Tag: GameStop News (Page 1 of 2)

Analyst: AMC and GME Have Highest Squeeze Potential

Market News Daily - Analyst say AMC and GME Have Highest Squeeze Potential.
Market News Daily – Analyst says AMC and GME Have Highest Squeeze Potential.

S3 analyst says AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) and GameStop (NYSE:GME) stock have the highest squeeze potential in the market.

“As the broader stock market has been on a tear for about a month, things are looking grim for investors with big short positions in stocks like AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and GameStop.”

AMC’s and GME’s short interest data is what ignited the massive rallies in 2021.

Today, both AMC and GME have a high short interest of 26.69% (AMC) and 20.73% (GME).

AMC’s short interest was only 25% when it surged to its all-time high of $72 per share in June of 2021.

Short interest dropped to 14% as short sellers closed positions only to pick right back up throughout 2022 and 2023.

Both AMC and GameStop shares have been suppressed from rising through heavy dark pool trading and suspiciously through naked short selling, evident in high FTDs (fails-to-deliver).

Two years later and GameStop is finally a profitable company.

AMC Entertainment, the largest movie theatre chain in the world, continues to innovate and creatively raise cash with a mission to erase its debt accumulated during the pandemic.

Hedge Funds Face Big Risks

Ihor Dusaniwsky, head of predictive analytics at financial technology and analytics firm S3 Partners, compiled a list of those most vulnerable stocks, headed by such names as AMC (AMC), GameStop Inc. (GME), Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) and CarMax Inc. (KMX).

“One factor that is also killing profits for short sellers is the borrowing costs on stocks that no one is willing to part with, and the stock that figures highest on that list is AMC.”

AMC’s cost to borrow recently skyrocketed to more than 1,000% with its cost to borrow average currently being reported at 928%.

“Short sellers want to short the stock, but they are not able to get a stock borrow locate and therefore cannot execute their short on the street,” Dusaniwsky told MarketWatch in an interview.

“But, when any stock borrows become available — lenders, brokers know they can charge inflated fees as there is huge demand for the name.”

“In this case there is an AMC–[preferred stock] APE arbitrage trade that will be profitable if the conversion occurs soon because the high financing costs are eating into those expected profits every day, including weekends,” Dusaniwsky said.

But the S3 analyst isn’t the only one stating there is big squeeze potential in AMC and GameStop.

Related: “The Game is Rigged” Says Ex-Citadel Data Scientist

Strategist Says Mother of All Short Squeezes is Here

Market News Today - Analyst: AMC and GME Have Highest Squeeze Potential.
Market News Today – Analyst: AMC and GME Have Highest Squeeze Potential.

Interactive Brokers Chief Strategist Steve Sosnick says there’s big demand to short AMC Entertainment stock.

He says the biggest reason aside from the company’s fundamentals is its new merge with its equity (NYSE:APE).

“It’s very hard to keep the momentum in these things because economic reality does take hold.

Bed Bath & Beyond, at one point was the best performing stock on the board until reality set in and they began defaulting, averted bankruptcy, but using a deal that is so dilutive that it’s unavoidable.”

Sosnick says AMC is in a very special situation because of the proposal to merge APE with AMC common shares.

“Right now we’re seeing such a demand to short AMC partly because of its difficulties but partly because of the special situation.

This really is what they were looking for in some ways as the mother of all short squeezes.

The borrow rate, it costs you 700% to borrow the shares overnight — if you can find them,” said the Interactive Brokers Chief Strategist on Yahoo Finance.

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Market News Today - Is Amazon buying AMC Entertainment?
Market News Today – Analyst: AMC and GME Have Highest Squeeze Potential.

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Robinhood Sued in New Class Action Lawsuit

Market News Daily - Robinhood Sued in New Class Action Lawsuit.
Market News Daily – Robinhood Sued in New Class Action Lawsuit.

Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) is being sued in a new class action lawsuit by Klafter Lesser LLP, Pessah Law Group, and PC and Chelin Law Firm in California.

The firms are seeking to represent investors who held call options on the Robinhood trading platform as of the close on January 27, 2021 to purchase any of the following stocks:

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL), AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC), BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB), Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBY), GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME), or Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK).

The latest Robinhood class action lawsuit alleges that on January 28, 2021, Robinhood prohibited purchases of the stocks underlying the affected options on its platform and also prohibited purchases of the exercise of the affected options, and only allowed the closing out of such positions.

