Which is one take, certainly. But the problem is once you say that this is a market manipulation event you run into other issues.

Is going on CNBC and talking about the strength of a company that you invested in market manipulation? Before this blew up you certainly had more reach.

Is posting "research" or holding a conference call and telling people a company is garbage while you have the company shorted market manipulation? What about when you short a company and sell a ton of shares to induce panic? What about algorithms that are created to trade shares to reach a certain profitable price based on internal holdings/analysis?

Here's another thing - if WallStreetBets was incorporated into a hedge fund and took a huge long position is that market manipulation? It seems to me the main difference is that they aren't behind closed doors talking privately in a legal fiction called a company that is really the problem here...

You have to define what you mean by manipulating the market and apply that equally under the eyes of the law. The fact that this was done publicly makes it all the more interesting. Had it been done behind closed doors (like so many things are on Wall Street) it would have been an open and shut case, but it wasn't.

So sure, let's say it's a market manipulation event. Ok. Can you tell me what isn't a market manipulation event?