Tag: Meme Stocks (Page 1 of 17)

Citadel Deems Retail Advocacy Group as Conspiracists

Market News Daily - Citadel Deems Retail Advocacy Group as Conspiracists.
Market News Daily – Citadel Deems Retail Advocacy Group as Conspiracists.

A Citadel spokesperson is deeming retail advocacy group “We The Investors” and founder Dave Lauer as conspiracists.

Many retail investors support the advocacy group, which aims at helping create market transparency for all and encourages regulators to pass proposals that will level the playing field for retail investors.

Nearly 35,000 retail investors have signed a letter to the SEC published by We The Investors requesting improvements to market rules and new disclosures.

The letter is introducing new disclosure in lending transparency, margin transparency, netting transparency, FTD transparency, as well as disclosure of registration, and many other rules that will help level the playing field for retail investors.

We The Investors has held two online meetings since December with SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who took questions directly from retail investors on the proposals, which include requiring most retail stock orders to be sent to auctions to boost competition.

Other proposed rules call for a new standard for brokers to demonstrate they’ve gotten the best execution for clients on transactions, as well as lower trading increments and access fees on exchanges, and stronger disclosure around retail order executions.

But Wall Street, including Ken Griffin’s Citadel is pushing back.

“Baseless Conspiracy Theories”

We The Investors has urged the SEC to ban Payment for Order Flow (PFOF), a practice that Dave Lauer considers unethical.

“The system uses individual investors as products. It doesn’t support them,” says Dave.

The Wall Street Journal says that many brokerages, trading firms and academic researchers say individual investors get a good deal in the current system.

They say payment for order flow has benefited investors by allowing brokers to offer zero-commission trading and to execute orders at better prices than those quoted on public stock exchanges.

Many industry veterans say Mr. Lauer’s criticism is misguided, and they criticize him for peddling what they consider baseless conspiracy theories.

However, in 2004 Citadel said that payment for order flow “creates conflicts of interest and should be banned”, according to an SEC file.

“Citadel Group urges the commission to ban payment for order flow. This practice distorts order routing decisions, is anti-competitive, and creates an obvious and substantial conflict of interest between broker-dealers and their customers, said Citadel in a 2004 SEC filing.

“David Lauer spent nine months as an analyst at Citadel 14 years ago,” a Citadel spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal.

“While he may consider himself an authority on how the equity market functions, his rhetoric is unsupported by data and often veers into conspiracy.”

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

While pushback from Wall Street is expected, millions of retail investors have educated themselves in the market well enough to understand what is and what isn’t beneficial to their investments.

Payment for order flow and dark pool trading are just two of the tools retail investors want to ban from the market.

Dark pools suppress a stock’s price from rising, slashing true retail demand in the market by 50%-70% or more — will Wall Street argue that dark pools are good for retail investors too?

Patrick McConlogue, an ex-Citadel Data Scientist said during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy that the stock market is rigged, claiming he helped design it.

“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.”

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.”

You can read Patrick’s full story here.

Citadel may deem retail investors as conspiracists, but this is just a coping mechanism.

I’d love to know what you think — leave your thoughts below.

Market News Published Daily

Market News Today - Citadel Deems Retail Advocacy Group as Conspiracists.
Market News Today – Citadel Deems Retail Advocacy Group as Conspiracists.

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Ken Griffin Lobbied His Way Out of “Meme Stock” Scandal

Market News Daily - Ken Griffin Lobbied His Way Out of "Meme Stock" Scandal.
Market News Daily – Ken Griffin Lobbied His Way Out of “Meme Stock” Scandal.

Citadel’s Ken Griffin lobbied his way out of the “meme stock” scandal of 2021 when Citadel and Robinhood colluded just a night prior to the trading halts.

On February 18, 2021, he testified before the House Financial Services Committee about his role in the ‘meme stock’ controversy.

However, Ken Griffin donated money directly to four members of the committee, Republicans French Hill, Andy Barr, Ann Wagner, and Bill Huizenga, per Chicago Business.

The retail community is raising awareness of these actions today when lobbied congressmen still have the power to sweep market injustices under the rug.

Investors on social media say that in other places of the world this is called bribery.

“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,” said 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.