The lawsuit further alleges that during the period January 29, 2021 through February 4, 2021, Robinhood imposed significant limits on any purchases and continued to prevent the exercise of the affected options on its trading platform.

Consequently, the value of the affected options dropped dramatically and remained suppressed throughout the month, causing investors to suffer big losses, says the press release.

“It is alleged that by virtue of these purchase and exercise prohibitions and limitations, Robinhood engaged in market manipulation in violation of Sections 9(a) and 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. §§ 78i(a) and 78(j)(b), and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5)).”

Investors Are Looking to Recover Losses

According to the lawsuit, Plaintiffs seek to recover damages for those holders of the Affected Options who suffered losses resulting from this alleged market manipulation.

More than two years later after the ‘meme stock’ frenzy swept the entire financial markets by a storm, and the events are still as strong as they were then.

“The game is not fair and it never has been. Individual investors, even when operating in a swarm, are destined to lose. How do I know? I helped design the game,” says ex-Citadel Data Scientist Patrick McConlogue.

Patrick McConlogue appeared on Fox Business during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy of 2021 when retail investors created one of the biggest scares in Wall Street history.

GameStop and AMC shareholders were able to create panic on Wall Street by heavily buying shares of the overleveraged shorted stocks.

As share prices soared, short sellers experienced massive losses.

GameStop was able to put Melvin Capital out of business, but Patrick McConlogue says other hedge funds were able to make back billions in losses during the halt.

The halts allowed hedge funds to enter AMC and GameStop knowing shares would plummet, allowing them to capitalize on the deflation of the price.

Patrick says the rules of the game also heavily favor hedge funds, something retail investors have urged SEC Chairman Gary Gensler for years to change.

“I respect many of my colleagues, the problem isn’t the people, it’s the rules of the game which heavily favor the funds.”

On the Search for a Lead Plaintiff

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who held Affected Options on the Robinhood trading platform as of the close on January 27, 2021, who sold such options, or such options expired, during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff in this class action lawsuit.

A lead plaintiff is generally the movant with the greatest financials interest in the relief sought by the putative class who is also typical and adequate of the putative class.

A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing a class action lawsuit.

“The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice to litigate the class action lawsuit. Pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, if you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court that this action is pending in no later than June 9, 2023.”

You can contact the Clerk of the Northern District of California, at 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102-3489, or by calling (415) 522-2000, to find out if this lawsuit has been transferred to the Southern District of Florida and also for a copy of the Complaint.

To discuss your rights or interests regarding this class action, you are free to consult counsel of your choosing.

You may also contact Nancy Velasquez of the Klafter Lesser LLP law firm at (914) 934-9200 or via email at nancy.velasquez@klafterlesser.com, or Pessah Law Group, PC at (310) 772-2261 or via email at info@pessahgroup.com or Stuart Chelin at (310) 556-9664 or via email at stuart@chelinlaw.com.

Klafter Lesser LLP has extensive experience in prosecuting class actions and the founding partners of the firm, who have extensive class action experience, have recovered over $1 billion for the benefit of classes in numerous cases. 

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Market News Today - Robinhood Sued in New Class Action Lawsuit.
Market News Today – Robinhood Sued in New Class Action Lawsuit.

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GameStop is Now a Profitable Company, Should You Buy It?

GameStop is now a profitable company
Market News Daily: GameStop is now a profitable company, should you buy it?

GameStop (NYSE:GME) is now a profitable company.

The company posted a quarterly profit for the first time in two years.

Shares soared up to 50% on Tuesday and up to 40% on Wednesday as we saw big buying volume coming in.

For the quarter ended Jan. 28, net sales dropped slightly to $2.23 billion from $2.25 billion in last year’s fourth quarter.

GameStop also posted a profit of $48.2 million, or 16 cents a share, compared to a loss of $147.5 million, or 49 cents, a year ago.

Since the ‘meme stock’ frenzy, we know GameStop has been working on cutting costs significantly which actually helped the company gain profitability.

Selling, general and administrative expenses came in at $453.4 million for the quarter, or 20.4% of sales, compared to $538.9 million, or 23.9% of sales, in the year-earlier period.

CEO Matt Furlong said on an investor call the company is going into 2023 with further plans to cut excess costs including in European markets, where it has already exited and begun to pull out of some countries.

He said that GameStop is also considering bolstering its business with higher margin categories such as toys.

“GameStop is a much healthier business today than it was at the start of 2021,” he said.

Is the GameStop Short Thesis Dead?

GameStop remains heavily shorted with a high short interest of 24.08%.

