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Fight the man: What GameStop's surge says about online mobs

7 Comments
By BARBARA ORTUTAY and MATT O'BRIEN

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The involvement of platforms like Robinhood also called to mind broader concerns about how many phone apps are designed in a way that reinforces people’s compulsivity. Buy shares on the app and you get a celebratory notification with digital confetti.

Yes Robinhood enjoyed the revenue from people using using gaming aspect of its no-fee trading app as long as it didn't disrupt their major investors' hedge fund operations. They throttled trades really quick when the activities became disruptive to Wall Street, in that the vulture shorts of hedge funds didn't pay out.

This is not about "mobs", it is about collective action that is resulting in greater awareness.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

This is not about "mobs", it is about collective action that is resulting in greater awareness.

Exactly.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Rich people make billions more during pandemic:

"Yes, they're just clever investors. Nothing to see here."

Smart kids on Reddit drive up stock prices:

"This insanity must be regulated."

This is not about "mobs", it is about collective action that is resulting in greater awareness.

Yip. Equating this with QAnon and the believers in satanic paedophiles is ludicrous.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

I can't believe that "shorting" is even a thing. Betting on and rooting for failure? That's the root of this problem, not the retail traders who are simply buying and selling the relatively normal way. It's no wonder that the shorters are getting no sympathy.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Apes together, strong.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I can't believe that "shorting" is even a thing. Betting on and rooting for failure? That's the root of this problem, not the retail traders who are simply buying and selling the relatively normal way. It's no wonder that the shorters are getting no sympathy.

The reasoning behind shorting is that it can (in theory) help to deflate bubbles before they burst. So, if a company is overvalued, and you think it's unsound, your mere action of shorting can slow investment into the company, and might get people to sell their stocks (assuming you're a large enough investor).

The issue, that you've correctly identified, is that big investors can decide they want a business to fail, short it publicly, and that will make others think it's doing badly, sell their stock, reducing the share price and thus limiting the business' access to capital, potentially causing a death spiral.

This is why regulation is needed.

Well, it's why capitalism needs to be eliminated, but in the absence of that: regulation.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Onln

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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