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Article: Want to Make $1 Million? Market Manipulation Is Back! (Thanks to Social Media)

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Want to Make $1 Million? Market Manipulation Is Back! (Thanks to Social Media)

Thomas Yeung, 16 July 2021

When Keith “Roaring Kitty” Gill announced he was buying GameStop (NYSE:GME) shares and options on Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets, regulators might have considered his outrageous claims as parody — speech protected by First Amendment rights. Who could take $20 calls on GME seriously when the stock was trading at $5?

Since then, other social media forums have blurred the lines between satire and intentional deception. This week, shares in SCWorks (NASDAQ:WORX) doubled after traders on Discord and Twitter banded together to push prices higher. MINM, DTSS and an alphabet soup of other small-cap stocks have followed the same path Continue reading “Article: Want to Make $1 Million? Market Manipulation Is Back! (Thanks to Social Media)”

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Article: AMC, Gamestop: Meme stocks roar back, fueled by Reddit-inspired traders

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AMC, Gamestop: Meme stocks roar back, fueled by Reddit-inspired traders

Ethan Wolff-Mann, 28 May 2021

In January 2021, the rise of retail investing and the subreddit r/WallStreetBets sparked a broader speculative movement in a few stocks that ended up disrupting trading at brokerages and culminating in a Congressional hearing.

And after a relatively quiet few months, the so-called meme stocks are back in a big way.

The movement’s mascot, GameStop (GME), ended the week up 23.6%. (Analysts from Vanda Research said that this was likely due to institutional involvement rather than a big retail push.) And the new meme stock leader is AMC (AMC), which has taken over the narrative with an enormous 108.9% gain for the week. Continue reading “Article: AMC, Gamestop: Meme stocks roar back, fueled by Reddit-inspired traders”

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Article: 77% of people surveyed believe Robinhood’s restriction of meme stocks during the GameStop frenzy was market manipulation, new report finds

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77% of people surveyed believe Robinhood’s restriction of meme stocks during the GameStop frenzy was market manipulation, new report finds

Isabelle Lee, 01 March 2021

A survey by data analytics firm Invisibly found that 77% of people believe Robinhood’s restriction of certain stocks at the peak of the Reddit-fueled frenzy amounts to market manipulation.

Commission-free trading app Robinhood has faced significant backlash and scrutiny in the weeks since January’s Reddit-fueled short squeeze, with CEO Vlad Tenev grilled by legislators at February’s congressional hearing over the company’s decision to restrict buying of many of the “meme stocks” at the heart of the saga.

The move took the wind out of the momentum trade, and marked the end of January’s retail trader phenomenon.
Now, a recent study by data analytics from Invisibly found that a majority of people surveyed believe Robinhood’s restriction of meme stocks was market manipulation.

The study, which surveyed 1,300 people during the first week of February, also revealed that 39% felt the market mania was “exciting and good” for investors, while 17% felt it was “exciting but a bad investment.”

28% said the trading phenomenon was a positive event, and “shaking things up from time to time is a good thing”, while 15% felt it was detrimental to markets. Meanwhile, 40% of respondents believe that Robinhood and other retail trading services restricted some stocks to help hedge funds.

The survey paints a stark picture of the public’s perception of what transpired in late January, despite Robinhood stating that it restricted trading of some stocks due to clearinghouse requirements.

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Investor: Keith Gill

Investor, People

Keith Patrick Gill  (born June 8, 1986) is an American financial analyst and investor known for his posts on the subreddit r/wallstreetbets

His analyses of GameStop stock (and his resulting investment gains) posted on Reddit as DeepFuckingValue (DFV) and on YouTube and Twitter as Roaring Kitty were cited by many as a driving factor in the GameStop short squeeze of January 2021, and as a spark for the subsequent trading frenzy in retail stocks. The rising stock value allowed him to turn a US$53,000 investment into an investment worth close to $50 million, as of January 28, 2021. Continue reading “Investor: Keith Gill”

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Article: The GameStop Mess Exposes the Naked Short Selling Scam

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The GameStop Mess Exposes the Naked Short Selling Scam

LUCY KOMISAR, 25 February 2021

At the House Financial Services Committee hearing last week on the GameStop debacle, there was an elephant in the room: naked short selling.

Short selling, effectively betting that a stock will go down, involves a trader selling shares he does not own, hoping to buy them back at a lower price to make money on the spread. The trader is supposed to locate (or have a “reasonable belief” he can locate) or borrow the shares in brokerage accounts, and then transfer them to the buyer within two days. This accounts for as much as 50 percent of daily trading. Continue reading “Article: The GameStop Mess Exposes the Naked Short Selling Scam”

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Article: Reddit Trader Roaring Kitty Accused Of Fraud In The Latest Wild Lawsuit Coming Out Of GameStop Saga

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Reddit Trader Roaring Kitty Accused Of Fraud In The Latest Wild Lawsuit Coming Out Of GameStop Saga

Jonathan Ponciano, 17 February 2021

One of the most outspoken retail traders on Reddit’s WallStreetBets discussion board has been targeted in a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging the 34-year-old securities broker behind the widely followed “Roaring Kitty” persona committed securities fraud for misrepresenting himself as an amateur trader online while pumping up GameStop stock prices.

