Connor’s Corner: The Market Revolution Will Be Televised

By Connor Danz, Creative Editor

I originally planned to do a nice and happy recap of my holiday, and my time back to school for this section of “Connor’s Corner,” but this all radically changed on January 27, 2021.

I have been a stock investor for nearly two years, and I was brought into the market by my grade 10 business teacher when he taught an introductory course on it. After that, I started my first portfolio. When I first started, I needed a reliable place to get advice on how to approach purchasing stocks. I, unfortunately, went for a group that threw absurd amounts of money to mediocre stocks instead of the infamous subreddit r/wallstreetbets.

I occasionally considered buying stocks that were heavily pushed by the forum, and one prominent pick was Tesla. Everyone was talking about getting “Papa Elon” up to $2,000 a share, and so I bought $25 of a one-third share. I made about $100 in the process. The most current event that I’ve taken a particular interest in is the GameStop (GME) saga.

Hedge funds, like Melvin Capital, have been heavily betting against GameStop, AMC and other stock values. This means that the more the stock goes down, the more money they make. Cue r/wallstreetbets; they bought GME in mass numbers, tanking the Melvin Capital’s finances. A couple of blunders later, and Melvin Capital is down in the gutter. They had a multi-billion dollar bailout evaporate before their eyes, and so the media backed them up.

What happened next could be seen as utter madness. The media fired relentless attacks on r/wallstreetbets, sending a clear message that “only the rich can profit from the stock market.” This lead to many members of r/wallstreetbets vowing to hold on to GME. Soon, this spilled onto the brokerages themselves. A very popular member amongst r/wallstreetbets, Robinhood, barred people from buying more GME. This warrants a class-action lawsuit, and one could only hope that they are brought to justice.

My accounting teacher and I have taken a heavy fascination with these last events. He is more of an old-school investor. He is unsure about the benefit of a prolonged short squeeze, and about what their possible exit strategies are. I however am of a different mindset. There is no exit strategy because this isn’t about money anymore, but rather sending a message to Wall Street. A message that the working man will no longer stand for this, and unlike the Occupy Wall Street protest the common men on r/wallstreetbets can earn a high place on the market.

I am ecstatic to see this saga continue to the point where I am buying a bit of GME, AMC and others. I am right in the front line against Wall Street, and I’m holding on with diamond hands as we reach Mars, so to speak.