This means short sellers are still holding on to their short positions.

The company is no longer in danger of bankruptcy and has now posted profits after two years.

Will short sellers finally close their positions?

The effects would certainly trigger another short squeeze like we saw in January of 2021.

But experts still believe the markets haven’t seen a bottom which means we’re likely to see continued shorting in GameStop until the economy as an entirety begins to shift again.

The GameStop short thesis may be dead, but short sellers have not entirely left yet.

Though it is important to note that short sellers have lost $610 million in GameStop since the start of the week.

If GME stock continues to rise, it might put enough pressure on short sellers to just call it quits, sending this rocket back to the moon.

Is GameStop a Buy In 2023?

GameStop is now a profitable company in 2023, putting the company out of great risk from bankruptcy.

Its shareholder base continues to hold the company stock in an effort to squeeze short sellers from their positions once again.

Is it worth investing money you can afford to lose in GameStop right now?

Absolutely.

The company has for the most part eliminated the short thesis with its profitability and short sellers are now stuck holding significant losses.

Rising share prices like we saw in January of 2021 is all the stock needs to squeeze short sellers from their positions.

While many people made money from GameStop during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy, many incurred heavy losses too.

If we see history repeat itself in 2023, be sure to have a plan.

[stock_market_widget type=”chart” template=”basic” color=”#5679FF” assets=”GME” range=”1mo” interval=”1d” axes=”true” cursor=”true” range_selector=”true” display_currency_symbol=”true” api=”yf”]

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Market News Today - Can the SEC suspend dark pools?
Market News Today – GameStop is now a profitable company, should you buy it?

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Steve Cohen’s Point72 Buys 606,000 Shares of GameStop

Market News: Steve Cohen's Point72 Buys 606,000 shares of $GME stock.
Market News: Steve Cohen’s Point72 Buys 606,000 shares of $GME stock.

(Business Insider) Steve Cohen’s Point72 supersized its bet on Elon Musk’s Tesla last quarter and made an unexpected wager on GameStop (NYSE:GME) stock.

The billionaire investor’s hedge fund purchased nearly 878,000 Tesla shares, worth $108 million as of December 31.

It also held bullish call options on another 60,500 shares of the automaker at the year’s end, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing revealed earlier this week.

Cohen and his team scooped up 606,000 shares of the video-game retailer, a stake worth $11 million as of December 31.

In 2021, the New York Mets owner deactivated his Twitter account after receiving several threats from users during the ‘meme stock’ rally.

“I’ve really enjoyed the back and forth with Mets fans on Twitter which was unfortunately overtaken this week by misinformation unrelated to the Mets that led to our family getting personal threats,” Cohen said in a statement.

Cohen’s hedge fund, which managed nearly $19 billion in assets at the time, lost nearly 15% after retail investors caused shares of videogame retailer GameStop to surge in 2021.

The losses at Point72 are mainly due to the company’s investment in hedge fund Melvin Capital, which bet against GameStop and had to receive nearly $3 billion in emergency cash from two outside investors, one of which was Point72.

Melvin Capital shut its doors in June of 2022.

GameStop News Today

Market News: Latest GME stock news.
Market News: Latest GME stock news.

Today, GameStop shareholders are looking to recreate the events that occurred in 2021 when stocks soared to all-time highs.

One creative way ‘apes’ are fighting Wall Street in 2023 is by registering their shares via a Direct Registration System, or DRS.

The company says at least 30% of its shareholders have registered their shares with the Direct Registration System (DRS) which equates to approximately 71.3 million shares.

The efforts from retail investors come as a means to prevent manipulative short seller attacks.

By registering their shares, company stock can no longer be lent out to short sellers.

$GME stock is up more than +25% this year-to-date.

Related: Will DRS Trigger a GameStop Short Squeeze?

[stock_market_widget type=”chart” template=”basic” color=”#5679FF” assets=”GME” range=”1mo” interval=”1d” axes=”true” cursor=”true” range_selector=”true” display_currency_symbol=”true” api=”yf”]

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Market News: Latest GME stock news.

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Occupy the SEC 2023 is Here: What’s Happening?

Occupy SEC 2023: Latest market news - Franknez.com.
Occupy SEC 2023: Latest market news – Franknez.com.

Retail investors are occupying the SEC headquarters in Washington D.C. on January 27th and January 28th from 10am-4pm.

