California
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2004
- Messages
- 14,930
- Location
- An hour north of San Francisco
- Tractor
- Yanmar YM240 Yanmar YM186D
99.99% serious investor here. Occasionally gamble when I think I see an opportunity that isn't yet widely known. The Peter Lynch principle. Back in the day, selling early Ebay stock bought half of what my Subaru cost.I take my investments very seriously, always, so no play room with them at all.
Years later, recently, I started following the drama surrounding GameStop. This has to be the most manipulated stock of all time. 17k employees and $4B revenue. And a recent stock issue gave them a $4B war chest to go buy some other business but there's no news yet.
GameStop stock price jumps around seemingly randomly. It's been $10 and $65 in the past year. The theory is that hedge funds shorted 400% of the available shares, ie are selling options for shares that don't exist, so as options expire there is a scramble to grab anything available at any price to meet obligations. But with those same players manipulating the price to their advantage. Who knows.
At any rate I gambled that a future options expiration date would raise the price, made a short-term $400 on that gamble, and got out. My interest is more just arms-length curiosity rather than financial. I think sooner or later, how the stock price gets manipulated will come to light. They are the poster child for what Occupy Wall Street was concerned about.