Promoting Useful Knowledge

Remember that time a bunch of amatuer traders thought they would take down the whole financial industry? I’m sorry, but I have to go here. I’m sure you’ve already read/listened to a ton about r/WSB and GME. Did Melvin Capital need a $2.7B bailout? That’s the word, and there were apparently other big losses because of these price spikes. The WSB crowd did not however shake the foundation of the industry. There were actually quite a few firms that have made out like bandits and continue to do so. Virtu Financial and Citadel are both major market makers that see tons of flow from RobinHood. The increased volatility, spreads, and volume has likely been very good for their bottom line. We’ll get more insight on this when Virtu (VIRT.O) reports next week. The other highly covered name AMC, was up 13% last week and the 6th largest traded name by turnover last week at $8.4B. That’s 2010% of its six month average. You know who converted $450 million of senior notes into common stock and sold at...

  Well well, I hope there are at least a few other Beastie Boys fans out there. Sometimes I write this whole entire post and sit there searching for ideas for a title. Then times like this the title just punches me right in the face. The title comes from one of my all-time favorite music videos, Sabotage . It seems a large group of individuals decided they’ve had enough of Wall St making money shorting the stock of their favorite gaming headquarters and sabotaged their party. The GME numbers were astonishing, but especially so on Friday. The stock traded roughly 115 million shares a month as of December, then traded 307M and 362M in the last two weeks, with 197M coming on Friday alone. Just the call options expiring on Friday alone traded over 570,000 contracts. The stock ended Friday up 51%, but was up 78% at one point. This wasn’t just a one day event though, this was the 7th of the last 9 days that the stock was up at least 10% and the second one that was +50%. It also showed so...

  Before I start the normal format of the blog, I wanted to release this today, because I know there are a few Canadian readers out there who are working today, but mostly because it’s Martin Luther King Jr Day. Dr. King was an amazing leader and I wish we had someone of his standards to guide us today. I guess all that we can do is listen to his speeches and read his writings. Here are a couple of things I read on him and his impact today. 7 best Martin Luther King Jr. quotes you may not know They Walk in MLK’s Footsteps Most of the major news last week circled around the changes coming in Washington. Social Media platforms pulled access for President Donald Trump. Whether you agree with that or not, it’s the first time many have applied any sort of moderation. Many corporations have also decided to pull campaign donations. Some companies suspended donations to those Republicans who voted against the electoral votes, but many paused all political spending. That’s nice and all, but...