The 28th marks the two-year anniversary of the ‘meme stock’ frenzy of 2021 when Robinhood and other brokerage firms prevented investors from buying more shares of GameStop, AMC, and other heavily shorted stock in order to prevent firms from collapsing.

Regulators interfered with the people’s money by suppressing shares from rising.

Majority of investors within these communities never left, but rather hoped for justice and change in the financial system.

Retail investors have raised the issues of dark pools, OTC trading, and a number of conflicts of interest that pin regular investors to the ground.

Discussions surfaced in 2022 of protesting several SEC locations in the U.S. but never came to fruition.

Some retail investors argued against these actions while many more said they are necessary to get their voices heard.

Here’s what’s happening in the retail community today.

What is Occupy SEC 2023?

protest
Market News: What is Occupy SEC 2023?

The objective of occupying the SEC is to demand changes in the financial markets and to protect retail investors and companies from naked short selling and short selling misconduct.

The nationwide protests will occur on January 27th and January 28th between 10am and 4PM at 12 SEC locations, including the SEC headquarters in Washington D.C.

Outrage filled the retail community when SEC Chairman Gary Gensler confirmed 90%-95% of retail orders are processed in off-exchange platforms where the true demand for retail orders is not being reflected on the lit New York Stock Exchange.

The Wall Street ‘watch dogs’ turned a blind eye to the Madoff events that occurred during the last decade and now they’ve turned a blind eye to naked short selling and several conflicts of interest happening today within the media, hedge funds, and even regulators.

Retail investors are saying ‘we know’ what’s happening and ‘we need you to take care of it now’.

Occupy the SEC 2023 are meant to be peaceful protests.

Communities are tired of their investments in their favorite companies plummeting all because they’ve become targets of aggressive short sellers and manipulative tactics from Wall Street.

Now they’re taking the word to the streets despite gaining much attention on social media.

The lack of market transparency since the events that occurred in January of 2021 have led to these protests.

Occupy SEC 2023 LIVE

You can watch Occupy the SEC 2023 LIVE here.

Retail investors chant “do your job” when referring to the inaction from the SEC.

What is Stopping the SEC from Taking Action?

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler told ‘We The Investors’ he understands retail’s frustrations.

But retail investors aren’t convinced.

The SEC Chairman says that short selling is a challenging area where the SEC is still working and pursuing focus on.

One of the biggest challenges according to Chairman Gensler is that Wall Street powers will send stacks of reports highlighting rebuttals on proposals aimed towards protecting retail investors.

This is primarily because certain proposals aimed to protect retail investors conflict with Wall Street money.

And because these firms are market participants, like retail investors, these documents must be legally reviewed.

The challenge only grows when Wall Street firms open lawsuits against the SEC when certain proposals become a direct hinderance to the way these companies perform.

Regulators are in a massive bind now, facing scrutiny from both Wall Street and the average investor.

FINRA, DTCC Under Retail Scrutiny

FINRA MMTLP

FINRA has received backlash after freezing the trading of MMTLP (Meta Materials) prior to its spinoff.

The self-regulated organization is also responsible for outsourcing ‘best execution’ with the best execution rule, according to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.

This means FINRA has the power to execute orders in off-exchange and dark markets for ‘best execution’ and ‘price discovery’.

But Gary Gensler says that this rule is too important for it to not be in the SEC’s court.

The organization contains records of every trade made available intraday, including that of naked short sales.

FINRA requires firms to be able to meet their short sale requirements as well as have a process to close out fails to deliver within their required timeframes.

However, they’re the open window that allows these manipulative strategies to occur in the market.

FTDS (fails-to-deliver) are mounting up every month according to SEC data, and FINRA is unable to get firms to close out these obligations.

FINRA’s justification towards FTDs say that firms face challenges related to miscalculations.

But Chairman Gensler says this is too important for it to not be handled directly by he and his team.

DTCC Conflicts of Interest

David Inggs Citadel DTCC

David Inggs is Global Head of Operations at Citadel and is responsible for all products across asset servicing, billing, cash management, clearing, and has a board seat at the DTCC.

The conflict of interest has raised big concerns amongst the retail investor community online as Citadel has been a leading and one of the biggest short sellers in the stock market.

On January 28th, 2021, The DTCC waived $9.7 billion of collateral deposit, limiting institutional losses and limiting retail profits during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy.

The organization allowed several naked shares to flood the market prior to the massive jump in share prices only to help financial institutions in the end.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has said one proposal they’re looking at this year involves tackling conflicts of interest in the financial markets.

How can investors support the cause?

