6 ms·

r/wallstreetbets set to private after increased media coverage

71 points by cyberlurker 6y ago

https://old.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/ https://old.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/ Some unverified Twitter chatter talking about unwanted legal attention after pumping up GameStop stock: https://mobile.twitter.com/wsbmod https://mobile.twitter.com/wsbmod

soared 6y ago
My first thought was that this a super spicy meme that will generate even more buzz. I would love to IANAL opinions on the legality of memes impacting markets though.
rmm 6y ago
Apparent details of what happened. TLDR: Apparently the recent GME play upset/hurt some institutional investors, and they decided to hit back. https://old.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/l2guoc/wallstreetbets_full_story_my_post_blew_up_and/ https://old.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/l2guoc/wall...
- salawat 6y ago
  Amazing. So institutional investors have steered the market for years and if you lost your hat because of them, well, that's investing. You clearly played it to you personal risk tolerance. The momemt they get burned by someone else moving markets... Oh, how the tune changes.
- drawfloat 6y ago
  The evidence that there is a conspiracy is an unscreenshotted, unverified and unquoted "source" from someone who works with investors. The way they hit back was by getting them more media attention, coincidentally just after WSB themselves started a Twitter to promote themselves and had just appeared in the financial news for one particularly wild success at adjusting the price of a stock? Kind of would have expected HN to look for a higher barrier of proof than that. Sounds more like WSB got a bit too big, started to draw some degree of actual scrutiny (partially through their own actions in tweeting out egotistical statements from their Twitter) and now are blaming it on some vague conspiracy? I've no doubt that lots of institutional investors would be happy to keep things like WSB out. But it would be a strange and convenient coincidence that there happens to be an international conspiracy involving investors, media and financial regulators that just so happens to fit perfectly with the 'underdog' PR story WSB is trying to build itself on.
logicslave 6y ago
WSB has been a fountain of wealth for me. They actually do move the market, everyone who has taken notice and jumped on the hype train has done extremely well for themselves. I hope it continues, then I can leave my job forever
- simplemen 6y ago
  Same here. Pretty easy to follow their popular picks and make real money.
  - freebuju 6y ago
    From your comment I cannot establish whether you are being sarcastic or what they over at wsb call 'one of the retards'.. Either way godspeed to you
- berberous 6y ago
  How old are you? Everyone’s a genius in a bull market. Don’t get caught out when the tide turns.
- dingaling 6y ago
  That just shows what a travesty the stock market is today. It was meant to be a mechanism for people to invest in companies in which they had an interest or belief. Now it's just a way of transferring wealth from one place to another without benefit to the company.
  - perl4ever 6y ago
    The public companies that have been wildly bid up to absurd valuations are frantically issuing stock right now. That cash definitely benefits them.
swader999 6y ago
Reddit is so bland lately. Feels like three quarters of the responders are AI bots. Wall Street bets is ridiculous but has a lot of camaraderie.
- xkqd 6y ago
  I could see why one would think bots, but it’s far more likely the group-think you’re feeling.
- rubatuga 6y ago
  More like HN is so bland with threads like this getting flagged.
- jm547ster 6y ago
  HN is so bland lately. It feels like most the posters are so morose. New posts are well attended, so at least there is loyalty there.
shortandsweet 6y ago
I can't say I'm happy seeing this post on the front page of HN right now. I left reddit behind because of the immaturity and now it's come to roost. I don't exactly know where to go from here but I see eternal September is alive and well.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
tayo42 6y ago
is tesla's price going to drop now?
- donsupreme 6y ago
  Uber too
dentemple 6y ago
Some context: WSB believes that there's a short squeeze imminent for $GME, and they've been hyping up/calling for people to buy and hold its shares. As OP points out, some members of the media have indeed taken notice: https://twitter.com/jimcramer/status/1352368321212145674 https://twitter.com/jimcramer/status/1352368321212145674 I'm no expert on this stuff by any means--I'm just a casual trader who lurks on WSB sometimes for the latest memes--so instead of trying to (badly) provide more details about this myself, I'll just link to some of the discussions that are spilling over to WSB's sister subreddits: https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/comments/l21gpz/infinite_short_squeeze_explained_blue_appron_case/ https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/comments/l21gpz/infinite_sho... https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/l2ehsg/lets_talk_gme/ https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/l2ehsg/lets_talk... EDIT: The Out of the Loop thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/l2gkpe/whats_up_with_rwallstreetbets_going_private/ https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/l2gkpe/whats_...
JMTQp8lwXL 6y ago
WSB periodically gets set to private, but it always returns. Given this repetitive occurrence, I'd call this a nothingburger.
nelsonmandela 6y ago
There's a lot of refugees at /biz/ and they stick out like a sore thumb
bo1024 6y ago
Wow, this is wild. Let me see if I can summarize from my quick read of the links people have posted (just a summary, not claiming those links are correct). The catalyst event happening is apparently an impending "short squeeze" for GameStop (GME) stock. The underlying issue is being painted as a power struggle between individuals ("retail investors") and hedge funds / institutional investors. The idea of the short squeeze is that institutional investors short-sold GME, meaning they took money in exchange for a promise to deliver shares later. This seemed safe because they thought it would be easy to buy cheap shares later and deliver as they are supposed to. However, the share price started going up. People know the holders of shorts will need to buy back shares, so people (wallstreetsbets people?) buy the shares first. This drives up the price even more, increasing the potential desperation of the shorts-holders, and this cycle can theoretically get really vicious really fast, leading to a "squeeze". So retail investors are hoping to make a bunch of money off the institutional investors holding the shorts. In theory, if everyone bought Gamestop shares and refused to sell, the holders of shorts would be failing to fulfill their contract and be in huge trouble (but they will pay big prices first). This leads to the David-and-Goliath story. The claim is that institutional investors are actively trying to paint reddit as market manipulators, in an attempt (either short or long term) to get regulators to shut down individual investing and tilt the field more to institutions. This narrative is aided by WSB trends to invest as a block in "meme stocks". On the other hand, redditors are painting the institutions as serial entrenched market manipulators who got caught with their pants down in this instance, and who are trying dirty tricks to get out of a sticky situation. Did I get it right?
- dentemple 6y ago
  For sure, Friday will be an interesting trading day for $GME.
  - karakot 6y ago
    that was an understatement lol (in hindsight)
- throw14082020 6y ago
  Looks like instutional investors goals are 2 fold: - Asap: Get public (media coverage) to sell GME to lower price and reduce squeeze. - Long term: Discredit and diminish WSB. I think some serious unintended consequences will occur today.
nexus2045 6y ago
Having recently joined WSB in time for the GME hype, I realized that this might be one of the first times in history where enough retail "investors" (a lot of meme-loving kids with Robinhood) have gathered under a common cause to pose a threat to institutional investors, as acknowledged by Jim Cramer. Rallying a 1.9m subscriber community with an underlying anti-boomer sentiment, especially because Gamestop is about video games which the older generation does not favor, has proved a potent force, which wsb-ers like to call "retard strength".
- jm547ster 6y ago
  Potent retardation
mcc1ane 6y ago
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/01/gaming-the-system-how-gamestop-stock-surged-1500-in-nine-months/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/01/gaming-the-system-how...
cyberlurker 6y ago
The subreddit is back up as of this morning. It’s possible this is just self produced meme drama. Also worth noting GME is way up, to the great enjoyment of WSB members.
nathanielmhld 6y ago
"WallStreetBets is under in tents load and is only for approved submitters. In the meantime, please enjoy some spaghetti. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW1GR7BECq4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW1GR7BECq4"
- f430 6y ago
  whoa talk about timing.

