Tag: Short Covering (Page 1 of 2)

Former Branch Chief Disappointed by SEC Meme Stock Video

SEC Meme Stock Video
Market News: The SEC attacks retail investors with propaganda

The SEC meme stock video is circulating all over social media due to its surprisingly and unprofessional attack on retail investors.

The agency was created in the 30s after the Great Crash to prevent fraud and protect retail investors from predatorial practices conducted by Wall Street.

But something happened along the way – the branch has proved to take a stance with congress in tailoring policies for financial institutions.

Who is going to protect retail investors from the corrupt?

Former SEC Branch Chief expresses her thoughts on the propaganda published by the SEC.

Let’s discuss it.

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SEC publishes Meme Stock Video

If you haven’t watched the SEC meme stock video, it’s embedded below.

SEC Meme Stock Video

The SEC published the video on their official YouTube channel where they restricted public commenting.

Former SEC Branch Chief Lisa Braganca said she was “very disappointed to see the SEC disparage investors in meme stocks as if they must have done it thoughtlessly – especially when the SEC permits most trading to take place in dark pools.”

She then tweeted, “how about a video on dark pools Gary Gensler?”

Lisa Braganca is an activist who fights for market transparency.

She’s talked on Matt Kohrs’ channel before and has done an AMA on Reddit’s r/Superstonk answering questions about self-regulatory regulations, SEC regulation, and SEC enforcement.

Gary Gensler admitted in a Bloomberg exclusive 90%-95% of retail orders don’t go through the lit exchange but failed to mention a solution to the problem.

In an interview with Jon Stewart, the SEC Chairman fails to deliver a quality and productive discussion on solving the problems in the market.

Jon Stewart described Gary Gensler as a sheriff in town that allows blatant corruption to occur.

For Gary, it’s clear it’s more about keeping the job rather than creating a legacy.

Activism Matters

wallstreetbets

The SEC’s meme stock video might try to portray retail investors as young and clueless novice investors.

But that’s far from who the retail community is.

Retail investors outsmarted hedge funds, exposed the corruption in the SEC, mainstream media, and are now attacking with this propaganda.

It’s a sign of weakness.

The retail community is made up of a very diversified group of people all fighting for the same cause.

And this is a threat to corporate media and powerful institutions.

Republicans and democrats getting together to fight for market transparency, what!?

But this isn’t just about the left and right getting together to combat corruption, it’s a global movement – and opps (opposers) don’t like this.

Trey made a great point when he stated why doesn’t the SEC tackle the problems that created meme stocks in the first place:

  • PFOF
  • Off exchange trading
  • Prime brokers
  • Arbitrage
  • Naked shorting
  • Derivative leverage
  • Etc.

Activism matters.

Retail investors must continue to raise awareness of these issues despite the propaganda.

SEC Spent $460K on “Investomania Meme Stock” Ad

The SEC spent nearly half a million dollars on the ‘meme stock’ ad campaign that ridiculed millions of retail investors.

A Twitter user had sent in a FOIA application inquiring about the costs to produce “Investomania”, the video published on the SEC’s official YouTube channel.

The agency that was established in the early 1930s to protect retail investors took a shot at millions of investors who participated in the ‘meme stock’ frenzy.

Former SEC Branch Chief Lisa Braganca stated she was “very disappointing to see SEC disparage investors in meme stocks as if they must have done it thoughtlessly”.

“Especially when the SEC permits most trading to take place in dark pools… how about a video about dark pools @GaryGensler?”

And retail investors continue to hold this one against the agency, even in 2023.

What are your thoughts?

The SEC has ignored retail’s cry for help, and now they’ve made fun of the community with the meme stock video.

Did this unprofessionalism in our government surprise you?

I’d love to learn what you think.

Leave your thoughts in the comment section of the blog below.

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Related: Ken Griffin Attacks: "Pension Plans Destroyed by Retail Investors"

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Short Sellers Are Now Paying More to Short AMC Stock

Short AMC Stock
The cost to short AMC stock goes up

AMC’s short borrow fee is rising again and short sellers are now paying more to short AMC stock.

This is the fee short sellers pay to borrow and short the stock.

It fell as low as 0.30% earlier this year but has now risen to 18.60%.

Although the short borrow fee is still relatively low, the progression could lead to more impactful losses.

Last year hedge funds lost billions betting against the world’s largest movie theatre chain.

Overleveraged positions with high short borrow fee rates only multiplied losses.

Rising short borrow fees could incentivize short sellers to completely ditch the play and close their short positions as shorting becomes more expensive.

Let’s break it down together.

franknez.com

Welcome to Franknez.com – if you haven’t joined the newsletter, be sure to do that below. I’m publishing market news and updates daily.

Let’s dive right into it!