Citadel and Robinhood Colluded But There Was No Justice for Investors

Market News Today – Ken Griffin Lobbied His Way Out of “Meme Stock” Scandal.

The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services published a press release stating Robinhood and Citadel Securities engaged in ‘blunt’ negotiations before the trading of ‘meme stocks’ occurred.

The press release states that talks regarding lowering PFOF (payment for order flow) rates happened just a night before trading restrictions.

The “GameStopped” report issued by the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services greatly details how the NSCC saved Robinhood from defaulting due to failing to meet collateral obligations.

On January 28th, 2021, Robinhood routed orders to six market makers for equities: Citadel Securities, G1 Execution Services, Morgan Stanley, Two Sigma Securities, Virtu, and Wolverine.

The conversations between Robinhood and Citadel were tense as the two negotiated the price of PFOF rebate rates and price caps for AMC and GameStop.

Furthermore, Robinhood received a massive waiver of its deposit requirement from the DTCC.

And according to the report, without this waiver, Robinhood would have defaulted on its regulatory collateral obligations.

NSCC officials say the waiver was necessary to avoid systemic risk to the market.

The DTCC waived a total of $9.7 billion of collateral deposit requirements on January 28, 2021.

Robinhood is Being Sued in New Lawsuit

According to Business Insider, the court said at the time that the evidence between Citadel Securities and Robinhood was not sufficient.

But there is now a new lawsuit against Robinhood in 2023 which 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.

Ken Griffin’s Citadel may have been able to lobby themselves out of the situation, but Robinhood has litigation matters to attend to this year.

This raises questions about how government officials will ever be able to aid retail investors when lobbied congressmen can easily take opposing sides.

Market News Published Daily

Market News Today - Ken Griffin Lobbied His Way Out of "Meme Stock" Scandal.
Market News Today – Ken Griffin Lobbied His Way Out of “Meme Stock” Scandal.

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AMC’s Cost to Borrow Has Hedge Funds Burning Money

AMC Cost to borrow
Market News: AMC’s cost to borrow increases

AMC’s cost to borrow continues to rise.

In the past, we’ve seen how important this data has been regarding major price runup.

Not only does a high cost to borrow incentivize short sellers to close their positions, but it gets AMC one step closer to a squeezing.

In this article I’m going to break down the number figures and explain why the CTB and other data is pointing AMC in the right direction.

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Cost To Borrow explained

The cost to borrow is the average annualized percent (%) of interest on loans hedge funds have to pay.

For example:

AMC has approximately 197.22 million shares on loan as of the publication of this article.

Hedge funds are paying 215% annually on these loans.

This translates to approximately $424 million per year, or $35 million per month.

In the meantime, it’s costing retail investors $0 to hold their positions in AMC stock.

Hedge funds will continue to pay more as AMC’s cost to borrow rises.

Free Live Daily Updates: AMC Short Interest + more

Short interest

AMC short interest

AMC’s current short interest is: 24.36%.

This is the percent of a company’s free float that is shorted.

AMC is a short squeeze play because of this number figure.

This number figures tells retail investors that there is a high interest in shorting the company stock.

It’s this data that allowed retail investors to foresee big price moves in January and in June of 2021.

This same data tells investors today that AMC has the potential to hit another all-time high.

Some of you might be familiar with the correlations between short interest and rise to $72 per share last year.

AMC’s short interest dropped from 22% to 20%, then to 14% when it ultimately skyrocketed in price from $14 per share to $72 per share.

Despite what mainstream media has said in the past, no, AMC’s short interest is not too low to squeeze shorts from their positions.

Related: 93% of AMC Shareholders Say They’re Holding This Year

Will AMC’s cost to borrow force shorts to close?

AMC short squeeze
AMC cost to borrow – AMC short squeeze

Hedge funds may be incentivized to close their short positions in AMC stock as the cost to borrow increases. At some point, it’s not worth paying that high of a fee to continue shorting a company that has fundamentally improved.

AMC is no longer the same endangered company it once was during the pandemic.

The company has improved every quarter since 2021 and has managed to get rid of a lot of debt.

The world’s largest movie theatre continues to innovate and adapt to the changing world.

While online streaming threatened the industry, revenue from box office hits has proved people are still going to the movie theatres, despite the convenience of watching movies at home.

Short sellers are betting against a recovering and innovating film industry generating billions in revenue now.