Retail investors

Retail investors have been supporting the cause for years now by distributing news and information that sheds light on real issues.

Franknez.com is a media blog that supports retail investors and protects the retail community from mainstream media propaganda.

You can raise awareness in your community by sharing this article, and others, or by using hashtag #OccupySEC2023 on social media.

Advisory: This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only. This article is not advocating violence of any kind during these peaceful rallies.

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GameStop Says 30% of Shareholders Have Registered Their Shares

Market News: At least 30% of GameStop shareholders have registered their shares.
Market News: At least 30% of GameStop shareholders have registered their shares.

GameStop says at least 30% of its shareholders have registered their shares with the Direct Registration System (DRS).

According to the filing, approximately 30% of GME’s float is registered equating, to 71.3 million shares.

The efforts from retail investors come as a means to prevent manipulative short seller attacks.

GME stock is trading at $21.66 on Monday with trading volume surpassing the company’s average volume of 5.1 million.

Shares of GameStop (NYSE:GME) are up +26% this year-to-date, a great start to the new year.

On Monday, GameStop shares have risen more than 11% intraday where shares rose to nearly $22.50.

GME’s short interest is currently sitting at 23.55% with approximately 95 million shares out on loan.

This means that despite DRS, the game retailer continues to be heavily shorted.

GameStop Ownership Structure

How much of GameStop’s float is owned by retail investors?

Nearly 70% of the float is owned by individual shareholders according to Vickers Stock Research.

GameStop Ownership Structure - Franknez.com.
GameStop Ownership Structure – Franknez.com.

This means nearly 40% of retail investors have not registered their GameStop shares through DRS.

Yet it’s very possible the percentage of GameStop shareholders who have registered their shares has grown in the past months.

GameStop’s Chair Ryan Cohen himself owns more than 12% of GME shares.

These are held through Ryan’s holding company RC Ventures, which Vickers considers to be Institutional ownership (12% on graph).

Is DRS working out for GameStop shareholders?

It very well could be, considering GME shares are up nearly +26% this year despite having a high short interest rate.

AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) stock on the other hand is up +44% this year despite DRS being significantly less popular within shareholders.

The movie theatre stock is also heavily shorted at 21.96%.

And according to AMC’s CEO, roughly 90% of shareholders own the float.

Where is GameStop headed in 2023?

GameStop 2023
30% of GameStop Shareholders have registered their shares according to GameStop.

GME stock has the potential to have a big year in 2023.

GameStop continues to be a popular company amongst retail investors, primarily due to the massive community of shareholders who are looking to squeeze short sellers again.

During the spark of the ‘meme stock’ frenzy, GameStop shares rose to $483 per share, a superior all-time high.

But shareholders are not convinced the stock is done running.

2023 opens up new possibilities for GameStop as e-commerce, NFTs, and Web 3.0 gaming continues to grow.

While the company may benefit from arming itself with more short-term capital, GameStop enters the new year with positive cash flow, an incredible start for the company as many continue to struggle.

Also Read: Occupy the SEC 2023 is Here: What’s Happening?

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Market News, Business News, Updates + more by Frank Nez.
Market News, Business News, Updates + more by Frank Nez.

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Franknez.com is the media blog that keeps retail investors informed.

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Global Head of Operations at Citadel Has a Board Seat at DTCC

Market News: Conflicts of interest arise - #CitadelScandal
Market News: Conflicts of interest arise – #CitadelScandal

David Inggs is Global Head of Operations at Citadel and is responsible for all products across asset servicing, billing, cash management, clearing, and has a board seat at the DTCC.

The conflict of interest has raised big concerns amongst the retail investor community online as Citadel has been a leading and one of the biggest short sellers in the stock market.

On January 28th, 2021, The DTCC waived $9.7 billion of collateral deposit, limiting institutional losses and limiting retail profits during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy.

The organization allowed several naked shares to flood the market prior to the massive jump in share prices only to help financial institutions in the end.

Citadel and Melvin Capital who shut down last year, lost billions during the event.

Melvin was crippled throughout 2022 from its severe losses in GameStop the year prior.

Had the DTCC not stepped in, the hedge fund would have closed that same year.

“Anyone shorting AMC or GameStop is out of their mind. Wallstreetbets is too powerful, and trying to bet against them right now is just giving them more ammo”, said Jim Cramer.

Since the halt of ‘meme stocks’, the retail community has been uncovering a variety of conflicts of interest too big to ignore.

Who is David Inggs?