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AMC’s short borrow fee increases

AMC Short Borrow Fee

AMC’s short borrow fee rate has steadily been increasing as the markets have tanked.

It comes as no surprise that the fee to short AMC stock would increase during this liquidity crisis.

The SPY officially hit bear market territory two weeks ago, but the market bounced rather quickly, trading just above bear market levels.

AMC continues to be one of the heaviest shorted stocks in the market.

It wiped billions of dollars from hedge funds shorting it last year.

And with a high short interest of 22.52%, AMC has more than enough juice to squeeze shorts from their positions.

But AMC’s short borrow fee rate and short interest percentage aren’t the only metrics increasing.

Pressure is escalating as AMC’s shares on loan reach an all-time high.

Pressure escalates as AMC’s shares on loan skyrocket

AMC shares on loan

AMC’s current shares on loan have reached 185 million.

These shares on loan eventually have to be returned to the lender by buying back the stock in the lit market (NYSE).

The massive buying pressure is going to create a high demand for the stock.

As the demand for the security goes up, so does the cost to buy it (the value of the security).

When AMC surged to $72 per share in June, it had roughly just over 100 million shares on loan and a short interest of 24% before falling to 20%, then 14%.

Today, AMC’s shares on loan have hit 191 million with a high short interest of 22.52%.

AMC’s Short Interest Data Updated Daily Here

Short sellers owe their lenders more now than they did when AMC shot up to $72 last June.

No matter what the catalyst is, AMC is inevitably going to surge again.

Related: Pressure Escalates as AMC's Shares on Loan Skyrocket

Will AMC’s increasing borrow fee rate force shorts to close positions?

AMC short borrow fee rate

AMC’s increasing short borrow fee rate may certainly incentivize short sellers to close their short positions.

The stock is slowly becoming harder to short and the cost to borrow it might prove to not be worth risking significant losses as the market adjusts itself for a reversal.

At some point, it’s going to be time to start betting long.

As you can tell, short sellers have the biggest risk here.

One simple bull rally can eliminate short sellers’ portfolios.

And with the SPY showing significant strength in the $400 level, one can assume the markets have potentially found a bottom.

The SPY momentarily hit official bear market levels last week but has managed to trade just above it.

A significant break upwards could bring the entire markets back up, hurting short sellers.

Be sure to connect with me on social media for daily updates.

Also, join the discussion in the comment section of the blog down below.

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Related: These Two Signs Will Tell You a Short Squeeze is Over

This Data Shows Another AMC Massive Price Runup is Inevitable

AMC Massive Price Runup
Shareholders should expect another massive price runup this year

Today I’ve collected data from Ortex and compared patterns from the runups in January and June of last year.

And the data shows the time for another massive AMC price runup is on the horizon.

AMC’s price has dropped since its runups last year, but the short interest data is showing clear signs the stock is preparing for a big move.

The ‘apes’ haven’t been wrong, and this just could be one of the community’s biggest wins.

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Welcome to Franknez.com – today’s article is going to get you pumped for the coming days and weeks. If you haven’t joined the newsletter, be sure to join for updates.

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AMC price runup history

On Monday, January 25th, 2021, AMC’s share price opened at $4.71 and reached a high of $20.36.

On Monday, May 31st, 2021, the share price opened at $31.89 and reached an all-time high of $72.62.

Retail investors have said that AMC’s third runup will be even more violent than the previous runups.

These previous runups were only 4 months away from one another, so why didn’t we get a third runup in September/October?

After going through the data one key data point shows how shorts have been able to refrain from closing their positions.

And it has to do with the CTB (cost to borrow).

So, we’ll start here.

AMC cost to borrow

Current: 1.27

AMC’s high cost to borrow incentivized short sellers to close their positions in January and in May of last year.

In the data above you can see that prior to any runup, the CTB went up, making it expensive for short sellers to borrow stock to short.

When the CTB went down in January, that’s when we see AMC’s price surge.

We see the same pattern in May where the cost to borrow had gone up again before coming back down, resulting in the stock surging to $72 per share.

Today we’re in a phase where the CTB has come down and stayed down for quite some time.

However, that CTB is very slowly but gradually going up.

Does that mean the cost to borrow is the biggest key for another price runup?

Not exactly, but the data shows that it played an important role in incentivizing closing short positions.

I update AMC’s cost to borrow daily here so be sure to bookmark it and check on it daily to see how it’s moving.

The second pattern investors should keep an eye out for is the days to cover (DTC).

AMC days to cover

Current: 2.92

Right before AMC’s price runup to $20 and $72 per share, the data shows us that the days to cover went up before coming back down where the price surged.

Today we’re seeing the days to cover have been going up longer than the previous runups.

What investors are going to want to keep an eye out for is for this number to start coming down again.

