If you’ve been interested in investing (or social media, or gambling, or sports – this situation has widespread appeal!) and have following the news, there’s no way you could have missed the GameStop saga. What started as an audacious move by Redditors to challenge the status quo in financial markets, quickly captivated the imagination of new and experienced investors alike, and brought short-selling into the limelight.
In an attempt to drive up prices of certain nostalgia-tinged U.S. (GameStop was not the only one) and play professional money managers at their own game, the social media driven day traders created a short squeeze, a move usually associated with hedge funds, as my colleague Dave Sekera explains.