


They spotted a vulnerability in the market: The so-called short squeeze. And e-trading apps, notably Robinhood, allow amateur traders to buy commission-free stocks with one click. But technology, including forums like Reddit, has made it ever easier, faster and simpler for the aggrieved to mobilise, swap information and collectively plot strategy. The US stock market, the chosen target of the Reddit day traders, has long stood as America's premier symbol of entrenched wealth. In the meantime, nearly 10 million people who lost jobs to the pandemic remain unemployed. This week, a report from the anti-poverty group Oxfam found that the world's 10 richest men have swollen their collective wealth by US$500 billion since the pandemic erupted in March. The coronavirus inflicted further pain, flattening the economy and causing more than 20 million Americans to lose jobs. "I'm a college student, so that's basically a month's rent for me," said Weir, who is pursuing a master's degree in marketing. "I'm amazed it didn't happen earlier.''įeeding the frenzy have been young traders like 27-year-old Zach Weir, who this week bought five shares of GameStop.
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"They figured out how to play the way Wall Street has been playing for a long time," said Robert Thompson, who has long tracked cultural trends as director of Syracuse University's Bleier Centre for Television and Popular Culture. Over the past three weeks, they've delivered a stupefying 1,600 per cent gain. GameStop shares? They rocketed nearly 70 per cent on Friday.

Those fears just caused the S&P 500 index to suffer its worst week of losses since October. Their rage and hell-bent drive to pick on powerful Wall Street financiers have sent shivers through ordinary investors and heightened fears about the fragility of the markets in general after a prolonged period of stock gains fuelled by ultra-low interest rates. A meme circulated on r/wallstreetbets illuminating the spirit driving many of the day traders.
