
Rather, the whole plot unfolded in the open, on r/WallStreetBets, a corner of Reddit that shot up in popularity amid a pandemic-inspired trend in day trading. Though pundits balked at the GameStop surge, experts generally agree this was no pump-and-dump scheme, which involves people colluding behind the scenes to hype up and artificially inflate its share price before selling at a profit. Margot Robbie wasn't available to explain this GameStop situation in a bathtub, so this is the best we could do. “And, yeah, that’s what a lot of serious investors do too, but these guys on Reddit are more honest about it and they love to troll the people who aren’t.” “Basically, there’s a group of people on Reddit who don’t use the stock market to invest, they use it to gamble,” Noah-as-soaped-up-Robbie begins in the viral clip. There’s plenty of illuminating explainers about the mechanics of what’s become known as Gamestonk, but perhaps none as entertaining as The Daily Show’s, which features host Trevor Noah’s face superimposed over a bubble bath-luxuriating Margot Robbie from 2015’s financial-crash period piece The Big Short. When asked about the GameStop shorts at a press conference today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) merely replied, “Interesting, isn’t it?” Whether Congress moves forward with an inquiry into the GameStop situation remains to be seen. “And with a new administration and Democrats running Congress, I intend to make sure they do.”Īdded Khanna: “We’re done letting hedge fund billionaires treat the stock market like their personal playground, then taking their ball home as soon as they lose.” “It’s long past time for the SEC and other financial regulators to wake up and do their jobs,” she wrote in a prepared statement.


Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) echoed the demands for an investigation. Ted Cruz, of Texas, retweeted her remarks, saying, “Fully agree.” On Twitter today, AOC-a member of the stock market-regulating House Financial Services Committee-called Robinhood’s decision to block stock buys “unacceptable,” saying she’d “support a hearing, if necessary.” Republican Sen. And this shows the need for a financial transaction tax on hedge fund shorting and SEC regulations on short selling practices. Yes We need an investigation into RobinhoodApp’s decision and who influenced that. The trolls-against-the-machine brought Melvin Capital to its knees, forcing it into a multibillion-dollar bailout, and ignited intense debate about an apparent double standard over market manipulation and regulatory oversight.Ĭongressman Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) today joined a bipartisan call for a probe into Robinhood and TD Ameritrade apps after they banned small investors from buying shares of small companies in hopes of curbing the frenzy. To vastly simplify what happened: a bunch of Redditors managed to meme a fortune into existence by rallying behind a past-its-prime videogame company that hedge funds were betting would fail. The service currently has six data centers across the US, and a nationwide private beta is expected before the end of the year.Wall Street became the biggest news of the week thanks to an army of online edgelords besting some of the financial market’s biggest players at their own game. With this in mind, GameStop already has plans in place for the future: Spawn Labs, which can stream console games directly consumer's homes. "You can't be in the business of trying to protect yourself only through technology, you've got to make less friction for the consumer." "Everyone thinks consumers are binary, all physical or all digital, but most are hybrids," he said. However, he is also aware that someday, both publishers could cut the middleman out when it comes to game releases, especially with the rise of digital - but it won't happen any time soon.

/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62391164/gamestop-storefront-photo_1280.0.jpg)
"Platform owners could have cut us off a long time ago, but what happens is that GameStop has a relationship with the customer deep and sticky enough that it isn't in their best interests to do so,” he said, noting that the chain helps Microsoft and Sony turn a profit. GameStop CEO Paul Raines has told Vox Games that it wouldn't be console manufacturer's best interest to shut it out over used game sales as the retailers relationship with customers is "deep and sticky enough" to warrant continued business.
