Last week a group of Redditors from the subreddit r/WallStreetBets took on Wall Street when they collectively bought shares of the struggling video game retailer GameStop.

This movement started when it was discovered that approximately 140% of GameStop shares were sold short. With the collective buying power of the millions of subscribers to the WallStreetBets subreddit, they initiated a short squeeze. By driving the price higher, those who had short positions had to buy back the stock to cover their positions, again driving the price higher.

In less than two weeks, the share price went from around $20 to over $460. 

Amongst the people on the wrong side of this trade were Melvin Capital, a Hedge Fund that started the year with over $12 billion under management. After frantically trying to cover their position, GameStop wiped out a staggering $4.5 billion of their assets and reported a 53% loss on its investments in January. 

At the height of the rally, and with WallStreetBets out for blood, Robinhood, the world's most popular retail trading platform ceased trading on a number of heavily shorted assets, most notably GameStop (GME).

The company claimed they were not prepared for the frenzied trading and that they lacked the capital to continue operations. However, some have suggested that the company's decision to cease trading was down to influential Wall Streeters.

To better understand what has been happening over the last few weeks, and the implications on the future, I am joined by Bill Barhydt, Hester Peirce, Jaime Rogozinski, Max Keiser, Nathaniel Whittemore & Preston Pysh.

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Show notes and transcription:
DEF078 - Show Notes

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Timestamps:
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