Greedy Wall Street hedge fund managers tried to destroy GameStop (GME), but members of Reddit’s Wall Street Bets community outsmarted them, turning ordinary people into millionaires overnight. Now those greedy hedge fund managers are crying foul, and companies like Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, and E*Trade have blocked people from investing in GME and other publicly-traded stocks in order to protect the wealthy elites. Sign the petition to demand Congress pursue justice for everyone affected by this blatant market manipulation. Protect our streets, NOT Wall Street!
For years, Wall Street fat cats have used their wealth to manipulate the market and enrich themselves at the expense of everyday people, creating historic levels of inequality. Even worse, our government has decided that these fat cats are “too big to fail,” using our hard-earned tax dollars to bail them out again and again and again … while ignoring us when we need help the most. But now everyday people are using the stock market to fight back.
Prominent hedge fund managers bet billions of dollars on the demise of GameStop, a move that could have very well hastened the video game retailer’s end. They did this by short-selling — borrowing shares of GameStop and selling them today with the intent to buy them at a lower price later on, making money on the price difference. But these hedge fund managers made a HUGE mistake by borrowing more shares of GameStop than actually exist. Members of Reddit’s Wall Street Bets online community realized that they could save GameStop and make a ton of money by simply buying all the available GME shares and refusing to sell them back to the hedge fund managers who borrowed these shares for their scheme. As a result of this gamma squeeze, GME’s stock price jumped from around $4 in August to over $400 in late January.
The blowback was swift. Almost immediately, financial analysts and regulators called for investigations into potential market manipulation by Wall Street Bets, completely ignoring the hedge fund managers’ irresponsible trading activity and very public efforts to sway the market in their favor. Social media company Discord temporarily banned Wall Street Bets from its platform for alleged “hate speech” violations. Then trading companies — including Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, and Charles Schwab — began blocking users from buying shares of Gamestop and other companies, wiping out massive profits for individual investors while protecting the financial interests of hedge fund managers.
This is unacceptable.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 28, 2021
We now need to know more about @RobinhoodApp’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit.
As a member of the Financial Services Cmte, I’d support a hearing if necessary. https://t.co/4Qyrolgzyt
The game is rigged; that much is clear. When wealthy elites wipe out the life savings of billions of ordinary people like you and me, the government deems them “too big to fail” and uses our hard-earned tax dollars to prop them up. But when we band together to protect ourselves from financial exploitation at the hands of these same wealthy elites, supposedly “free market” institutions stop us from placing our savings into profitable investments.
Not. This. Time.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) have already publicly declared their intentions to investigate the anti-competitive behavior of Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, E*Trade and other companies that have deliberately wiped out the wealth of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people. But she can’t do it alone. She needs the support of other Congressional lawmakers to carry out an investigation and — most importantly — get justice for everyone who has been hurt by the actions of these investment companies.
Sign the petition now to tell your lawmakers to support the effort to hold investment companies accountable for the damage they’ve done to the lives of ordinary people like you and me.
To date, Wall Street Bets users have reported that the following companies have all restricted people from purchasing shares of GME, AMC, BB, BBBY, and NOK simply because investors are eager to buy:
You can — and should! — file a complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). To do so, simply click on the link below; you’ll be taken to the SEC’s website where you can enter your information and file your complaint.
While it’s important for the government to investigate these investment companies for hurting ordinary people, we shouldn’t just wait around for congressional hearings and SEC cases. Use social media to let everyone know what’s happening and why it’s wrong.