Gamestop?

[ExFlyBoy5]

It would be great if you owned some of these stocks that skyrocketed, as long as you noticed it happening and were not on vacation. An opportunity to sell out.

It doesn't hurt when Elon Musk gives you a shout out on Twitter. That is when it got very crazy.

 

[ivinsfan]

This pasted from my TDA transactions page:

Security impacts related to market conditions
In the interest of mitigating risk for our company and clients, we have put in place several restrictions on some transactions in $GME, $AMC and other securities. We made these decisions out of an abundance of caution amid unprecedented market conditions and other factors.

I tried to phone in and ask for details but the estimated wait time is 90 minutes.

Entered a Buy for 1 share GME at $200 and it accepted the order. Not sure what they are restricting...

What does everyone think of that statement? Acceptable or not acceptable? I wouldn't call "unprecedented" as far as the markets go.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Gamestop is up 144% so far today to $365. The market cap is up to 25.5 billion. When I see speculation like this on heavily shorted stocks, it's a sign that a market crash is nearing.

https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/GME

Except this is something we have never seen before, at least not the manner in which it's being executed. Market cap means NOTHING to these "retail investors"...it's gambling, plain and simple. The biggest issue is that much of this is being executed through options, and I don't think many of these "retail investors" know how they work and will ultimately result in greater restrictions in option trading.

 

[Running_Man]

Do you think the rules should be changed? The interesting thing is that most people including the hedge funds, say I was following the rules and didn't do anything wrong.

I don't think hedge funds are a shining example of capitalism at it's finest.

No I am not saying the rules should be changed, quite the contrary. And even if you don't like the hedge funds unfortunately presently hold nearly 2 trillion of high worth individuals net assets, along with a sizeable portion of pension funds which are not hedge funds but in many cases run like one. This is the logical extension of the Dave Portnoy stock buying, let's face it common wisdom is that stocks always go up, so if you risk a little on this it doesn't matter and you have millions of people willing to play this way because 25 percent of all new issues do not even have any positive earnings nor expect any in the near future. Tesla paved the road for this and the crowd is following.

Sure is interesting, any attempt to ban will backfire immensely.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

This pasted from my TDA transactions page:

Security impacts related to market conditions
In the interest of mitigating risk for our company and clients, we have put in place several restrictions on some transactions in $GME, $AMC and other securities. We made these decisions out of an abundance of caution amid unprecedented market conditions and other factors.

I tried to phone in and ask for details but the estimated wait time is 90 minutes.

Entered a Buy for 1 share GME at $200 and it accepted the order. Not sure what they are restricting...

I am not sure what the restrictions are. I have made a few [-]trades[/-] bets of GME, AMC and KOSS with no issues. The Thinkorswim platform seems to not be having outage issues, either.

 

[RVplusDog]

Snip

...will ultimately result in greater restrictions in option trading.

I’d bet on that ;-)

 

[Franklin]

I went on Reddit last evening and their were thousands of people following threads that seemingly were getting people to buy AMC in after hours trading. Apparently the targets are heavily shorted companies that have fallen from favor. The plan is to raise the price to levels where the shorts feel the need to cover their position (short coverings again raise the price). Last evening AMC closed on the US exchange at around $5 and was up to $20 in after hours. Looks like it is around $16 today. No real news on the financials just market hyping heavily shorted positions. You don't want to
be playing musical chairs when the music stops. I'd much prefer to be a spectator. You can dig into the on line threads and find out who the target may be tomorrow (they mention one so watch it in after hours). BTY, Ive been told you now can buy these stocks via Venmo and other "millennial friendly" applications. Interesting times indeed.

 

[MRG]

It doesn't hurt when Elon Musk gives you a shout out on Twitter. That is when it got very crazy.

Elon doesn't like shorts very much.

 

[Running_Man]

Naturally hedge funds that lose a billion dollars with 5% of their portfolio on a Gamestop short and have forced liquidations, have to sell the 95% of the index portfolio's they have to pay the piper. So in the end the losses are funded equally by the entire market.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Elon doesn't like shorts very much.

Well, I don't blame him. He put a target on Melvin (who I believe had shorted TSLA at one time) and seems to have been successful. Who would have thought Twitter would have so much pull in our society.

Watching Chamath Palihapitiya on CNBC discussing this, and the CNBC host (Scott Wapner) is trying to roast him, but Chamath is really owning this interview IMHO.

 

[MRG]

There is nothing concerted going on. It's nothing more than group think ...a group that is taking action. Feel free to peruse the Reddit thread...no one is claiming to be an advisor. I don't know that the SEC will be able to regulate this in any way, shape, or form...and if they do, I think the courts will shut them down pretty quick. However, it does appear that many of the trading platforms are putting restrictions out there, but I am not sure what transactions they are limiting.

CNBC isn't helping any, they have been talking about it all day and it's only adding to the number of users in the Reddit group.

Take a look at this volume as of 10:55 am (EST) ... there are A LOT of people trading right now.

I've participated in trading boards like this in my past. I'd lay odds some of the same people are involved. One posters writing style is very familiar to a place I hung out around 2010 on a paid service.

The things I read about the brokerage adding restrictions was around margin.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

The things I read about the brokerage adding restrictions was around margin.

That makes sense. I know Robinhood took it on the chin when they first rolled out with some bugs that allowed margin accounts that didn't really exist. I couldn't imagine investing on margin...no way, no how!

