Hedge funds shorted more than 100% of all shares of gamestop, to do this that means they had to sell more shares than actually existed.
The hedge funds never actually owned these shares to begin with because they were short selling so they never actually paid for them.
Redditors saw this and decided to buy up all these shorted shares to gamestop a company that wasnt failing that the hedge funds would then be forced to buy back as they never actually owned the shares.
The beauty of this is if you knew what to look for you could’ve seen this coming too. It isn’t mystical, it isn’t magic. They made these billionaires pay back more than what they basically stole by being greedy, this is a good thing.
Let me explain a bit
rich hedge funds have the ability to sell stocks they havent paid for yet that other people actually own and then pay for them after a certain amount of time. they can sell these stocks trade them whatever but they will eventually have to buy them back.
So they shorted gamestop shares from 20 dollars all the way down to 3 dollars, meaning they borrowed shares to then massively sell.
they sold shares at like 20 dollars and then 18, etc. and because when investors see massive amounts of shares being sold they get nervous and then sell their shares which drives the price of the stock ever further down.
so they took something worth 20 that they sold for 20 dollars and all its downward prices and instead of paying for it at $3 dollars they thought theyd CONTINUE to short the market, meaning they kept driving the prices down because apparently this obscene amount of money wasnt good enough.
Redditors who dont say the stock market is magic and mystical astrology saw this very obvious evidence that these hedge funds would be forced to buy back all these fucking gamestop shares and decided to drive the price of these shares up knowing that the hedge funds would then be forced to buy back the shares they have yet to pay for at increasingly wild prices.
what they were looking for was over 100% of all stocks shorted on a company that wasnt even failing or in complete disarray
they used this knowledge to bring stock that was 20 dollars brought down to $3 all the way back up to $140
the hedge funds still have to pay for all of those shares they never technically even owned in the first place which these redditors knew so they held onto these stocks they bought in a company whose shares were oversold.
INSTEAD of acknowledging this they decided to have media campaigns lie and make the stock market look even more mystical and crazy to people who dont know shit about finance so that your average folks wouldnt catch them in the act of just getting a fucking 2 billion dollar bailout for being greedy fucking pieces of shit.
They also dont want your average person to KNOW they do this shit especially when they drive shares so deep into the ground ($3)
TL;DR: Every time you call the stock market magic and mystical and ooo makes no sense, you pretty much allow these motherfuckers to get away with robbery of the average person (given a government bailout is paying for this)
Understanding how these things happen and knowing what to look for allows people to work together and not only stop it but rob back from the billionaires when they pull this shit.
financial illiteracy isnt helpful to anyone.
my point about financial illiteracy isnt to make anyone feel bad it’s more saying you shouldnt repeat the myth that these things dont make any sense especially when something like this happens because very set laws and rules allowed for this to happen and mystifying that only benefits hedge funds who dont want people catching them doing this.
Hi hello yes, OP? Hi, hello... thank you. Holy fucking fuck, thank you. Thank you for explaining what the fuck was going on so simply
I still don’t understand and may need flowcharts
Shorting is when hedge funds sell a stock that they don’t actually own. Basically, Bob borrows Ted’s bike and pawns it. Now Bob, legally, has to return the bike to Ted so at some point he has to buy the bike back. Bob makes money by wagering that the pawnshop won’t be able to find anyone willing to buy the bike and he’ll be able to buy it back cheap, return it to Ted, and pocket the difference.
Now, the one thing you need to the know about the stock market is that it is run by PEOPLE. And people are panicky. It really doesn’t matter how “well” a company is doing if its stock is being sold off en-mass. People panic, think that somebody knows something they don’t, and sell their stock/refuse to buy.
The hedge funds basically bought a very specific kind of bike and pawned all of them. They bet that people would see a lot of a specific brand of bike at the pawn shop and refuse to buy because there MUST be something wrong with that brand right? Why else would a ton of them be in a pawnshop? Better ditch your own right now or risk the wheel falling off or something.
So, Gamestop’s stock is in the toilet and the hedge funds are about to make a shit ton of money.
Enter reddit.
Upon seeing that Gamestop’s stock is artificially low because of hedge fund dickery, one forum decides to start buying Gamestop stock out of spite. Buying raises the stock price. The Redditors raise the price enough that the hedge funds start panicking. The time when the HAVE to buy back the stock is coming due and now it is WAY more expensive than they sold it for. Its like Bob walking pass the pawnshop and seeing the bike’s price is now three times what he sold it for. Bob panics. Bob makes a horrible decision. He complains to everyone about this. EVERYONE.
Hedge funds were on tv whiny and attracted the attention of people who REALLY DON’T LIKE THEM. People like Elon Musk whose company has been targeted by shorting before and has no problem finding the cash to buy the inflated Gamestop stock and have the social media platform to shine an even bigger spotlight on this. Now other people outside of the Reddit forum are joining in because they smelled blood in the water.
Remember, the hedge funds HAVE to buy these stocks back. No matter what, come the due date, they will have to purchase the stocks at whatever price they are listed at if they haven’t bought them back before then. Even if that price is a hundred times what they paid. Basically, if Bob has to sell his house to get that bike back to Ted then that’s what he’ll have to do. Considering one hedge fund required a bailout already over this, its looking like a lot of people will be selling their houses over shorting Gamestop stock.
That bike metaphor is literally the first time I’ve seen the concept of stocks explained in a way that makes any sense.
