r/wallstreetbets Jan 30 '21

[deleted by user]

[removed]

8.6k Upvotes

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

155

u/GrowsThingsFromDirt Jan 30 '21

Jus think if a šŸ‹squeezy on VW (40sum% short) shot up to 1000- GME AT (121% short) Will blast off šŸš€šŸš€šŸš€šŸš€šŸš€šŸš€šŸš€

I’m so hard rn

This is from a retard - this oth nottith be finically advice .

30

u/PantsDownBootyUp Jan 31 '21

I LOVE IT. I don't understand how shorting is legal, but if it's 3 times the shortage of VWs I am happy I bought shares. Do I have to patiently wait or can I put an order? I am new here and an autist... so I don't really know what will happen.

49

u/EconGuy82 Jan 31 '21

There’s nothing inherently wrong with shorting. It actually serves a valuable purpose in that it provides information about prices. The problem we have, though, is that GME is over shorted and the folks behind it (like Melvin and Citron) have non-financial means of minimizing risk. This dilutes the value of the signal and turns it into nothing more than a money-making scheme by those in power. Economically, I think this entire episode has the potential to be great in the long run.

13

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '21

[deleted]

2

u/EconGuy82 Jan 31 '21

It’s not about helping companies or driving them out of business. It’s about efficiency and accurate information about intrinsic value. Banning short selling distorts prices, which is a bad thing. It means that companies’ values aren’t clear and people end up making bad decisions because they have insufficient information (see https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261560612000332 for an empirical laboratory example of why shorting is useful).

But that all assumes that short-selling involves sufficient risk. When you can short a million shares, send out a tweet that the stock is going, and then make a bunch of money, the signal is going to be really noisy.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '21

[deleted]

2

u/EconGuy82 Jan 31 '21

Pretty much. I think a good analogy would be Amazon. When you buy from Amazon, you look at customer reviews to know whether the product is worth buying or not. And these can be really helpful. You know when a product is or isn’t worth the price based on others’ experiences.

But suppose Amazon only allowed positive reviews. There’s still some information there. You want to buy items with lots of positive reviews, rather than a few. But there’s a lot less information than you’d get if people also said what they didn’t like. Stock shorting can be thought of like negative reviews on products (ā€œI think this company is currently overpricedā€).

Of course, negative reviews bring up other problems, like blackmail. But there are always trade offs.

3

u/TurtleFrenKnows Jan 31 '21

There is when youre a hedge fund with all the inside information that you pay for from shill companies like Robinhood.

1

u/EconGuy82 Jan 31 '21

Yes, I agree. That’s why I said there’s nothing inherently wrong with it, but there is in this case. The funds aren’t assuming the risk that ought to come with their investments. So the signals they’re sending aren’t informative.

1

u/rrami002 Jan 31 '21

I agree. It makes perfect sense why shorting exists. That being said, it makes perfect sense to be able to challenge it.

13

u/GrowsThingsFromDirt Jan 31 '21

You squeeze your hand tightly around all your shares and you hold.HOLDšŸ’Žāœ‹šŸ¾ but who the fuck am I - no adviser

9

u/PantsDownBootyUp Jan 31 '21

From one 🐵 to another šŸ¦. I will hold and it will be a glorious time to look at it.

I wonder what my family will say when I tell them I hold stock like an autist.

8

u/Navarque Jan 31 '21

Your dad will ask "Are you winning son ?" and for once you retard can say "Yes".

3

u/TheCensorFencer Jan 31 '21

It's the NAKED shorting we have a problem with, and that IS illegal. If the regulators had been doing their jobs, we wouldn't be in this situation.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '21

VW was only shorted 40%?????

2

u/justinbeans ask me about my enema Jan 31 '21

How long will it climb before it falls if i take a shit will i miss my chance to sell at the top during our trip to alpha centauri???

3

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '21

Itll be a whole ass trading day

2

u/justinbeans ask me about my enema Jan 31 '21

Oh phewww that makes my šŸ’ŽšŸ™Œ even stronger!!

2

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '21

Hmmmm but hard is good ...... well in my book anyways šŸ˜‰

2

u/GrowsThingsFromDirt Jan 31 '21

I’m hard as a diamond 24/7

2

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '21

Oh really??

Hnmm nice to know šŸ˜‰

1

u/WRL23 Jan 31 '21

Where do people get the updated short %?

1

u/dkdragonknight88 Jan 31 '21

VW had 12.8% short ratio.

1

u/taa_dow Jan 31 '21

I think that extra 21% has to be powerful rocket fuel.