David Inggs DTCC

David Inggs is Global Head of Operations at Citadel and is responsible for all products across asset servicing, billing, cash management, clearing, Collateral Management, Reconciliation & Control and Settlements and is on the Board of Directors at the DTCC.

Prior to joining Citadel, David served as Chief Operations Officer of E*TRADE where he led operations globally across Trade Execution, Global Clearing, Middle Office and Shared Services, among other functions.

David spent most of his career at Goldman Sachs, where he was a Managing Director and held numerous leadership positions over the course of a decade, including Global Head of Clearing Operations and Head of Credit Default Swaps and Equity Derivative Operations.

David also worked at Morgan Stanley, where he served as an Executive Director and Head of Global Bank Loans, in addition to work in credit derivatives and collateral management.

The Global Head of Operations at Citadel has worked for every major criminal financial institution that has been too big to face serious consequences from fraud or market manipulation in the past.

Retail investors say this is market injustice and regulators are part of the problem.

Who is the DTCC?

The DTCC (Depositary Trust and Clearing Corporation) is an American post-trade financial services company providing clearing and settlement services to the financial markets.

The DTCC processes trillions of dollars of securities on a daily basis.

As the centralized clearinghouse for various exchanges and equity platforms, the DTCC settles transactions between buyers and sellers of securities.

The information is recorded by its subsidiary, the NSCC.

After the NSCC has processed and recorded a trade, they provide a report to the brokers and financial professionals involved.

This report includes their net securities positions after the trade and the money that is due to be settled between the two parties.

Clearing corporations such as the DTCC may receive cash from a buyer and securities or futures contracts from a seller.

The clearing corporation then manages the exchange and collects a fee for this service.

The size of the fee is dependent on the size of the transaction, the level of service required, and the type of security being traded. 

Investors who make several transactions in a day can generate significant fees.

This means every naked share that has been created on the ‘short side’ has been recorded and bypassed by the DTCC/NSCC, all for a fee.

Related: Robinhood and Citadel Colluded Night Prior to Trading Restrictions

GameStopped

DTCC GME
DTCC GME Halt – GameStopped.

A press released was published advising of the circumstances that occurred during the time ‘meme stocks’ were halted.

The DTCC waived $9.7 billion of collateral deposit requirement on January 28th, 2021, limiting institutional losses and limiting retail profits.

While AMC Entertainment stock was able to surge months after the January event, GameStop shareholders were strongly affected by the halts.

Retail investors say they feel cheated from regulators who failed to let the short squeeze play out in their favor.

Conflicts of interest such as David Inggs’ involvement with Citadel and the DTCC could be seen as a detriment to market integrity.

In an interview with ‘We The Investors’, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said one proposal they’re looking at this year involves tackling conflicts of interest in the financial markets.

Citadel processes more than 40% of retail’s orders through PFOF (payment for order flow), and with a bias towards short selling, gives the hedge fund an incredible advantage over the common investor.

Should the involvement between both Citadel and the DTCC be considered a crime?

Or is this just a coincidence?

Leave your thoughts below.

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Will DRS Trigger a GameStop Stock Short Squeeze?

Will DRS Trigger a GameStop Stock Short Squeeze?
Stock Market News: GameStop shareholders are onto something.

The topic of DRS’ing shares (direct registration system) to trigger a GameStop short squeeze has been heavily discussed amongst the retail community.

DRS enables investors to register their shares through a system such as ‘computershare’ in book form entry directly with the issuer.

The premise is to starve lenders from allowing shares to be lent to short sellers.

No shares to short = organic price increase from retail demand.

Today, it seems more and more GameStop shareholders are jumping in on the bandwagon to secure their shares.

Some retail investors argue that DRS has not proved to create a positive impact on the stock.

GME stock ended 2022 down nearly -50%, shares are currently trading around $16.23 per share, respectively.

According to GameStop, shareholders registered 71.8 million shares via the transfer agent.

The question is, if more shareholders DSR their GameStop stock, will it create a short squeeze?

Let’s discuss it below.

How Many GME Shares are DRS?

According to GameStop, approximately 30% of GME’s float is registered with the Direct Registration System (DRS).

This equates to 71.3 million retail shares.

How much of GME’s float is owned by retail investors?

Nearly 70% of the float is owned by individual shareholders according to Vickers Stock Research.

GameStop retail ownership
GameStop’s Ownership Structure – Vickers Stock Research.

This means nearly 40% of retail investors have not registered their GameStop shares through DRS.

