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Comment by oramit | Hacker News Reader

My Facebook feed is filled with people talking about this. These are friends I have know for years who have never mentioned stocks before but now are talking about "holding the line".

It is FOMO for sure, but the real emotions I get from talking with people are outrage and revenge. Everyone feels like the system (economic and political) is rigged against the public. The dopamine hit from sticking it to the man is palpable.

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That would be useful if they were actually sticking it to the man. But that isn't what's happening here. What's happening is a big bubble where most of these regular people are gonna lose lots of money while the hedge funds end up closing out their position for a manageable loss and come out just fine.

For sure. This is a terrible way to "stick it to the man" and i've encouraged everyone i've talked to about this to stay far away. Unfortunately emotions have really taken hold. Greed is a hard one to talk people down from but doable. Anger and outrage pretty much impossible.

... not to mention the few smarter hedge funds and mutual funds that quickly jumped in an out of this and made substantial gains, leaving everyone who thinks they are "holding the line" even more "on the line".

Ehh, the short ratio is still over 100%, and I guarantee you those aren't retail investors. So plenty of institutional investments to stick it to left.

You don't know when those shorts got in. The price is clearly too high now, so it makes sense that sophisticated investors (probably other hedge funds) would be entering short positions at the recent prices. And those recent entrants will not be squeezed unless the price goes up by another ludicrous amount, which it is less likely to do now that the initial surge of enthusiasm is running its course. So lots of retail traders who got into the frenzy late with normal stock purchases at these absurd prices will get screwed during the inevitable crash, while the recent shorters will make a killing.

I don't think the initial surge of enthusiasm has run its course. Most are stuck trying to find another place to buy in due to RobinHood closing off purchases.

We'll see won't we?

I see it too and I think the idea of making money is mixed up in the concept of revenge, like “finally I’m going to trick Wall Street out of some money instead of the other way around.” But it’s not going to happen that way for most people.

I see the idea parroted a lot that if everyone holds the line, the shorts will have to buy every outstanding share of GME stock at whatever inflated price it’s at. They won’t, though. The bubble will pop.

Even if it was true, much of the anti-Wall Street sentiment is a scapegoat for their avarice.

It strikes me that the outrage is free-floating and waiting to be weaponised by whoever finds the words to trigger it and point it at a target. Until very recently this was the pro-Trump faction; having stormed the Capitol and got some of their leaders arrested that has gone quiet. So there must be a new disinformation magnet on the internet - and this is it.

> These are friends I have know for years who have never mentioned stocks before but now are talking about "holding the line".

That's what radicalization sounds like.

Radicals aim for the root of the problem.

In these times it’s revealing that there seems to be a severe lack of solidarity and trust. In a crisis it is paramount that everyone does their best and that the strong carry the weak. That’s a very fundamental property of a community. But instead the inequality rises and many fear for their livelihoods. This erodes trust and can turn fear into anger.

At some point in the future there will be the last straw. It might be the financial crisis, the environment, war or everything at the same time. The kinds of problems cannot be explained away; excuses and lies won’t help. Only a sharp turn towards solidarity and sustainability can avert it.

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