As to the "current players", I do think it's a lot of new folks. I recall back in 1999-2000 many pilots I knew got into day trading when they got their retention bonuses. Of course, we know how that worked out. Then it was message boards (remember ICQ?) today it's a larger audience on Reddit. And with CNBC talking about it (and getting really pissed off @ Chamath with this disruption of the "norm") it's only adding to the fury of the [-]retail investors[/-] gamblers.

 

[NW-Bound]

This pasted from my TDA transactions page:

Security impacts related to market conditions
In the interest of mitigating risk for our company and clients, we have put in place several restrictions on some transactions in $GME, $AMC and other securities. We made these decisions out of an abundance of caution amid unprecedented market conditions and other factors.

I tried to phone in and ask for details but the estimated wait time is 90 minutes.

Entered a Buy for 1 share GME at $200 and it accepted the order. Not sure what they are restricting...

The restrictions spelled out on my Merrill Edge page are as follows:

Due to recent volatility in the trading of Game Stop (GME), this security will be moved to a 100% margin requirement. As a result, effective at close of business today Jan. 27, this stock will no longer be available to use as collateral.

This means that to buy the stock you cannot use margin loan and have to put up all the cash.

Secondly, if you hold the stock, you cannot use its present value as collateral to buy other stocks, or to withdraw cash.

 

[ivinsfan]

That makes sense. I know Robinhood took it on the chin when they first rolled out with some bugs that allowed margin accounts that didn't really exist. I couldn't imagine investing on margin...no way, no how!

Do they call this closing the barn door after the horse is out?

 

[JoeWras]

Way back in the aughts I owned some XM stock. I also participated in a fan board that had a stock section.

I eventually got burned on that stock, as usual.

In retrospect, the stock discussion was clearly an effort to game us. After certain shock actions occurred, people ghosted. I, and many others, got gamed.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Way back in the aughts I owned some XM stock. I also participated in a fan board that had a stock section.

I eventually got burned on that stock, as usual.

In retrospect, the stock discussion was clearly an effort to game us. After certain shock actions occurred, people ghosted. I, and many others, got gamed.

Should have invested in SIRI today...up 8% today

 

[Markola]

AMC, GameStop, Tesla, Bitcoin, SPACs...it all feels like late-cycle, greedy craps table stuff to me.

 

[NW-Bound]

Gamestop has only 65 million shares outstanding. The last 3 days, the daily trading volume ran more than 170 million shares. Obviously, a share changed hand about 3x a day.

AMC has 108 million shares outstanding. The volume today is already 806 million shares!

What drove AMC up was the news that it has raised $917 million to stay alive. That sounds good, until I saw that in the last quarter, it burned about that much. Buy, buy, buy...

 

[Gumby]

MOD NOTE: Two threads on the same topic have been merged.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

What drove AMC up was the news that it has raised $917 million to stay alive. That sounds good, until I saw that in the last quarter, it burned about that much. Buy, buy, buy...

I tend to disagree. The Reddit /wsb folks have been pushing this stock as hard as GME today. They don't care about the news.

 

[NW-Bound]

I tend to disagree. The Reddit /wsb folks have been pushing this stock as hard as GME today. They don't care about the news.

I do not frequent Reddit site, but think it is easier to pump a stock with some news as a catalyst.

Company raised $917 million to stay alive. Buy, buy, buy...

Company invented a new superduper battery. Buy, buy, buy...

Company testing wonderful drug. Buy, buy, buy...

Once a stock starts to move up, then FOMO takes over. BUY BUY BUY...

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I do not frequent Reddit site, but think it is easier to pump a stock with some news as a catalyst.

Company raised $917 million to stay alive. Buy, buy, buy...

Company invented a new superduper battery. Buy, buy, buy...

Company testing wonderful drug. Buy, buy, buy...

Once a stock starts to move up, then FOMO takes over. BUY BUY BUY...

I don't doubt it. You should visit the Reddit forum...it's interesting, to say the least. The only news they discuss is themselves...I have yet to see any analysis of the actual stocks...just that they are being shorted by the hedge funds.

And things are getting very crazy, this is circulating now and is bothersome IMHO if true.

 

[ivinsfan]

I don't doubt it. You should visit the Reddit forum...it's interesting, to say the least. The only news they discuss is themselves...I have yet to see any analysis of the actual stocks...just that they are being shorted by the hedge funds.

And things are getting very crazy, this is circulating now and is bothersome IMHO if true.

Well, I wonder what sort of "analyzing" goes on in the back rooms of these hedge funds. I'm sure it all market based and beyond reproach....

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Well, I wonder what of "analyzing" goes on in the back rooms of these hedge funds. I'm sure it all market based and beyond reproach....

And I think this is why the "retail investors" are so riled up. Hearing that the White House may investigate. This will only egg them on more and more. And it's not just Gamestop. The top 10 most shorted stocks are getting HUGE gains. Nokia is up 48% today, as an example.

 

[NW-Bound]

Earlier, I looked into buying some put options on GME, but there was no bid/ask.

Just now looked again, and with GME currently subsided to $322 from $380, Feb 5 put option at $300 is going for $128. The stock has to drop to $172 for me to make money.

The stock was $39 only 5 trading days earlier. If it gets back to $39 by Feb 5, one put contract turns $12.8k into $26.1k.

Will the market come to its senses by next Friday? Hard to tell, so I am not buying the put.

I will keep my attention on the stocks I currently hold, and add more shares when the prices look attractive.