It’s quite impressive to see the teamwork currently being demonstrated.

But will DRS trigger a GameStop stock short squeeze?

In the end, the goal shareholders are trying to achieve is to create massive price action here.

The debate also surfaced amongst AMC shareholders when CEO Adam announced during Q3 earnings that DRS will prevent the company stock from being shorted.

Majority of shareholders argued selling shares would be a slow process and that it hasn’t quite worked out for GameStop shareholders.

While DRS certainly prevents the company from being shorted, it’s only one piece of the puzzle for a GameStop short squeeze.

Shareholders will need to create massive buying pressure next.

GameStop Short Interest Today

GameStop short interest

Yahoo Finance is reporting 304.58m shares outstanding and a float of 258.65m shares, see the difference here.

GameStop’s short interest is currently being reported at 20.44% (float) and 17.96% of shares outstanding as of December.

GME’s short interest is considered high and is one of the key components to a successful short squeeze.

The short interest allows us to identify the percentage of investors betting against the stock.

A high short interest means any spike in price may trigger short sellers to close out their positions before accumulating losses.

When share prices rise and get out of hand in favor of the bulls, short sellers are incentivized to buy back their shares at a loss, breakeven, or potential profit (depending on when the position was opened).

This heavy buy-back of shares builds buying pressure which may result in a ‘short squeeze’.

Brief GameStop Short Squeeze History

GameStop short squeeze history
GME short squeeze history – Franknez.com.

On January 28th, 2021, GME shareholders were able to take GameStop’s share price to an all-time high of $483 per share before Robinhood halted further trading activity, particularly in buying the stock.

At the time, AMC surged from $2.50 to $22 per share and then five months later reached its all-time high of $72 per share.

However, GameStop’s short squeeze was well on its way to reach larger and unprecedented number figures prior to the halt.

This event sparked one of the most prominent events in the history of our financial markets.

It opened a door to a series of investigations.

Wall Street fraud, stock market manipulation, short and distort, and various conflicts of interest became the center of attention after the ‘meme stock’ frenzy.

Shareholders retaliated and spurred up a culture unlike anything that has ever been seen before.

Now, GME shareholders are doing whatever they can to keep their shares out of short sellers’ hands by direct registering their shares with Computershare.

Related: GameStop Stock – Big Year in 2023?

GME Shareholders Are Onto Something

Will DRS trigger a GameStop stock short squeeze?

The registration of 71.3 million GameStop shares is impressive.

But GME shares keep dropping.

Ultimately, it will be heavy buying pressure from retail investors that will trigger massive price movement in the company stock.

How soon will we begin to feel that Roaring Kitty sense of relief again?

Only time will tell, but I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

Leave a comment down below.

GameStop Stock Short Squeeze – Roaring Kitty.

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GameStop Stock: Big Year in 2023?

Market News: What is happening with GameStop stock in 2023?
Market News: What is happening with GameStop stock in 2023?

GameStop stock is one of the few companies who actually crushed in during the bear market in 2022.

The stock, currently trading at $18.40, amassed worldwide attention in 2021 when the ‘meme stock’ frenzy took Wall Street by surprise.

Today, GameStop has one of the most raving fanatics and shareholder base which without a doubt are the backbone of the company.

How much of GME’s float is owned by retail investors?

Approximately 70% of the float is owned by individual shareholders according to Vickers Stock Research.

GameStop retail ownership

GameStop’s Chair Ryan Cohen himself owns more than 12% of GME shares.

These are held through Ryan’s holding company RC Ventures, which Vickers considers to be Institutional ownership.

So, where is GameStop headed in 2023?

Let’s break down some important figures to determine just that.

Where is GameStop Headed in 2023?

where is GameStop headed in 2023?

2022 was another memorable year for GameStop.

Under Chairman Ryan Cohen and CEO Matt Furlong, it was the first year of the implementation of the company’s turnaround plan, which aimed to transform GameStop into a tech-oriented business.

This consisted of investment initiatives in e-commerce, an NFT marketplace, and Web 3.0 gaming.

But the company needs to focus on raising more capital despite its $1bn cash pile and having virtually no debt.

GameStop’s quarterly cash burn averaged at $400 million per quarter throughout 2022.

This means that if the company’s operating cash flow remains at similar levels next year, GameStop’s balance sheet could run out of cash in the next two years.

Over the last four quarters, GameStop’s sales have grown only by 1.3%.

Still, what made 2022 so significant for GameStop is the reporting of positive cash flow for the first time since Q1 of 2021.

