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How would you define a "liquidity issue"? I would define it as "current liabilities in excess of current assets", using the accounting definitions of each. It's
by paulgb 6y ago
How would you define a "liquidity issue"? I would define it as "current liabilities in excess of current assets", using the accounting definitions of each. It's not clear that Robinhood was ever in that situation.
Not to defend the RH CEO, who I thought was very poor about communicating this, but I don't think that particular sentence was a lie.
- xiphias2 6y agoThey were in it, as they wouldn't have been able to deliver the value of the options at that point (that's why they needed the cash injection). The whole stock market industry is based on fractional reserves.
- paulgb 6y agoWhat do you mean by > deliver the value of the options Do you mean they wouldn't be able to give people cash if they sold their options?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- cm2187 6y ago> I would define it as "current liabilities in excess of current assets" That's solvency, not liquidity. If your liabilities exceed your assets you have gone bust. Liquidity is having the cash to cover your outflows. You may have enough assets but if these assets aren't liquid, you have a liquidity issue.
- ncallaway 6y ago> I would define it as "current liabilities in excess of current assets" I don't think this is a good definition. If I have a $150 electric bill due immediately, no cash, and $200,000 of real estate I have a liquidity issue. This despite the fact that my current assets far exceed my current liabilities.
- skybrian 6y agoIf someone tells you to buy the Empire State Building and you refuse, do you have a liquidity issue? They are refusing to do things to prevent liquidity issues. Their customers can send requests that cause them to temporarily take on more debt. There are particular orders that need a lot of money to execute. Block those orders and they don't need to borrow the money.
- mdoms 6y agoThey literally did not have enough money in the bank to continue business as usual. If that's not a liquidity issue I don't know what is.
- skybrian 6y agoIt wasn't "business as usual," though. It was a huge spike in orders that became very expensive to execute. You could say they didn't provision enough resources to handle extreme load.