I'm all for "let 'em play" in general but this is not going to end well for a lot of folks...
I promise a ton of people are convinced this is their ticket and throwing in far more than play money.
Is it so hard to believe that at this point buying GME is more about activism than making profit?
“When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose”
I think that people should be able to spend their money however they want. I also don't mind when regulators say "liquor stores are blocked from having one-day specials the day that welfare benefits are paid."
If Robinhood believes that their customers are better served by blocking certain transactions, I trust Robinhood to make that call (and suffer the goodwill or ill-will that results).
My investment firm required time to set things up, and it won't be ready in time for this game.
If Robinhood can shut down trades for 24 hours, that's enough to have a huge impact, not just on the market, but on people's individual finances, as they move elsewhere.
Footnote: If I had been successful, I'd be up $200 right now based on the strategy I planned. But I'm not naive enough to think that's anything beyond luck and volatility.
Screenshot lists floating around the internet yesterday pointing out exactly what buttons in your app to hit in order to buy GME options is the first piece of evidence that makes me that thing, perhaps, a large number of people don't know (or understand) what they're actually doing.
I am pretty much in like with the OP in that this is definitely paternalism, and I have no idea if it's good or bad. People were going to get screwed because of this, but I don't think Robinhood or other online trading apps stopped buy's to protect these people.
Go read the top comments in the top WSB threads and tell me which it is.
This is all about getting rich quick with a thin veneer of activism slapped on top.
That might not have been the case a few days ago, I don’t know because I only got into the loop yesterday... but if it was 90% activism on Monday... is probably 10% activism today.
I wouldn’t touch that stock using “for real” money with a 50 foot pole.
Of course, those retail investors who got in on Thursday, Friday, or Monday; that seemed like a bad purchase. So bad that Melvin double-downed on their naked short position. There's no way the stock could go up. The fundamentals aren't there. But it did. A lot. And those retail investors made a ton of money.
So, we're at today, where you're saying that it would be a bad time to invest because it won't end well. You, and to some degree Robinhood, are making a prediction on the stock market. You may be right; you may be wrong; but you're definitely not certainly right or certainly wrong. You're making the same mistake anyone who tries to pick stocks does; you're just doing it in reverse.
At the same time, parabolic moves like this have never once in the history of markets been sustained over a long period of time. It's possible that this will be the first one ever, but I am indeed making a prediction that it will not be. You are correct that I might be wrong about that.
* - All this assumes that my clearing firm would continue clearing the orders, which is uncertain at the moment. If my clearing firm won't book the orders, I literally can't do anything except cajol, plead, or sue them.
A few that got in early and have liquidated their position made a ton of money.
Those HODLers? They might have paper profits now, but long term not so sure.
No one holding GME is having their holdings seized.
No one holding GME is prevented from selling (by Robinhood; periodic circuit breakers do inject halts for everyone during periods of high volatility/price movement, which are rules set in place before [this] play began)
No one is prevented from opening an account at the many dozen other brokerages who are happy to transact in GME.
And the simple fact that millions of people on RH are locked out of buying totally fucks the people holding the stock. "You can sell but not buy"?
Who is buying? The institutions.
Do not attempt to justify this.