As AMC continues to prove itself fundamentally and the cost to borrow rises, expect short sellers to begin closing their short positions.

Here is where patient investors will see massive returns.

BREAKING: AMC Entertainment Gets $1bn Boost in Titles from Apple

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Are you an AMC shareholder or are thinking about buying AMC stock?

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Citadel Has a Long History of Market Manipulation

Citadel Market Manipulation
Market News: Citadel and friends are entering the crypto space | Ken Griffin.

Ken Griffin and friends are entering the crypto world very soon — investors are concerned as Citadel has a history of several violations and fines.

EDX Markets plans to bring ‘traditional finance’ to the crypto space, a not so ‘traditional’ space to begin with.

The exchange made up of Citadel, Sequoia, Paradigm, Virtu, Charles Schwab, and Fidelity is debuting in November.

EDX Markets will start trading a limited number of spot, crypto tokens starting with a November trial period, with the official launch in January, per Bloomberg.

Similar to trading equities and options, EDX will allow investors to buy and sell digital assets through their existing broker dealer, rather than an outside venue or directly through a crypto-native exchange. 

“We’re taking some of the best features of traditional finance and bringing it to the digital markets to make it more efficient, and bring that cost saving to investors,” Nazarali said.

Nazarali is the former global head of business development at Citadel Securities.

But as many are aware, these financial institutions have a long history of playing unfair.

Will these sharks taint the crypto space too?

Let’s look at Citadel’s market manipulation history as well as other Citadel violations and fines in the past.

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Citadel Market Manipulation

Citadel Fines and market manipulation.
Citadel violation and fines – market manipulation.

2015

In 2015, an account operated in China by the brokerage arm of US hedge fund Citadel was suspended.

It was the latest casualty of regulators’ hunt for market manipulators and short sellers at the time.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission said that the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges had suspended 24 accounts as part of a probe into high-frequency trading.

The investigation focused on a practice known as “spoofing” in which an investor submits a buy or sell order but then withdraws it before a sale is completed — a practice that can mislead investors by creating the false impression that a stock is trading at a particular price.

Citadel confirmed that one of its accounts managed by Guosen Futures was among those suspended.

2017

SEC Citadel

In 2017 Citadel was fined by the SEC $22.6 million to settle charges of misleading conduct.

The hedge fund misled customers about the way it priced trades.

The SEC found that between 2007 and 2010, Citadel used two algorithms to execute stock trades on customers’ behalf that gave investors a worse price for their trades, even when Citadel knew better prices existed elsewhere.

“This affected millions of retail orders,” said Stephanie Avakian, the acting director of enforcement at the SEC at the time.

Citadel neither admitted nor denied the findings.

2021

Citadel violations and fines.
Citadel violations and fines – market manipulation.

In 2021, Failure-to-Delivers (FTDs) rose dramatically in the period leading up to January 28th, 2021, a phenomenon consistent with increasing short interest by market makers such as Citadel Securities.

FTDs are indictive of naked short selling, which occurs when a short seller does not actually possess the security it is supposed to borrow.

This practice is largely inaccessible to individual investors but accessible to market makers.

At the time, Citadel, Robinhood, and others restricted retail investors from buying ‘meme stocks’ in order to prevent escalating institutional losses.

Citadel eventually lost billions after betting against AMC Entertainment in 2021.

But the entire system needs a refresh – The DTCC waived a total of $9.7 billion of collateral deposit requirements on January 28, 2021, saving brokers, and screwing up retail investors.

2022

The Chicago Tribune published a piece explaining exactly what retail investors have been warning the SEC about.

Citadel Securities’ dark pool dominates a big part of the financial world, accounting for as much as half of U.S. stock market activity.

The Chicago Tribune says this prominent dark pool is run by Chicago Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities and has been targeting small scale retail investors.

And they’re not wrong.

Dark pools are typically involved in payment for order flow (PFOF), where they pay broker firms to receive retail order flow.

Brokers such as Robinhood and TD Ameritrade accept payment for order flow.

But retail investors have been bringing these nefarious practices in the market to light.

Related: Biotech Company Suing Citadel Over Market Manipulation

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

Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.
Market News Daily: Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.

