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Anyone participating in the GameStop short squeeze?

This topic can be found at:
https://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/320601935/m/2960040974

January 27, 2021, 01:35 PM
Aeteocles
Anyone participating in the GameStop short squeeze?
quote:
Originally posted by PASig:
quote:
Originally posted by Oat_Action_Man:
One of my students (like a 16 year old) just spent her entire savings on buying this stock....

I just heard her talking about it an hour ago and had no idea what she was on about until I came here.


Good Lord, she's too late and is going to lose all of that. Roll Eyes

This is 1600's Dutch tulips all over again.


She's not forced to hold the shares. I just skimmed in and out of AMC for a 20% profit. If she bought at any time yesterday, she should still be in the money.

If she bought at peak today, she would still be down only like 20%
January 27, 2021, 01:48 PM
TXJIM
She will be fine, when I was 16 I regularly blew my whole life’s savings filling up with gas Big Grin


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January 27, 2021, 01:57 PM
SIG4EVA
My little brother just reached out to alert of this and he already started buying BB and AMC. I tried explain how this was occurring and what the risk is. It only works for the ones that started in, similar to a MLM. It will be a short ride.


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January 27, 2021, 02:38 PM
ChicagoSigMan
Buying something for no other reason than "it's going up" is a great way to lose money.

99.99% of all people should just avoid this stock entirely. The others should be looking at selling way way way out of the money puts (if you know how to manage options trades) because the volatility is crazy high. The March 25 put can be sold for $5. Anything else, you might as well just go to Vegas.
January 27, 2021, 03:03 PM
MikeGLI
I set a limit buy today and it didnt get to what I was comfortable with. Best of luck to those who are holding. The next two days will be interesting.




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January 27, 2021, 03:27 PM
Aeteocles
quote:
Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
Buying something for no other reason than "it's going up" is a great way to lose money.

99.99% of all people should just avoid this stock entirely. The others should be looking at selling way way way out of the money puts (if you know how to manage options trades) because the volatility is crazy high. The March 25 put can be sold for $5. Anything else, you might as well just go to Vegas.


Yeeeaaah. That would be the reasonable course. But ignores how ridiculous and irrational Reddit can be. Any reasonable "investor" has a downside risk tolerance that sorta pushes him away from making stupid decisions. Here, you've probably got tens or hundreds of thousands of individuals who, on a cumulative basis, have unlimited risk tolerance. Each person buying a few stocks each spreads the pain of loss to the point that many are just buying 1 or 2 shares just to see what happens (sounds a lot like a lottery ticket).
January 27, 2021, 03:33 PM
RogueJSK
It also presents yet another view at the unintended consequences of the "mob rule" of the internet.

It's not just stuff like dogpiling an online poll to achieve a specific result, doxing, crashing webpages, cancel culture, flooding a business with bad reviews, and the like.

Weaponizing a sufficiently large mob of interweb denizens (many of whom are simply "doing it for the lolz" as part of the pack) is now demonstrated to be able to affect the stock market, make/break a businesses' stock value, tank other businesses' funding, etc.

It'd be naïve to assume that this won't be purposefully repeated in the future, with specific goals in mind.

Interesting times in which we all live.
January 27, 2021, 03:39 PM
LS1 GTO
quote:
Originally posted by Aeteocles:
The idea of some short sellers crying to sleep tonight warms my heart a bit.


Why?

I read your other posts in the this thread and see you will probably always know more of the stock dealing details than I will ever have the time to learn, and while admittingly not understanding the full concept of how to short a stock, I do know the following:

A. Some stocks are under valued
B. Some stock are over valued
C. Some stock have a historical average of rising (Raytheon, Lockheed, etc)

Knowing which is which of the above three can be very lucrative.

I mean after all, if you feel a stock is over-valued, you'll not make much money buying it. You can make money shorting it.

And the opposite is true if you try to short an under-valued stock.

It's nothing personal against the other share holders to short their stock - it's the other part of the business (buy low, sell high versus; sell high, buy low).






Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.



"If dogs don't go to Heaven, I want to go where they go" Will Rogers

The definition of the words we used, carry a meaning of their own...



January 27, 2021, 04:08 PM
Aeteocles
quote:
Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
quote:
Originally posted by Aeteocles:
The idea of some short sellers crying to sleep tonight warms my heart a bit.


Why?

I read your other posts in the this thread and see you will probably always know more of the stock dealing details than I will ever have the time to learn, and while admittingly not understanding the full concept of how to short a stock, I do know the following:

A. Some stocks are under valued
B. Some stock are over valued
C. Some stock have a historical average of rising (Raytheon, Lockheed, etc)

Knowing which is which of the above three can be very lucrative.

I mean after all, if you feel a stock is over-valued, you'll not make much money buying it. You can make money shorting it.

And the opposite is true if you try to short an under-valued stock.

It's nothing personal against the other share holders to short their stock - it's the other part of the business (buy low, sell high versus; sell high, buy low).


For clarity, I was referring to "institutional" short sellers.

You and I can do whatever we want. We're retail investors. Our purchases, analysis, and proclamations do not affect the market. You and I say Tesla is over-valued, trading at however many times above earnings and literally nothing happens.

An institutional short trades in "market making" volumes. Their trades literally push the market around and cause ripples that they can continue to profit from.