Cashflow came in at $177.3 million this year compared to an outflow of $293.7 million last year.

This is already great news for GameStop going into 2023.

In 2023, GME stock will remain popular amongst retail investors, primarily due to the massive community of shareholders who are looking to take GameStop shares to the moon.

During the spark of the ‘meme stock’ frenzy, GameStop shares rose to $483 per share, a superior all-time high.

But shareholders are not convinced the stock is done running.

In fact, many GME shareholders believe share prices may skyrocket to new records, primarily due to overleveraged shorting in GameStop.

According to GameStop, shareholders registered 71.8 million shares via the transfer agent.

This equates to a massive 30% of GameStop’s total float – something that’s very unlikely in the markets.

Transfer agents can’t lend shares for short sellers who want to bet against GameStop.

The high number of market participants taking this action signifies that retail investors are here to stay.

Final thoughts

Join the newsletter below for more market news and updates.
Join the newsletter below for more market news and updates.

2023 opens up new possibilities for GameStop as e-commerce, NFTs, and Web 3.0 gaming continues to grow.

While the company may benefit from arming itself with more short-term capital, GameStop enters the new year with positive cash flow, an incredible start for the company as many continue to struggle.

Even at a fundamental level, analysts are predicting GameStop stock to rise significantly higher next year.

But I’m curious to know your thoughts on where GameStop stock is going in 2023.

Leave your thoughts down below.

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Retail Investors are Rising Against Wall Street Corruption

Retail investors are rising against Wall Street
Market News: Retail investors are raising awareness of market injustices.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have seen the rise of retail investors for the better part of 2+ years against Wall Street.

Conflicts of interest amongst Wall Street, banks, and mainstream media were uncovered during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy in January of 2021.

But it didn’t stop there.

Throughout 2021 and 2022, the retail community has raised awareness of market injustices, claiming the SEC’s chairman Gary Gensler has only been complicit to the illicit activities that occur on Wall Street.

The disadvantage retail investors have over hedge funds has never been clearer.

Between naked shorting, FTDs, OTC trading, Dark Pool trading, PFOF, and short and distort campaigns, the cat has been out of the bag.

The question now is what is being done to tackle the problems retail investors are facing?

Wall Street has been able to take advantage of the little guy through the predatorial practices mentioned above with no repercussions from regulators.

Will retail investors continue to rise against Wall Street in 2023?

There are no doubt activists will continue to push reform until there is real change that levels the playing field for retail.

People Are Waking Up to Mainstream Media

Elon Musk has been calling out mainstream media on Twitter for misleading information or ridiculous hit pieces.

The impact Elon is having on Twitter is something that has not been seen.

He’s been able to raise awareness by simply ratioing mainstream media accounts, often times putting them in their place.

People have always voiced their opinions and concerns with mainstream media, but now the people have the biggest influencer in the world backing them up.

Citizen journalism has already been exponentially rising as blogs and independent media websites begin to report what mainstream media is failing to report.

The people are now following more sites such as Franknez.com and Nezmediacompany.com for market news and retail updates.

Mainstream media has been used by big financial institutions to push agendas that cater to their financial interests.

In a CNBC exclusive, Elon Musk says “hedge funds have used short selling and complex derivatives to take advantage of retail investors.”

This is something retail investors who purchased so called ‘meme stocks’ last year found out very easily.

The complex derivatives Elon is referring to could be an array of things such as options trading, HFT, swaps, borrowed stock, and even naked shares.

The Tesla CEO says hedge funds will short a company, conduct negative publicity campaigns to drive the stock price down, then cash out and do it multiple times over.

This tactic is what’s known as “short and distort”.

Hedge funds impose their influence on corporate media such as The Fool, Wall Street Journal, and MarketWatch to scare people out of their money.

How Can Retail Investors Make a Dent?

Wall Street and Mainstream Media | Wall Street corruption.
Wall Street and Mainstream Media | Wall Street corruption.

Retail investors will have to continue to raise awareness when activists and citizen journalism demands it.

But even retail investors have had their better days, with some even refusing to give their viewership to independent hosts and journalists simply due to capitalization involvement.

Retail investors have more power than they know, but it only combats mainstream media when they support citizen journalism or independent hosts working on spreading the truth.

The people will rise against Wall Street corruption, with or without independent journalists and platforms.

Though more can be done with the latter.

Related: Elon Musk: Hedge Funds Tank Stocks Using ‘Short and Distort’

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