GameStop And The Revenge Of The Retail Investors

The recent volatility related to GameStop shouldn’t affect most long-term investors. The affected stocks were likely to be found in more speculative trading portfolios. Looking ahead, we can expect to see a reduction in leverage used by short sellers. This may be due to new SEC regulations or hedge funds reducing their own risk appetite. Reduced short selling may result in increased short-term volatility as pricing would be less efficient. However, there shouldn’t be long-term effects on the prices of securities. Perhaps my biggest takeaway from this event is how poorly it was reported by most news outlets. This was never a David vs Goliath story — it was always David and Goliath vs a different Goliath. I worry that very many retail traders were used as cannon fodder in a battle between groups of wealthy investors. Much of the market analysis seen on WallStreetBets continues to rely on misinformation (or disinformation) and stale data. It is very troubling that so many people trust anonymous message boards over financial news services and investment professionals.