Lessons From The Great GameStop YOLO

Today, a war over the value of video game retailer GameStop’s stock has caused what market guru Jim Cramer called “the squeeze of a lifetime.” Howling with glee along the way, traders on the chaotic and obscene Reddit subreddit /r/WallStreetBets helped push GameStop’s stock price up from $20 on January 11 to $148 (currently $237 in after-hours) following traditional analysts deemed the stock a clunker.

WallStreetBets treats stock trading like a video game, and a lot of the trading takes place on the Robinhood app, which advertises, “Level up with options trading … Choose your own venture.” Now that the barrier to trading options is lower than ever, having leverage in the stock market can be as easy as having a couple hundred thousand buddies and an app.

It certainly started as a meme. That’s how WallStreetBets operates. WallStreetBets get a stock, they have fun with it, they make funny pictures and videos and songs or whatever. GameStop started as a meme, but they pushed it to a different level. They’re no longer commenting on the story. They’re wanting to become the story and have very effectively done that.

Sure, on the surface, this looks chaotic and indicative of the mother of all speculative bubbles / meme stock world we find ourselves in.

However, I challenge us to look deeper.

I find it interesting that whether it be crypto or stocks, the one thing that motivates people to act together as a collective is to screw over institutional investors.

I think it’s an awakening and realization of many young people that the investing game is rigged against them. They found out that they can collectively move more money than millionaires. A thousand people with a thousand dollars are stronger than a single millionaire. It’s going to be really interesting. WSB shows how even with TradFi (Traditional Finance) tools the collective hivemind of a young desperate generation can organize to one-up the big bankers.

Imagine what we’ll be able to do when we collectively embrace the decentralized 24/7 market with tools TradFi can’t even comprehend. As tokenized stocks become possible, a lot of Wall Street traders and fund managers are up for a rude awakening.

We’re already getting there. 

DeFi (Decentralized Finance) is a manifested form of this desire to usurp and replace the tenets and traditions of TradFi. DeFi will enable millions of people formerly disadvantaged the opportunity to become self-made without someone richer taking their cut. I’m here for it. We just need lower tx fees so more people can access those tools without losing their gains on a swap. Right now DeFi only makes sense if you’re moving bigger stacks, but I believe that will change.

Already we see the difference that Crypto and DeFi bring to the table. Crypto gaining acceptance and adoption won’t enable the creation of monopolistic banks we’re currently held under and held back by.

The difference between TradFi and Big Banks is that in crypto the user decides where the money moves. If a crypto bank doesn’t add in user interest — for example giving them purposely bad interest rates to keep most of the profits for themselves — then users will just move to the institutions that give them the best services. It’s a fair and competitive market which is incidentally much healthier and egalitarian than a centralized planned market.

So, buckle up.

The transfer of wealth that was promised by Bitcoin has already started. /r/wallstreetbets is currently robbing Wall Street institutional investors on GME stocks and squeezing all of their short positions. It is the biggest WS money heist in history and it’s not over.

With every end, there is a beginning . . . and semmingly with every meme stock, there is a rapid group of degenerates ready to pump it to the moon.