Game Stop? Rum? Live Calls!

02022021
Over the last few weeks, we have witnessed one of the wildest rides of an American Stock to date, and also a glaring light on of the darkest practices within these markets. Recently, a short squeeze of the stock for GameStop and a few other securities took place, causing major financial consequences for particular hedge funds and large losses for short sellers. Approximately 140 percent of GameStop's public float had been sold short, and the rush to buy shares to cover those positions as the price rose caused it to rise even further. The short squeeze was initially and primarily triggered by users of the subreddit r/wallstreetbets, an Internet forum on the social news website Reddit. At its height, on January 28, the short squeeze caused the retailer's stock price to reach a pre-market value of over US$500 per share, nearly 30 times the $17.25 valuation at the beginning of the month. The price of many other heavily shorted securities also increased. A number of major brokerage…