Patrick McConlogue, an ex-Citadel Data Scientist said during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy that the stock market is rigged, claiming he helped design it.

“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.”

Not many investors know this, but Patrick actually breaks down how Citadel and other hedge funds were able to make billions back in only weeks from halts.

In this article, I’m going to share his words and knowledge in the industry directly with you.

Share this article to raise awareness of the market injustices ‘experts’ have claimed were never true.

Your voice matters.

Let’s get started.

Ex-Citadel Employee Reveals Rigged Trading Game

Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.

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.”

Below is ex-Citadel Data Scientist Patrick McConlogue’s story.

Related: Citadel, Charles Schwab Team Up to Destroy SEC Proposals

Patrick McConlogue Says the Stock Market is Rigged

Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.
Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.

“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.

A few years ago, I worked at the massive hedge fund Citadel. The multi-billion dollar fund was caught up in this week’s scandal for bailing out hedge fund Melvin Capital after everyday traders on Robinhood appeared close to liquidating the fund through mass buying of the GameStop stock $GME.

My role at Citadel was as an engineer in Long Term Quantitative Strategies. The entire department, filled with programmers and compliance officers, is dedicated to something called ‘alpha’ which determines the buying strategy of the fund.

I was responsible for innovative proprietary technology that capitalizes on public data faster than any other hedge fund. It’s a classic situation of machines against humans. I respect many of my colleagues, the problem isn’t the people, it’s the rules of the game which heavily favor the funds.

A group of traders on the r/WallStreetBets Reddit thread, now consisting of over 8.6M members, noticed that someone had overly “shorted” the GameStop $GME stock.

They decided it was the perfect time to buy. It was only around $18 per share and easily affordable for the common investor who kept buying, driving up the price of the stock.

As the buying frenzy continued the hedge funds who had taken the opposite position started to hemorrhage money.. BIG money.

The small investors celebrated their success online as news broke that the hedge fund Melvin Capital Management had lost so much on the $GME short position that they had to be bailed out by bigger hedge funds.

While the markets were closed Melvin Capital’s sinking battleship received an emergency infusion of $2.75 billion from Citadel and Point72.”

‘Meme Stock’ Halts

Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.

“On Thursday morning, Robinhood — the commission-free stock trading app used by small investors — suddenly shut down buys on $GME and a few other stocks that were under siege.

Only sell orders went through, reversing the trend, driving the stock prices back down and shoring up the hedge funds’ sinking ships. Remember, when the stock price goes down, the people who hold the “shorts” make money.

This started a chain reaction. Other retail trading platforms like E*Trade and TD AmeriTrade began freezing the stock for individual investors. But hedge funds own supercomputers.

They have direct access to stock markets. While small investors were frozen the hedge funds traded massive positions and quickly earned back the billions in losses from the past few days.

The rules of the game had been exposed, in broad daylight no less.

Robinhood users, when signing up for the popular trading app that offered “free trading” were likely unaware of their role in the hedge funds’ ability to reap huge profits.

The system is broken.”

Patrick McConlogue left Citadel for decentralized finance and co-founded a new technology called Overline that takes the philosophy of DeFi to the extreme.

Not only is Overline unable to freeze any of your assets but it can’t even turn off the exchange; it’s not possible.

You can read Patrick’s full write-up here.

Related: Ken Griffin Thanks Redditors for ‘Meme Stocks’

Market News Published Daily

Market News Today - Ex-Citadel data scientist says the market is rigged.
Market News Today – Ex-Citadel Data Scientist says the market is rigged.

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Here’s How Meme Stocks Performed This Week

The performance of so called ‘meme stocks’ will be updated every week below. The latest news will also be available for your reading pleasure.

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Here’s how meme stocks performed for the week of: 2/27-3/3

Here's how meme stocks performed this week: GameStop (GME).
Here’s how meme stocks performed this week: GameStop (GME).

#1. GameStop

GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) closed: up -4.79% this past trading week.

The latest press release details the retailer’s earnings for the third quarter of fiscal year 2022.

During that period, GameStop reported net sales of $1.186 billion, down from $1.297 billion a year ago.

Gross profit tallied in at $291.6 million, while selling, general and administrative expenses were $387.9 million.

That led to a net loss of $94.7 million compared to a net loss of $105.4 million the previous year.

