It was a joke that first grabbed my attention: “I know this GameStop stuff is funny, but you have to remember this is hurting real people who own multiple boats.” But what exactly is “short selling?” How does a Reddit group, a commission-free stock trading app, and Game Stop suddenly take over the news about technology and finance? What does this imply about the near-term future of fintech?
- Confused about this GameStop saga? Here are the 5 things you need to know [CNN Business] “It’s a David vs Goliath story. At the heart of the GameStop saga is a struggle between two drastically different groups of investors: A band of amateur day traders versus a bunch of Wall Street pros known as short-sellers.”
- The ‘Roaring Kitty’ Rally: How a Reddit User and His Friends Roiled the Markets [New York Times] “Their show of force this week underlines how the financial markets have changed by merging with the world of social media and a younger generation of traders who have been empowered by online platforms.”
- Robinhood is a perfect example of fintech’s insidious power [The Intercept_] “Fintech is neither inherently good nor bad; rather, like any technology, its potential impact on society is closely tied to the policy decisions guiding its use — and the next four years could define how much the fintech industry is able to shape the financial system. Left to their own devices, fintech firms could swindle average people through ill-advised day-trading or high-interest loans, usher new systemic risks into the financial system, and develop traceable, privately owned currencies with the potential to replace cash.”
- GameStop short squeeze fuels new stock-market services tracking Reddit messages [MarketWatch] “A group of data providers are wagering that financial markets will never be the same again and that deep-pocketed investors will shell out big bucks to monitor discussions on message boards like Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets and social-media platforms like Discord for mentions of publicly traded companies.”
From the Ohio Web Library
- Alix, Laura. “Fifth Third CEO ‘Very Concerned’ about Fintechs.” American Banker, vol. 186, no. 15, Jan. 2021, pp. 6–7.
- Davidson, Jacob. “Inside the Internet’s Wildest Investing Forum.” Money, vol. 47, no. 9, Nov. 2018, pp. 28–31.
- Lotus, Jean. “Robinhood to Lift Trading Restrictions after Raising $1 Billion from Investors.” UPI Top News, Jan. 2021.