71 points by cyberlurker 6y ago

soared 6y ago

My first thought was that this a super spicy meme that will generate even more buzz. I would love to IANAL opinions on the legality of memes impacting markets though.

rmm 6y ago

Apparent details of what happened. TLDR: Apparently the recent GME play upset/hurt some institutional investors, and they decided to hit back. https://old.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/l2guoc/wallstreetbets_full_story_my_post_blew_up_and/ https://old.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/l2guoc/wall...

salawat 6y ago
Amazing. So institutional investors have steered the market for years and if you lost your hat because of them, well, that's investing. You clearly played it to you personal risk tolerance. The momemt they get burned by someone else moving markets... Oh, how the tune changes.
drawfloat 6y ago
The evidence that there is a conspiracy is an unscreenshotted, unverified and unquoted "source" from someone who works with investors. The way they hit back was by getting them more media attention, coincidentally just after WSB themselves started a Twitter to promote themselves and had just appeared in the financial news for one particularly wild success at adjusting the price of a stock? Kind of would have expected HN to look for a higher barrier of proof than that. Sounds more like WSB got a bit too big, started to draw some degree of actual scrutiny (partially through their own actions in tweeting out egotistical statements from their Twitter) and now are blaming it on some vague conspiracy? I've no doubt that lots of institutional investors would be happy to keep things like WSB out. But it would be a strange and convenient coincidence that there happens to be an international conspiracy involving investors, media and financial regulators that just so happens to fit perfectly with the 'underdog' PR story WSB is trying to build itself on.

logicslave 6y ago

WSB has been a fountain of wealth for me. They actually do move the market, everyone who has taken notice and jumped on the hype train has done extremely well for themselves. I hope it continues, then I can leave my job forever

simplemen 6y ago
Same here. Pretty easy to follow their popular picks and make real money.
- freebuju 6y ago
  From your comment I cannot establish whether you are being sarcastic or what they over at wsb call 'one of the retards'.. Either way godspeed to you
berberous 6y ago
How old are you? Everyone’s a genius in a bull market. Don’t get caught out when the tide turns.
dingaling 6y ago
That just shows what a travesty the stock market is today. It was meant to be a mechanism for people to invest in companies in which they had an interest or belief. Now it's just a way of transferring wealth from one place to another without benefit to the company.
- perl4ever 6y ago
  The public companies that have been wildly bid up to absurd valuations are frantically issuing stock right now. That cash definitely benefits them.