“As a licensed securities professional, including the period he was licensed by and associated with MML and MassMutual, Gill was obligated to follow various securities laws, [SEC] rules and regulations and FINRA rules,” the 38-page suit says. The suit specifically references five securities rules, including one that requires licensed securities professionals to observe “high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade” while conducting business and another saying that their public communications–on social media included–should “be fair and balanced” and “not omit any material fact or qualification” if the omission could mislead investors.

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Article: Reddit user behind GameStop saga releases opening statement ahead of hearing

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Reddit user behind GameStop saga releases opening statement ahead of hearing

Axios, 17 February 2021

Keith Patrick Gill, known on YouTube and Twitter as Roaring Kitty, released his opening statement ahead of testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday about his role in the surge of GameStop’s stock price.

The big picture: Gill will join the CEOs of Reddit, Robinhood, Citadel and Melvin Capital at Wednesday’s hearing. The committee plans to “examine the recent activity around GameStop (GME) stock and other impacted stocks with a focus on short selling, online trading platforms, gamification and their systemic impact on our capital markets and retail investors,” per a statement by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), chair of the committee.
Continue reading “Article: Reddit user behind GameStop saga releases opening statement ahead of hearing”

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Article: Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against ‘Roaring Kitty’ After GameStop Short Squeeze: What You Need To Know

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Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against ‘Roaring Kitty’ After GameStop Short Squeeze: What You Need To Know

Melanie Schaffer, 17 February 2021

Lawsuits related to the Gamestop Corporation GME 0.1% short squeeze have been stacking up following the volatile trading in the stock in January.

Keith Patrick Gill, viewed by many as the leader of the debacle, is now facing a class action lawsuit. What Happened: On Tuesday, the law firm Hagens Berman announced that it has filed a securities class action suit against Gill in U.S. District Court, accusing him of “price manipulation of GameStop stock.”

Gill is known as “Roaring Kitty” on YouTube and DeepF*ckingValue on Reddit. In prepared remarks Gill plans to deliver to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services on Thursday, he denies wrongdoing.

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Article: House Hearing On GameStop Fiasco Will Focus On “Short Selling And Stock Manipulation”

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House Hearing On GameStop Fiasco Will Focus On “Short Selling And Stock Manipulation”

Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge, 16 February 2021

In order to affect change, one has to understand the problem before them. It is by those standards we can confidently say we are near-certain that this week’s upcoming congressional hearings on the GameStop fiasco will be both a useless circus and a intellectual farce.

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Article: Here’s what to expect at the congressional hearings on GameStop and Robinhood

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Here’s what to expect at the congressional hearings on GameStop and Robinhood

Scum sucking sack of shit lawmakers will seek to make headlines, not legislation — and all the witnesses are probably RICO eligible!

Chris Matthews, MarketWatch, 16 February 2021

Executives at Robinhood, market maker Citadel Securities, hedge fund Melvin Capital, social media firm Reddit, and Keith Gill, an independent investor who found fame and riches with his early purchases of GameStop Inc. GME, -5.52% shares, will all testify at the hearing, scheduled for noon on Thursday. Here’s what to expect:

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Article: FINRA GameStop Probe May Put Firms’ Compliance In Focus

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FINRA GameStop Probe May Put Firms’ Compliance In Focus

Al Barbarino, 09 February 2021

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is likely investigating the social media activity of brokers tied to the GameStop stock-trading frenzy, which could ultimately lead to scrutiny of firms’ supervisory procedures and require fine-tuning of their compliance policies.

The erratic trading that sent GameStop’s share price soaring to a high of $483 on Jan. 28 before crashing down was fueled in part by a Reddit board where users promoted the stock to counter Wall Street firms that had bet against it. After weeks of wild fluctuations, the stock closed Tuesday at just over $50.  Continue reading “Article: FINRA GameStop Probe May Put Firms’ Compliance In Focus”

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Article: The Manipulative, Little Known Billionaire Who Nearly Ruined The Country’s Richest Black Person

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The Manipulative, Little Known Billionaire Who Nearly Ruined The Country’s Richest Black Person

Christopher Helman, 05 February 2021

Ever since Ford Motor Company began selling its Model T in 1908, few pieces of technology have been as important to car dealer profit margins as the DocuPad.

The 45-by-29-inch flat screen sits atop a salesman’s desk, giving him the ability to quickly coax customers through what would normally be mountains of paperwork. By enabling car buyers to check boxes with a stylus and sign contracts on the interactive screen, the DocuPad takes the friction out of a car salesman’s stock in trade—the upsell. Continue reading “Article: The Manipulative, Little Known Billionaire Who Nearly Ruined The Country’s Richest Black Person”