Another win for Internet trolls

[Cornfed]

In this case they used social media to talk up the stocks of a bunch of companies that the evil major Wall Street hedge funds had heavy short positions in, costing the hedge funds billions of dollars. Brilliant.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55817918

[Cornfed]

So as I see it, the idea is to get a bunch of people together to invest in or place call options on the stocks of companies you know the bad guys are shorting. The companies will likely go broke eventually, but that doesn't matter. All you have to do is keep the stock price high for long enough that the bad guys' time-limited short positions will expire so you can take their money. Absolutely awesome. The fact that the hedge fund people are crying and whining about this and demanding the rules be changed shows them up for the worthless, talentless parasites that they have always been.

[fschmidt]

It's morons versus scum, and quite heartwarming because both will lose. The scum lose in the short squeeze and the morons will lose when the overvalued stock falls.

[Cornfed]

It's morons versus scum, and quite heartwarming because both will lose. The scum lose in the short squeeze and the morons will lose when the overvalued stock falls.

But presumably the less moronic morons will sell for a profit before the stock falls.

[fschmidt]

But presumably the less moronic morons will sell for a profit before the stock falls.

Yes, presumably. But market timing is generally a losing game.

[Cornfed]

This is a bigger story than I thought.

[fschmidt]

Tucker is a moron. Short sellers serve a useful function by driving down the price of corrupt overvalued businesses. Market manipulation can happen in either direction and is not specific to short sellers. Of course Robinhood is guilty of market manipulation by freezing these accounts and they belong in jail.

[Cornfed]

Tucker is a moron. Short sellers serve a useful function by driving down the price of corrupt overvalued businesses.

As we know, this wasn't the original purpose of short selling, and these market signals could be transmitted a lot more efficiently without the banksters making enormous profits.

[Cornfed]

There was an old Wall Street saying:

He who sells what isn't his'n
Must buy it back or go to prison.

The hedge fund traders should go to prison regardless.

[fschmidt]

The hedge fund traders should go to prison regardless.

Bankruptcy is good enough for them. The real criminals here are the Robinhood people. They should go to prison.

[fschmidt]

As we know, this wasn't the original purpose of short selling, and these market signals could be transmitted a lot more efficiently without the banksters making enormous profits.

What was the original purpose of short selling?

I have no problem with bankers making profits if they do it without manipulation. Their job is to allocate capital and this has value. Jim Chanos is a good example of a very useful short seller.

[Cornfed]

As we know, this wasn't the original purpose of short selling, and these market signals could be transmitted a lot more efficiently without the banksters making enormous profits.

What was the original purpose of short selling?

As I understand it, it was a form of insurance. Say you are a ship owner shipping cotton to London in the nineteenth century. When you sell the cotton you buy manufactured goods to sell in the States. But say there turns out to be a glut of cotton on the market and the price hits rock bottom. Then you won’t be able to buy the manufactured goods and pay your crew to get back to the States and will end up begging in the streets. To prevent this, what you do is essentially bet against yourself. You short cotton so if the worst happens and the price drops to nothing you have just enough, just enough for your return voyage.

[fschmidt]

As I understand it, it was a form of insurance. Say you are a ship owner shipping cotton to London in the nineteenth century. When you sell the cotton you buy manufactured goods to sell in the States. But say there turns out to be a glut of cotton on the market and the price hits rock bottom. Then you won’t be able to buy the manufactured goods and pay your crew to get back to the States and will end up begging in the streets. To prevent this, what you do is essentially bet against yourself. You short cotton so if the worst happens and the price drops to nothing you have just enough, just enough for your return voyage.

They used futures to deal with this. I think shorting was always speculative.

[Cornfed]

They used futures to deal with this. I think shorting was always speculative.

I've done some research, but I defer to your superior Jewishness.

[DanielPe]

Investments in stock markets always have that risk of panic on the part of investors