The craziest financial story of the week has got to be GameStop stock’s meteoric rise from $6 a share to $340 a share overnight. It all began when Melvin Capital hedge-fund managers decided to short GameStop, betting the stock would fall. But a lot of retail investors viscerally hate billion-dollar hedge-fund managers who make a living manipulating the stock market and driving small investors out of the game.
The investors on Reddit’s “Wall Street Bets” page got together to buy, buy, buy GameStop and drove the stock way up, costing Melvin Capital billions of dollars. You could say it was a massive redistribution of Wall Street wealth to Main Street traders.
Kickboxing champion Andrew Tate said, “If I have to lose six million to destroy Wall Street, I’m ready to f*cking go. F*ck ’em. These people on Reddit are geniuses.” He went on to explain why he and a lot of people don’t like Wall Street hedge-fund tycoons:
They’re the worst people on earth…they have no talent, they don’t make money, they just have a pot of money and they manipulate markets to make their pot go up with other people’s money and they get bailed out by the government anyway. They’re the worst people in the world.
Tate laughed uproariously imagining Melvin Capital financial teams waking up to the news that GameStop had a 600% increase overnight and wiped out 30% of their entire net worth. (Tate can be seen in the YouTube video at the bottom of this article.) Rumors of bankruptcy prompted a cash bailout of $2.75 billion by billionaire investors to keep Melvin Capital solvent.
Steve Cohen’s Point 72, Ken Griffin’s Citadel, and other partners are plowing a total of $2.75 billion into Melvin Capital, the hedge funds said on Monday. They will receive non-controlling revenue shares in Melvin in return for their money.
Melvin will welcome the cash injection as painful short bets have left it down 30% year-to-date as of Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Redditors and gamers did to hedge funds what hedge funds have been doing to companies like Gamestop forever.
Hedge funds lost billions. Already getting bailed out.
Gamers and "toxicity" being blamed once again, of course.
— Grummz (@Grummz) January 27, 2021
Elon Musk tweeted out support for the populist takeover of the market, which some credit as being the catalyst for the rocket-like rise of GameStop’s stock price.
Gamestonk!! https://t.co/RZtkDzAewJ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2021
The financial establishment is calling for “authorities” to do something about it. Why? The stock market is all about gambling. It’s a game. The finance bros are just mad that some guys on Reddit played better than the hedge-fund managers who are used to winning. Oh well! You win some and you lose some, boys! The memes are hilarious.
Live view of wsb overtaking the global financial system pic.twitter.com/y9jFOxYVew
— Fintwit (@fintwit_news) January 26, 2021
Even NASDAQ was threatening to shut down the market over the mass inflation of GameStop stock to protect their friends on Wall Street. NASDAQ CEO Adena Friedman was literally stuttering her way through a justification for regulating the people who made the house lose. This didn’t convince me of any wrongdoing. Does it convince you?
"As we look at these new technologies that are available … it's important for regulators to understand that manipulation is manipulation whether it's happening through a new technology medium or it's happening through traditional mail," says @Nasdaq CEO @adenatfriedman. pic.twitter.com/iSP31KoXvm
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) January 27, 2021
Taking billions out of the market and bankrupting people is only something hedge fund managers get to do, not you people in your underwear trading at home. Duh.
Redditors are posting what they’re going to do with their winnings. #Billions is trending on Twitter.
You can not convince me this isn't hilarious and ompletely worth a hedgefund going out of business. pic.twitter.com/A7zdsbZjzJ
— Griffin – Live Protest News (@GriffinMalone6) January 27, 2021
Investor Jason Calacanis pointed out that a bunch of kids with $600 stimulus checks created the perfect storm and managed to screw Wall Street.
I guess professional short sellers never considered what would happen if they got squeezed by a legion of tiny retail investors with 20-year-old forum software, a free-trading app, and a $600 stimulus check at their disposal
Perfect storm!
— [email protected] (@Jason) January 25, 2021
Charles Payne knows what’s up. “I didn’t hear one person on tv complaining about Wall Street trying to crush GameStop. 140% short! I told my subscribers to buy this stock and they made a fortune,” he told Fox Business. He’s 100% right. And the financial establishment’s push for regulation is a sad attempt to “change the rules of the game now after the general public is making money,” said Payne. “Individual investors are playing the same game you are playing only now you’re losing.” So grow up, Wall Street, and stop running to Mommy to regulate the players who outsmarted you.
This is an excellent commentary.
.@cvpayne On GameStop Stock Market Drama
"All of this whining by Wall Street it's making me sick."
"I didn't hear one person on tv complaining about Wall Street trying to crush GameStop." pic.twitter.com/wz5ou75Pgm
— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) January 27, 2021
Let’s not forget that Wall Street made billions on the overinflation of the housing market in the early 2000s, which left many Americans homeless and ushered in what is now known as The Great Recession that caused joblessness and suffering. No one feels sorry for Wall Street tycoons.
The guy from The Big Short said the GameStop rally that destroyed a hedge fund is irresponsible and dangerous.
Buddy, you made billions off the housing crash that left countless people jobless and homeless.
— Jesse (@JesseDoctor) January 27, 2021
Paul Joseph Watson does a great job breaking this down. Try not to laugh too hard and enjoy this rare moment when Main Street took back some of the ill-gotten gains that Wall Street took from the taxpayers in the form of endless bailouts while Americans got stuck with the bill.
Seeing NASDAQ, banks, & regulators begin to halt trading over the Reddit WSB $GME stock rally proves that we don't have a free market.
We have a controlled market that is gamed to benefit banks and hedge funds, and if you don't invest the way they tell you to, they'll ruin you.
— Spike Cohen (@RealSpikeCohen) January 27, 2021
The Tendieman has come.
ht u/quigonshin pic.twitter.com/MfD1aqNSO3
— wsb mod (@wsbmod) January 26, 2021
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