Wall Street wants to stop stocks from trading like cryptocurrencies.
An active Reddit-based trading community is causing more equities to behave like characteristically volatile cryptocurrencies amid an ongoing campaign of monstrous short squeezes. In response, brokers and other financial service providers are threatening to cut off trading access to “limit risk.”
Self-described as “like 4chan found a Bloomberg Terminal,” the Wall Street Bets (WSB) trading community on Reddit wreaked chaos in traditional markets after pumping GameStop (GME) nearly 900% in five days to around $380 Wednesday morning. And the mayhem is spreading.
Other heavily shorted stocks such as BlackBerry (BB) and AMC Entertainment (AMC) have seen triple-digit percentage gains in the past couple weeks as WSB traders set their sights on these companies. Even Eastman Kodak (KODK) shot up nearly 50% Thursday, briefly trading near $14 after closing trading on Wednesday below $9.50.
Other companies like Tootise Roll (TR) and National Beverage Corp (FIZZ) are also some of the most-shorted stocks by hedge funds, per data from CNBC, making them possible WSB candidates in the future.
The long list of worries and problems this irregular market activity is causing includes inflicting heavy financial losses at hedge funds such as Melvin Capital, which held a large short position on GameStop. The fund finally capitulated and closed its position Tuesday after taking a “huge loss,” CNBC reported.
The Reddit trading community cheered. But trading services are reacting sternly to the chaos.
After tweeting about “unprecedented volumes” that “may be causing limited acess,” TD Ameritrade simply restricted client trading for GameStop, AMC, and other securities “in the interest of mitigating risk for our company and clients.”
Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman told CNBC Thursday her firm actively monitors social media chatter and will halt stock trading if the content it sees matches with “unusual activity in stocks.”
Cryptocurrency investors are capitalizing on the craziness to highlight a potentially universal use case for trading and financial services that cannot be limited or subject to similar crackdowns. Galaxy Digital (GLXY) CEO Mike Novogratz took to Twitter to say the WSB episodes are “a giant endorsement” of decentralized finance. But whether these rogue traders will show any interest in blockchain-based products remains an open question.
Interactive Brokers Chief Strategist Steve Sosnick called short sellers, in general, a “curious bunch” who profit through “courage and careful research.” But as the WSB saga continues, he warned, “many” could quickly “find themselves swamped.”
“No one can withstand […] an investor tsunami aimed at short sellers,” Sosnick said.