According to an amended Schedule 13G filingVanguard owns a total of 24.66 million shares of GME as of Dec. 30, equivalent to an 8.1% ownership stake.

As of Q3, the firm owned 24.16 million shares, meaning it purchased about a half a million shares during Q4.

Here's how meme stocks performed this week: AMC Entertainment (AMC).
Here’s how meme stocks performed this week: AMC Entertainment (AMC).

#2. AMC Entertainment

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AMC) closed the week: up +4.28% this past trading week.

The company stock is now making higher highs and higher lows in 2023.

In recent news, AMC and its board members, including CEO Adam Aron, are getting sued by a pension fund.

The latest lawsuit comes from the issuance of AMC’s preferred equity, APE.

The shareholder vote to either convert APE equity back into common AMC shares or go through a reverse stock split has been delayed — though Adam Aron has not made an official statement yet.

Read: AMC Failure-to-Delivers Are Skyrocketing Through the Roof

#3. APE

AMC Preferred Equity (NYSE:APE) closed this week: down -17.65%.

The equity has risen more than +90% this year after surging from $0.35 to more than $3 per share earlier this year.

44% of shareholders say they hold more APE over AMC stock.

The company is also proposing converting APE shares back into common AMC stock through a shareholder vote.

If approved, AMC’s share price will rise and the equity will be delisted.

APE has been able to provide the company with hundreds of millions of dollars in liquidity to pay down debt.

Will APE squeeze prior to the merge (if approved)?

Leave your thoughts below.

Related: AMC CFO Sean Goodman Cashes in $230K of APE

Here's how meme stocks performed this week: Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY).
Here’s how meme stocks performed this week: Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY).

#4. Bed Bath & Beyond

Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) were: down -5.04% in the past trading week.

On social media, shareholders of the so called ‘meme stock’ continue to buy the stock despite talks of bankruptcy.

The company edged closer to a bankruptcy filing in late January after the retailer said it had received a default notice from JPMorgan Chase & Co., its loan agent, and warned it didn’t have enough funds to make payments. 

Creditors are demanding immediate repayment of the company’s debt after it breached the terms of a credit line, according to a regulatory filing Thursday, per Bloomberg.

“Generally, in situations like this where a company defaults on their loan agreement our experience is, if they don’t come to an agreement with their lenders, the likelihood of a bankruptcy filing within the next 30 days is relatively high,” said Dennis Cantalupo, chief executive officer of Pulse Ratings, a credit-rating and consulting firm.

BBBY stock is up +1.73% this year-to-date.

Here's how meme stocks performed this week

#5. Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation

Shares of Hycroft Mining (NASDAQ:HYMC): rose +0.86% in the past week.

The mining company’s stock is down more than -28% this year-to-date.

In December, the company’s share price jumped 25% after announcements it had discovered more silver and gold deposits than anticipated.

Shares rose to $0.57 from a previous low of $0.44.

AMC CEO Adam Aron made the exciting announcement on Twitter stating, “so far ALL 20 of the newly drilled bores contained gold/silver, and 14 of the 20 showed higher grades than previously known to Hycroft.

AMC acquired a 22% stake in the silver and gold mining company in 2022 when they received 23.4 million warrants in Hycroft at $1.07 per share.

The stock at the time surged to $1.70 after trading at $0.60 earlier that same year.

More updates coming soon

market news - meme stocks this week

This page will get updated every week with news, performance, and updates.

Readers are receiving updates like this from various stocks and news daily via push notifications or from the newsletter.

Are you holding any of these ‘meme stocks’?

Leave your thoughts on this week’s performance or ideas on how to make this page better down in the comment section.

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

You can also follow me on TwitterInstagramFacebook, or LinkedIn for daily posts.


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Ken Griffin Thanks Redditors for ‘Meme Stocks’

Ken Griffin Thanks Redditors for 'Meme Stocks'

“Redditors, thank you so much for helping create the best pipeline we’ve ever had”, said Ken Griffin on Business Insider.

Ken Griffin, on how the GameStop frenzy helped raise Citadel’s profile with potential hires.

Business Insider says the SEC found no truth to any of the conspiracy theories but how can the SEC really go against one of the most powerful hedge funds in the world?

Transcripts showed Citadel and Robinhood did in fact have “blunt negotiations” the night prior to the halts.