The DTC began to climb, then dropped right before AMC’s share price started to surge.

AMC is currently in the process of the climb.

But one of the biggest signals in the data has been the utilization.

AMC’s utilization tells investors how much of the float’s shares are being borrowed.

And in AMC’s case, it’s all of them again.

Let’s discuss it.

AMC utilization point towards next runup

Current: 100

After AMC’s price runups last year, the utilization dropped and continued to drop.

The utilization didn’t reach 100 again for months.

One common denominator AMC’s price runups had last year is they both had utilization reach 100 before the stock surged.

AMC has been holding that utilization rate of 100 for weeks now, longer than the previous episodes.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the utilization drop some points and then come back up because that’s what happened in January and May/June of last year too.

AMC’s utilization is one big data point telling us another massive price runup could be underway.

Now I want to take a look at the shares on loan because it’s going to provide further data and confirmation as to why ‘apes’ have been right for quite some time.

AMC Shares on Loan

‘Apes’ have always been right

Mainstream media won’t talk about this.

The Fool, MarketWatch, Benzinga, and The Wall Street Journal will not tell you that AMC is a short squeeze play.

But the data says otherwise.

In the chart above we can see that the shares on loan began to climb up prior to January’s runup and again prior to May’s runup.

AMC’s shares on loan consolidated upwards for months before dipping and ultimately coming back up again.

Today we can see AMC’s shares on loan are greater than they were back in January and are coming close to those in May/June.

All this tells us is millions of AMC shares are being loaned out to short the stock.

These shares have to be paid back.

And once they are, we can expect to see the shares on loan fall sharply like we did in January and May of last year.

This continuous surge in loan sharing only validates AMC is a short squeeze play.

Summary

One thing I want to mention is that AMC’s price runups saw a lot of volume right before they surged.

The reason they saw a lot of volume is because AMC began to move up little by little enticing new investors to jump in.

We can expect to see this wave of FOMO buyers again during AMC’s third price runup.

Will this third price surge be bigger than the previous two?

I think we have to look at AMC’s shares on loan.

AMC had a lot more shares on loan during the May runup than it did in January.

Today, AMC’s shares on loan are a lot closer to those from May.

It’s true, the longer shorts hold off on closing their positions, the bigger the price runup will be when they close.

And that’s simply because of the shares on loan they’ve accumulated throughout the months.

One thing is certain, another massive AMC price runup is inevitable.

What do you think?

Leave your thoughts below.

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AMC Short Squeeze Price: Expectations VS Reality

AMC Short Squeeze Price Potential
AMC Short Squeeze Price Potential

Retail investors often wonder how high AMC’s short squeeze price potential could be.

We heard many numbers get thrown out there earlier this year.

They ranged from $1,000 to $10,000 and even $100,000 and $500,000 per share.

What exactly are we dealing with here?

And, could AMC’s short squeeze price even be higher?

franknez.com

Welcome to Franknez.com – the blog that fights for retail investors. Today we’re going over AMC’s short squeeze price potential.

Let’s get started!

Measuring AMC’s Market Cap For Squeeze Potential

AMC’s current market cap is approximately $21.86b with a share price of $42.60 (11.16).

Volkswagen short squeeze chart

When Volkswagen’s short squeeze price reached 1005 euros, the market cap was worth $296b euros, or $370b dollars, via Reuters.

Let’s calculate AMC’s share price at a $370b dollar market cap just for comparison.

$370b market cap ÷ 513.145 million outstanding shares = $721.04 per share.

AMC’s market cap would have to be almost 17x more than it’s current market cap.

Now, keep in mind synthetics/naked shares aren’t being calculated and I’ll get more into this later.

Is this market cap possible? Absolutely.

Here are a few companies with similar market caps:

  • Walmart $399.23b
  • Procter & Gamble $356.192b
  • Nestle $366.725b
  • Mastercard $363.114b
  • Johnson & Johnson $428.245b

AMC’s market cap was worth $300m (Nov. 2020) -$500m (Jan. 14, 2021) earlier this year, via CompaniesMarketCap.

That’s a 72x market cap growth in a year; making a 17x market cap surge up to $721.04 per share rather feasible.

Community, a move up to the high hundreds seems fundamental to me.

Especially considering big shorts have not covered.

Short Interest

There’s not much data that ties AMC’s current share price to short covering.

We’ve seen AMC’s short interest come down 3.7% to its current 16.27% from a peak of 20% in the span of 5 months.

We’ve also seen AMC’s share price trade between the low $30s to low $40s.

One could argue that this small drop in short interest could be due to very small short covering, thus bringing the share price back up to $40 from the $30 level.

We’ve been trading sideways for quite some time now.