swader999 6y ago

Reddit is so bland lately. Feels like three quarters of the responders are AI bots. Wall Street bets is ridiculous but has a lot of camaraderie.

xkqd 6y ago
I could see why one would think bots, but it’s far more likely the group-think you’re feeling.
rubatuga 6y ago
More like HN is so bland with threads like this getting flagged.
jm547ster 6y ago
HN is so bland lately. It feels like most the posters are so morose. New posts are well attended, so at least there is loyalty there.

shortandsweet 6y ago

I can't say I'm happy seeing this post on the front page of HN right now. I left reddit behind because of the immaturity and now it's come to roost. I don't exactly know where to go from here but I see eternal September is alive and well.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

tayo42 6y ago

is tesla's price going to drop now?

donsupreme 6y ago
Uber too

dentemple 6y ago

Some context: WSB believes that there's a short squeeze imminent for $GME, and they've been hyping up/calling for people to buy and hold its shares. As OP points out, some members of the media have indeed taken notice: https://twitter.com/jimcramer/status/1352368321212145674 https://twitter.com/jimcramer/status/1352368321212145674 I'm no expert on this stuff by any means--I'm just a casual trader who lurks on WSB sometimes for the latest memes--so instead of trying to (badly) provide more details about this myself, I'll just link to some of the discussions that are spilling over to WSB's sister subreddits: https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/comments/l21gpz/infinite_short_squeeze_explained_blue_appron_case/ https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/comments/l21gpz/infinite_sho... https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/l2ehsg/lets_talk_gme/ https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/l2ehsg/lets_talk... EDIT: The Out of the Loop thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/l2gkpe/whats_up_with_rwallstreetbets_going_private/ https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/l2gkpe/whats_...

JMTQp8lwXL 6y ago

WSB periodically gets set to private, but it always returns. Given this repetitive occurrence, I'd call this a nothingburger.

nelsonmandela 6y ago

There's a lot of refugees at /biz/ and they stick out like a sore thumb

bo1024 6y ago

Wow, this is wild. Let me see if I can summarize from my quick read of the links people have posted (just a summary, not claiming those links are correct). The catalyst event happening is apparently an impending "short squeeze" for GameStop (GME) stock. The underlying issue is being painted as a power struggle between individuals ("retail investors") and hedge funds / institutional investors. The idea of the short squeeze is that institutional investors short-sold GME, meaning they took money in exchange for a promise to deliver shares later. This seemed safe because they thought it would be easy to buy cheap shares later and deliver as they are supposed to. However, the share price started going up. People know the holders of shorts will need to buy back shares, so people (wallstreetsbets people?) buy the shares first. This drives up the price even more, increasing the potential desperation of the shorts-holders, and this cycle can theoretically get really vicious really fast, leading to a "squeeze". So retail investors are hoping to make a bunch of money off the institutional investors holding the shorts. In theory, if everyone bought Gamestop shares and refused to sell, the holders of shorts would be failing to fulfill their contract and be in huge trouble (but they will pay big prices first). This leads to the David-and-Goliath story. The claim is that institutional investors are actively trying to paint reddit as market manipulators, in an attempt (either short or long term) to get regulators to shut down individual investing and tilt the field more to institutions. This narrative is aided by WSB trends to invest as a block in "meme stocks". On the other hand, redditors are painting the institutions as serial entrenched market manipulators who got caught with their pants down in this instance, and who are trying dirty tricks to get out of a sticky situation. Did I get it right?

dentemple 6y ago
For sure, Friday will be an interesting trading day for $GME.
- karakot 6y ago
  that was an understatement lol (in hindsight)
throw14082020 6y ago
Looks like instutional investors goals are 2 fold: - Asap: Get public (media coverage) to sell GME to lower price and reduce squeeze. - Long term: Discredit and diminish WSB. I think some serious unintended consequences will occur today.

nexus2045 6y ago

Having recently joined WSB in time for the GME hype, I realized that this might be one of the first times in history where enough retail "investors" (a lot of meme-loving kids with Robinhood) have gathered under a common cause to pose a threat to institutional investors, as acknowledged by Jim Cramer. Rallying a 1.9m subscriber community with an underlying anti-boomer sentiment, especially because Gamestop is about video games which the older generation does not favor, has proved a potent force, which wsb-ers like to call "retard strength".

jm547ster 6y ago
Potent retardation

mcc1ane 6y ago

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/01/gaming-the-system-how-gamestop-stock-surged-1500-in-nine-months/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/01/gaming-the-system-how...

cyberlurker 6y ago

The subreddit is back up as of this morning. It’s possible this is just self produced meme drama. Also worth noting GME is way up, to the great enjoyment of WSB members.

nathanielmhld 6y ago

"WallStreetBets is under in tents load and is only for approved submitters. In the meantime, please enjoy some spaghetti. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW1GR7BECq4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW1GR7BECq4"

f430 6y ago
whoa talk about timing.