A Miami district court judge admitted the Citadel and Robinhood transcripts were suspicious.

However, the federal court has dismissed the case due to a ‘lack of evidence’.

Research shows Judge Cecilia Altonaga had a close connection to the defendant’s law firm, insinuating a conflict of interest in the case.

Ken Griffin on Meme Stock Rally

The GameStop affair, in an odd twist, actually helped boost Citadel’s clout with potential recruits, Griffin said.

“For a lot of people this was a wake-up call that this firm Citadel is actually one of the most important players in the world’s financial markets,” he told Business Insider.

“Redditors, thank you so much for helping create the best pipeline we’ve ever had.”

“We’ve lost sight of the opportunities people can enjoy in America in recent years,” Griffin said.

To help counteract that, Griffin said he plans to give away the vast majority of his fortune during his lifetime.

“I’m going to give my money away in a way that I think has a real impact for our country,” he said. “I hope that the gifts I make will have an impact on America and the world for many years to come.”

Source(s): Business Insider.

Retail Investors Weigh In

Ken Griffin has made his money off the backs of retail investors who are simply looking to start building wealth through their favorite company stocks.

Retail investors say Ken Griffin’s Citadel takes advantage of its payment for order flow (PFOF) and use of off-exchange trading.

Backdoors in the financial system allow institutions to essentially control the game even when the ball is in retail’s court.

Chairman Gensler has even admitted to dark pools having a strong suppression on a securities share price which goes to show how much power these institutions really have in the game.

Were Ken Griffin’s comments about ‘meme stocks’ and redditors arrogant?

Leave your thoughts below.

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Market News: Ken Griffin on 'meme stocks' and redditors.
Market News: Ken Griffin on ‘meme stocks’ and redditors.

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

You can also follow me on TwitterInstagramFacebook, or LinkedIn for daily posts.


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When Do Shorts Have to Close Their Positions in AMC?

When will shorts close their short positions in AMC? When will shorts cover AMC?
When will shorts close their positions in AMC? When will shorts cover AMC?

Every retail investor holding a position in AMC wants to know, when will shorts close their positions?

And I don’t blame you.

This one is a little tricky.

See, it’s like saying, “when will retail investors sell their positions?”

franknez.com

Welcome to Franknez.com – the blog that fights for you, the retail investor. Today I want to discuss shorts closing.

Let’s get started!

Retail investors have been waiting patiently for AMC Entertainment stock to rip.

You’ve been holding through the ups and downs and even buying the dips.

And although we did see AMC’s share price surge in 2021, the short sellers are still here in 2023.

So, why aren’t shorts closing their positions yet?

What do retail investors need to do to squeeze hedge funds out of their money?

Let’s discuss it.

Are shorts obligated to close their positions?

When do shorts have to close their positions in AMC?

Let’s start with the fundamental question.

Are shorts obligated to close their positions?

Now, there are currently no rules regarding how long a short can hold before closing out their position.

However, lenders do have the right to demand the seller closes their position with minimal notice.

This is rare and only occurs if the the seller isn’t paying the interest fee, or the interest fee is ridiculously high.

“A short position may be maintained as long as the investor is able to honor the margin requirements and pay the required interest and the broker lending the shares allows them to be borrowed.” – Investopedia

When an interest fee is extremely high, it makes a stock difficult to borrow which obligates the short seller to close their positions.

Short sellers are burning big money to keep these positions open in 2023 though.

You’ll want to keep an eye on this interest as it will determine just how much shorts are bleeding.

I update AMC’s short interest data (and others) here daily.

Why does the “Cost to Borrow” fee matter?

The cost to borrow fee is an interest that short sellers must pay for borrowing AMC shares to short the company stock.

These fees are currently at an all-time high.

AMC short borrow fee interest

Short sellers will hold in hopes to drive AMC’s share price right back down to the floor.

However, AMC is trending upwards now and has absolutely no intention of going back down.

Analysts data and AI predictions all point towards a high possibility of a short squeeze.

Even Fintel’s short squeeze score has been as high as 80-90% in recent weeks.

AMC Short squeeze Score Fintel

This short borrow fee is going to continue to go up as AMC stock becomes harder to borrow.

For short sellers, a low short borrow fee is in their favor.