What’s to say the $30 level isn’t being used to cover small positions, driving the share price back up to $40; and rinse and repeat?

If that’s the play, hypothetically speaking, then the ones benefiting from apes holding are day traders and some shorts.

Buy VS Sell Ratio

If this is the case, we’ll need to start seeing more buying pressure and less selling.

AMC Buy vs Sell Ratio
AMC Buy VS Sell Ratio 11/15, via. FIDELITY

Otherwise, retail investors could be creating an escape route for short sellers and a playground for day traders.

This $40 range is reminding me of the $14 level Wanda Group wouldn’t let us get passed by.

Every time we would hit $14, the company would sell shares.

Only this time it seems it’s a combination of day traders selling high, short sellers shorting the stock, and some retail selling (non-apes).

This MOASS play is not for everyone.

But if more investors dedicated this play to squeezing shorts from their positions, then retail could certainly 17x AMC’s market cap up to the $700 per share price range just from momentum alone.

Short Squeeze Price With Synthetics Covered

There are many reasons to believe millions upon millions of synthetic shares have been used to short AMC stock.

Billions!

But we don’t have the support from anyone to confirm this to the point where it can be calculated.

Here we can come up with numbers based on estimations but I’m not here to do that for you.

Do I believe synthetics have been used to drive AMC’s share price down?

Absolutely.

Do I believe hedge funds will do the ‘right thing’ by covering these?

Off exchange markets allow hedge funds to swap stock back and forth behind the lit market.

Who’s going to regulate and ensure hedge funds cover these shares?

So until that happens, you can count a short squeeze price calculation with synthetics out for now.

But it’s for this exact reason why retail must fight for a fair market and for proper regulation.

Covering billions of synthetics could absolutely push AMC’s share price into the high thousands to even tens of thousands.

The problem here is we have no proper or legal documentation that allows us to accurately identify this scenario.

A proper MOASS would require proper regulation, forcing hedge funds to close all borrowed and naked shares.

How Do We Get A Proper Synthetic Share Count?

By requesting it from regulators.

I saw a poll on Twitter tagging Adam Aron whether management should look into answering shareholder’s question regarding synthetics in the market.

Adam Aron has turned the cheek in the past saying they have no knowledge of these synthetics.

However, we should be tagging regulators, not the CEO of AMC.

I just personally don’t think he can get involved.

But if he could, as a shareholder himself, it would greatly play in our favor.

Only time will tell how this unfolds.

Setting Realistic Expectations

So, we don’t have an exact count of synthetics.

What we do know is that AMC’s short squeeze price potential can be massive when looking at just how many synthetic shares could be out there.

But we also know this.

If AMC’s market cap grew by 72x from November 2020 to November 2021, then it can certainly grow another 17x (VW short squeeze market cap example); where the share price will trade above $700 per share.

This could be caused by heavy buying pressure from retail, whales, some short covering, and FOMO buyers.

Now you have to ask yourselves, how large will my portfolio be worth at $700 per share?

Just for perspective of course.

Do you have enough shares to be happy with the results?

Or will you continue to hold 5 shares waiting for this to hit +$100,000?

Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered.

There’s no telling how high or low AMC’s short interest will be around $700 per share.

If it’s still relatively high then it would simply mean there’s more room for growth.

However, if there’s a significant drop then it’s a sign plenty of shorts covered.

MOASS Will Require A Synthetic Share Count

sec

If AMC is to experience a proper MOASS, it’s imperative that regulators undergo a synthetic share count investigation.

I’m going to publish an article regarding this matter that we can pitch to regulators and get circulating out there.

ADVISORY:

Keep in mind I’m only using Volkswagen’s short squeeze market cap as an example to paint a possible scenario for AMC based on a 17x market cap from its current market cap.

These type of plays are rare and there’s not much information about them.

This means we’re paving the way.

I hope that this article provides you with a perspective that helps you identify just how high AMC’s share price can go in general.

Should we push regulators to investigate?

Of course.

Should we sit on our hands and just wait on regulators?

Hell no.

Identify how many shares you’d need to meet your goal, not counting synthetics for now, and ensure you can walk away with a significant amount of money when you’re ready to.

This play is continuously unfolding.

I would love nothing more than to create another article time from now calculating a confirmed synthetic share count for the community.

Final Words

franknez.com

I hope you found this article helpful in one way or another.

Again, I’m using information I have at hand.

I could calculate several scenarios with different market caps but the reality is there could be enough synthetics to take AMC to Pluto and into the several thousands to tens of thousands of dollars per share.

Whether culprits take accountability for these synthetics or not will be up to us to fight for.

With that being said, I’m going to be using my platform to voice tackling this synthetic share count problem.

We cannot let hedge funds get away with this so easily.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave them in the comment section of the article below.

franknez.com

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