The GameStop Short Squeeze (opens in new tab)

(discoursemagazine.com)

23 pointsMerciernmon5y ago13 comments

13 comments

11 comments · 4 top-level

ycombigator5y ago· 4 in thread

The narrative behind this story just shows you how legally and illegally corrupt and unfair the entire system is, and how the media and regulators happily stand behind it.

gogopuppygogo5y ago

The retail traders and the hedge funds are both pawns in the game of the political class who can legally insider trade.

AlwaysRock5y ago

I don't think politicians are making more money than the hedge fund managers. Why would you think that they have more knowledge than the hedge funds? Likely the hedge funds are managing their money. These congress people are not sitting at home in front of a Fidelity account and making trades after they hear from a lobbyist about big market news.

deathlight5y ago

In the past it really was legal for politicians to insider trade but that was ostensibly rolled back by the STOCK act: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-signs-stock-act-to-ban-co...

I guess you could argue that there are still avenues to wiggle around the new rules but at least the width of the corridor was reduced.

SignalNotSecure5y ago

Can you share some examples of insider trades by the political class that ended up becoming public knowledge?

2 more replies

clarkevans5y ago· 3 in thread

Hard data on outstanding shorts is posted semi-monthly, and even that data is probably stale a week or so. Daily regulatory reporting of short positions doesn't exist. Thus, assertions that "the squeeze has not yet occurred" should be treated with caution. It might be true, but it might also be a mirage.

There are various firms that look at market transaction data to estimate outstanding short positions. However, they rely upon various assumptions since firms don't report how may shares they purchased to cover shorts. Hence, claims that GME is 130% oversubscribed or any other assessment could be wildly off from reality.

Also note retail investors are around 15% of GME. Most shares are held by institutional investors. What's going on isn't David vs Goliath, the situation is more diffuse.

jjallen5y ago

There is a company, S3 Partners, that is tapped into many large WS players that has daily short data. It is not perfectly accurate but is largely so. They sell this data, of course, and publish tidbits of data about salient stocks on Twitter [0]

0: https://twitter.com/ihors3

jaggederest5y ago

And they also really can't model the depth of the possible ways to close a short position, e.g. synthetic long positions, swaps, and other fancy financial wizardry that is above and beyond just buying one share per share you're short immediately.

nicolas-siplis5y ago

Some firms try to, at least. https://www.shortsight.com/short-interest-of-float-2-0/

1 more reply

MerciernmonOP5y ago

Author here. Happy to take your questions and feedback! Thanks for reading.

ycombigator5y ago

The mainstream media narrative behind this story just shows you how legally and illegally corrupt and unfair the entire system is, and how the media and regulators happily stand behind it.

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