huge amount of buying action in stocks that have been heavily shorted over the last few months.

Tootsie Roll Industries (NYSE:TR) is up 52.95% in early trading.

Dillard's (NYSE:DDS) is 22.1% higher.

Express (NYSE:EXPR) is adding to its gains with a jump today of 123.68%.

National Beverage (NASDAQ:FIZZ) is soaring with a 39.05% jump already.

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) is 33.85% higher to carve out a new 52-week high of $175.35.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) is 4.25% higher and is now up 34% over the last five sessions.

PetMed Express (NASDAQ:PETS) is flying with a 28.87% gain and printed a new high of $51.15.

GSX Techedu (NYSE:GSX) blasted 33.89% higher to reach a new high.

Tanger Factgory Outlet Centers (NYSE:SKT) is up 24.72% as shorts are being pressured.

New to the scene is DoorDash (NYSE:DASH), which is up 17.17%. DASH has a higher level of short interest than most IPO stocks in their first year of trading.

Fossil (NASDAQ:FOSL) is showing a gain of 26.48% to trade as high as $16.00.

Macy's (NYSE:M) is 17.85% higher as the heavily-shorted mall name sails on heavy volume.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Also, Blockbuster!

"The adventure for GameStop has inexplicably also drawn interest in a company called BB Liquidating Inc. (OTCPK:BLIAQ) almost out of nowhere.

BB Liquidating Inc. rose 774% yesterday on a strong volume move compared to normal activity.

BB Liquidating is the company that is the last remnants of the Blockbuster video chain, which had over 9K stores at its peak and is a test case in how fast a retail chain can go obsolete."

[TSmith34, Inc.]

LMAO, BofA raised their price target on Gamestop from $1.60 to $10.

[buckchuckler]

This is so captivating, I'm not getting involved, but I can't stop watching.

[StillAWarrior]

This is so captivating, I'm not getting involved, but I can't stop watching.

That's where I am. There is a part of me that would like to purchase a share or two -- just because it is so captivating and it's possible to be a part of it -- but ultimately I'm content to just sit on the sidelines and watch it play out.

I am curious, however, how one finds out which stocks "have been heavily shorted over the last few months."

[Skatastrophy]

That's where I am. There is a part of me that would like to purchase a share or two -- just because it is so captivating and it's possible to be a part of it -- but ultimately I'm content to just sit on the sidelines and watch it play out.

I am curious, however, how one finds out which stocks "have been heavily shorted over the last few months."

There's a couple of sites that track this, but as of this morning, GME still had 140% of shares outstanding shorted.

https://www.highshortinterest.com/

[MUBurrow]

nm. unnecessarily close to the political line considering how fun this is.

Question - are the short sellers facing huge margin calls on this? Or are they so big that their margin maintenance is probably fine even with stock price skyrocketing?

[Dish]

I can't wrap my head around it anymore. I'm too gun shy to get in. Thought about Express yesterday at $3.50, now it's at $12.

Feels like when this bubble pops, it's going to explode. I enjoy watching it, but just can't comprehend it enough to try to get lucky here.

[MUBurrow]

That's where I am. There is a part of me that would like to purchase a share or two -- just because it is so captivating and it's possible to be a part of it -- but ultimately I'm content to just sit on the sidelines and watch it play out.

I enjoy watching it, but just can't comprehend it enough to try to get lucky here.

So this is the way to look at it, right? Once regular folks like us get involved who profess to care about making money, the whole thing runs out of steam.  What is fueling this is that the WSB folks are economically irrational actors. 

[JWags85]

So this is the way to look at it, right? Once regular folks like us get involved who profess to care about making money, the whole thing runs out of steam.  What is fueling this is that the WSB folks are economically irrational actors.

Yep. That's why I reacted strongly to the idea that these guys are killing Wall Street and changing things forever.  You have guys who are blindly holding calls and shares thinking it will never end.  It's the same idea as "HODL" in Bitcoin when people bought high and got obliterated cause they assumed it would go to $100K right away and never end.

I have no issue with it being "gambling" or any other things that rile up traditional investors, but these are not savvy sophisticated traders, they will get wrecked like anyone who gets brash and reckless in the market.

Like I said earlier, the premiums on GME show it.  The cost of March/April $50 puts are the same this morning as yesterday when the stock was at $150, the reaction to prevent big sums being made either way is already happening.