So, an institutional short seller comes along and sees a company lifting itself up. That short seller decides that it would be an easy case to short sell that stock. So, they release a report, they downgrade their analysis of the stock, and they take a short position and proclaim to the world that they are doing so. The stock reacts, and the stock value drops. Now, the company has a hard time raising funds, and continues to sink--and the short seller profits from it.

This happens on the other side, of course, as institutions take long positions, announce high price targets, and watch the money flow.

I've been affected by short sellers. I'll get in early on a stock, watch the stock increase in value organically, and then some asshole short seller comes along and just wrecks the momentum with some short sell report (like what Citron Research tried to do with GME).

So, yeah, it's nice to watch them get screwed.
January 27, 2021, 04:12 PM
parabellum
Well, as my ol' dad used to say "Buy low, sell high."

'Course, ol' dad never owned a single share of stock in his entire life, so that advice may be a bit shaky.

My feeling is that he wouldn't touch this Gamesqueeze thing with a ten foot pole.


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January 27, 2021, 04:23 PM
LS1 GTO
quote:
Originally posted by Aeteocles:
quote:
Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
quote:
Originally posted by Aeteocles:
The idea of some short sellers crying to sleep tonight warms my heart a bit.


Why?

I read your other posts in the this thread and see you will probably always know more of the stock dealing details than I will ever have the time to learn, and while admittingly not understanding the full concept of how to short a stock, I do know the following:

A. Some stocks are under valued
B. Some stock are over valued
C. Some stock have a historical average of rising (Raytheon, Lockheed, etc)

Knowing which is which of the above three can be very lucrative.

I mean after all, if you feel a stock is over-valued, you'll not make much money buying it. You can make money shorting it.

And the opposite is true if you try to short an under-valued stock.

It's nothing personal against the other share holders to short their stock - it's the other part of the business (buy low, sell high versus; sell high, buy low).


For clarity, I was referring to "institutional" short sellers.

...

So, yeah, it's nice to watch them get screwed.


Yet don't those "institutions" have investors, like you and I, who are trying to fill a gap for their retirement (like a part of your 401K) or, are they all privately owned and without outside, silent partner type, investors?

To me, sort selling is short selling whether it's $100, $100M, or 1 million individuals (like you and i) shorting $100.

Still the same thing, betting against the stock.






Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.



"If dogs don't go to Heaven, I want to go where they go" Will Rogers

The definition of the words we used, carry a meaning of their own...



January 27, 2021, 04:25 PM
LS1 GTO
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum:
Well, as my ol' dad used to say "Buy low, sell high."



My grandfather said the same. Provably why I never grasped the opposite of "sell high, buy low"






Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.



"If dogs don't go to Heaven, I want to go where they go" Will Rogers

The definition of the words we used, carry a meaning of their own...



January 27, 2021, 04:29 PM
BamaJeepster
quote:
Originally posted by BamaJeepster:

https://twitter.com/Investingc.../1354474816414343172

The big boys were not amused Smile


Well, the redditors found out that the SEC is now monitoring their forum...





“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
- John Adams
January 27, 2021, 04:35 PM
BBMW
This smells like and organized pump and dump. I wonder if the SEC and maybe some of the US attorneys may get involved?
January 27, 2021, 04:36 PM
RogueJSK
quote:
Originally posted by BBMW:
This smells like and organized pump and dump. I wonder if the SEC and maybe some of the US attorneys may get involved?


I suspect a few key Redditors are about to find out just how anonymous the internet ain't.
January 27, 2021, 04:38 PM
Aeteocles
The short selling hedge funds operate on different rules than traditionally managed funds. They restrict their investors to the wealthy, so that they can skirt around SEC oversight and take really aggressive strategies.

Stock market investments are a zero sum game. For a short selling hedge fund to make money, that money must be skimmed from other managed funds or retail investors.

So, if you've got your retirement money sitting in an ETF or mutual fund, don't know your hedge fund manager by name, then you've probably had money taken from you.

I like rich people. In fact, I aspire to be one. But short selling hedge funds play dirty to benefit the rich.
January 27, 2021, 04:40 PM
Graniteguy
Just saw they are doing the same thing with Blockbuster. Does Blockbuster still exist or we warping back 20 years?
January 27, 2021, 04:41 PM
BBMW
Yup.

quote:
Originally posted by RogueJSK:
quote:
Originally posted by BBMW:
This smells like and organized pump and dump. I wonder if the SEC and maybe some of the US attorneys may get involved?


I suspect a few key Redditors are about to find out just how anonymous the internet ain't.

January 27, 2021, 04:41 PM
LS1 GTO
Okay, now I am beginning to understand your consternation with this (my 100W light bulb is almost up to 40W brightness Big Grin)

Thx






Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.



"If dogs don't go to Heaven, I want to go where they go" Will Rogers

The definition of the words we used, carry a meaning of their own...



January 27, 2021, 04:42 PM
Graniteguy
quote:
Originally posted by BBMW:
Yup.

quote:
Originally posted by RogueJSK:
quote:
Originally posted by BBMW:
This smells like and organized pump and dump. I wonder if the SEC and maybe some of the US attorneys may get involved?


I suspect a few key Redditors are about to find out just how anonymous the internet ain't.


True - but gotta give it to them - they have brass balls and kudo's to fighting back against the Hedge Fund machine and Wall Street.