Hedge funds much rather pay the fee and stubbornly continue to hold their positions against retail investors.

But, if the short borrow fee is high enough to hurt the borrower, they will be more inclined to close their positions before losing an excruciating amount of money.

Just In: Short Sellers Are Down $81 Billion This Year

How can retail investors help drive the short borrow fee up?

Retail investors have helped drive the short borrow fee up simply by holding their positions.

When AMC squeezes, not every short will close their positions immediately.

This means retail investors won’t ever be able to time the high.

There will be short sellers who will continue to short even as share prices rise.

If we begin to see AMC’s price action rise monumentally, it is important to have a plan on how to take profits.

Just like a day trade, investors may be profitable for some time until they see gains turn into losses, which usually occurs due to greed in the markets.

This is what you want to avoid.

Important advisory: I am not a licensed financial advisory. I simply have a passion for finance and writing.

What happens when a short close their position?

A short position will be profitable if it is closed at a lower price than the initial transaction; it is at a loss if it is closed at a higher price.

In AMC’s case, shorts who drove began to short around $5 but are still holding to-date are at a loss.

AMC is currently trading around $6.08 per share as of 2/2.

When there’s a ton of shorts closing (in a particular stock), it will result in a short squeeze.

What is a short squeeze?

What is a short squeeze?

A short squeeze occurs when a stock spikes in price action due to an increase of short-sellers closing out their positions.

We’ve seen a short squeeze happen with both GameStop and Volkswagen. GME topped almost $500 while Volkswagen spiked shy below $1,000 back in 2008.

Some short sellers closed in June of 2021 when AMC shares rose to $72 per share as well.

AMC’s price skyrockets to more than +3,000% that year!

Short squeezes are massively profitable for retail investors.

These phenomena are how people are able to accumulate wealth in such little time.

Read: 5 Big Signs Pointing to An AMC Short Squeeze

So, when will AMC shorts close?

When do shorts have to close their position?
When will shorts close their short positions in AMC? When will shorts cover AMC?

Instead of exiting, short sellers have been holding.

Just as retail investors have high conviction on massive price action, hedge funds still have conviction on shorting the company to delist it.

But AMC Entertainment isn’t going bankrupt and AMC shareholders aren’t leaving.

AMC said bankruptcy was no longer on the table years ago and some Wall Street analysts have said the industry is on a solid path to resurgence, via Hollywood Reporter.

In fact, the short thesis is beginning to change with many incredible developments happening in the movie theatre industry.

AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) is up more than 54% this year-to-date and it looks like the stock has bottomed out.

As we continue to see a high utilization and the short borrow fee increase, we can only expect shorts may be incentivized to close sooner than later.

Will AMC’s price action continue to go up?

AMC stock has always had high demand from shareholders.

While many of these retail activists continue to hold losses from June’s drop, it’s possible this changes – granted that short sellers close out their positions this year.

Short sellers will have the option to hold their loses on paper for months to come (with fees) or close their position at the current share prices.

Short selling is a risky business and bulls have sent a message – “we’re not leaving”.

With new titles coming to AMC movie theaters as well as new developments, we’re only going to continue to see a surge in price action due to an increase in the company’s fundamental growth.

Even if shorts continue to hold, lenders will eventually run up the interest rate again, forcing them to throw in the towel.

Leave a comment below and let the community know what a short squeeze would mean for you.

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Market News Today - When do shorts have to close their positions in AMC?
Market News Today – When do shorts have to close their positions in AMC?

For more stock market, business news and updates, join the newsletter to receive weekly market news and notifications straight to your inbox.

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

You can also follow me on TwitterInstagramFacebook, or LinkedIn for daily posts.


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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.

Market News Published Daily

FrankNez News Today - Market News, Business News, + more.
FrankNez News Today – Market News, Business News, + more.

For more stock market, business news and updates, join the newsletter to receive weekly market news and notifications straight to your inbox.

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

You can also follow me on TwitterInstagramFacebook, or LinkedIn for daily posts.


Franknez.com

You can now read exclusive FrankNez articles for only $1/mo.

  • Gain access to EXCLUSIVE FrankNez articles you won’t find here.
  • Become part of a private and safe Discord community, just for retail investors.
  • Get drawn at the end of the year for holiday giveaways.

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