
Quick summary:
1. Big wall Street firms shorted GameStop, expecting their value to fall
2. A load of redditors on r/WallStreetBets saw this, and started pouring in investments to raise the stock price to screw over the Wall Street investors, possibly for fun.
3. This has snowballed, and now billions of imaginary dollars are basically on fire. Enjoy the show.
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 0:06, Reply)

lost most of it in three days shorting some stock he was convinced would go down and got caught on the margin call. lost the rest on a depressive drunken bender that followed. rang me to talk him out of offing himself. moved back in with his mum whom he detests, and he now works as a cleaner. there's probably a moral in there somewhere, there usually is when things work out so shit
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 3:54, Reply)

not sure why they chose me to chat, but they aint the sort of calls you can fob off. perhaps because I was far away. The other mate it was mental health, his career and family all were going well. He mentioned in one call that the only time he didn't have black thoughts going through his mind was when he was cycling, so being a regular fucking carl jung I told him to do more of that. he went a bit overboard and it became his lycra life, but at least he eventually stopped thinking about running the exhaust back into the car.
Anyway, the short selling link put me in mind of that mate, and it's nice to bear in mind that it's probably those sort of wannabee day traders and not big firm who these reddit guys are actually victimising, though it is quite funny nonetheless. I'd ban short selling, like it was banned in yesteryear. It doesn't add any value to society or to companies, it's just a casino giving you a line of credit
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 8:40, Reply)

Betting on failure seems evil.
At least with actual shares, if you fuck up, usually you can just sit tight and wait for it to go up again.
Might take years, might not get all of it back...
But better than the croupier sliding all your failed shorts into the bin.
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 8:55, Reply)

It seems a mechanism designed to abuse.
Buy lots of share X, price of share X goes up, short lots of share X then straight away sell your large amount of share X, price goes down, so you make money on the rise and the fall.
The money comes from somewhere, and usually it means some real person just lost their savings.
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 12:04, Reply)

That's the other side of this. Those hedge funds aren't just using the money of billionaires, they're often heavily invested in by pension plans.
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 13:40, Reply)

( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 13:49, Reply)

They regularly ask us about our attitude to our pension investments, asking us if we're interested in a high-risk, or low-risk model, and such in-between.
It's definitely a conversation worth having with your pension provider.
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 15:51, Reply)

( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 13:51, Reply)

I imagine meeting you two IRL, prufock on his mobility scooter and you chirping up behind him "yeah, a twat!" before ducking back again, while his case worker looks at his watch
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 23:09, Reply)

sneeringly unlikable pretentious thickos don't have friends. That's why they seek conflict on the internet as it's the only attention they can get
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 21:27, Reply)

I feel by prolonging this conversation I'm tying up resources that could go to someone more deserving
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 23:18, Reply)

but no joy yet. I think it would take a total brain re-wiring.
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 8:39, Reply)

I have no idea what is going on but I' loving it.
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 9:03, Reply)

Linky.
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 9:30, Reply)

( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 9:41, Reply)

but you fuck it up at the casino, and still have to pay the bank back.
It's like that, but the bank is a company, the loan is stock in that company, and the casino is the company's reputation in the stock market.
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 14:13, Reply)

but that picture was such a badly written wall of terrible grammar and gratuitous emojis that it actually decreased my powers of comprehension.
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 14:17, Reply)

the first time I heard "but only because you landed in somebody's stomach."
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 10:34, Reply)

of that website and yet they are unable to spell "centre" and used "proved" when they should've used "proven"
FUCK THOSE CUNTS!
CUNT THEM IN THE FUCK! (copyright beeter 1978)
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 13:08, Reply)

That’s like getting irritated by the sun rising in the morning.
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 13:47, Reply)

comin' over 'ere
shining on us and making it all warm...
enabling life to flourish...
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 16:47, Reply)

But it's being filled more and more with complete and utter horseshite.
( , Thu 28 Jan 2021, 14:35, Reply)