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laog55

Mark Cuban AMA at 9:30 AM CST, Tuesday 2/1/2021

Mark Cuban will be joining us to do an AMA. During this period, new accounts will be allowed to comment and post questions for Mark to answer. We will be using a Q&A sort. Q&A sort shows all threads Cuban replies to, so low quality comments are highly unlikely to be seen. Please Behave. UPDATE: Shit is 2/2/2021 not 2/1/2021.

wallstreetbets

Ask Cuban if he would publicly ask the SEC to find the shares to cover in order to get GME off the threshold securities list(30 days+)? This is simply enforcing its own rules against naked shorting. WSB honorary mod and legend status if he gets the SEC to commit to a date of enforcement. What would he do about the FTD and short interest? No company should be shorted over 100%. So obviously the HFs/MM know where the shares are at, right? It’s curious this can’t be resolved. My suspicion is these hedgies are committing securities fraud or something else nefarious that they are attempting to cover. But what do I know. Does he think they are trading counterfeit shares, cooking books or tricking the algos to show a false downward pressure? There are some excellent threads outlining a strong case for share counterfeiting. What does he think GME’s share price is going to? It was trending to the 700-1000+ easily before intervention, the gamma squeeze was happening before everyone’s eyes. Investors are holding long, sentiment is extremely high and positive, a huge user base still can’t buy, shorts continue to bleed; that doesn’t sound bearish. SI is still likely >100%. The only thing that truly changed was the ability to buy which remains THE problem now. What does he think about if there is a conflict of interest of Citadel bailing out Melvin who has a massive short on GME? And possibly leaning on RH to prevent buying of these securities. Questionable ethics and backgrounds of MC, citadel, Point72 and RH. Obviously we don’t know the full story for some reason since the SEC is nowhere in sight. What should happen to Robinhood? Thoughts on the way they generate income with Citadel, and further conflicts of interest that seem fairly obvious? Is RH done to him? What should happen to citadel, a company exploiting data to reap massive profits with impunity, in this case to drive prices down to save their buddies? Coordinating short ladders attacks while working in secrecy; operating in non available hours (ah trading, during halts) to manipulate people sentiment, limiting volume through brokerage leans. These guys are truly the predators of the financial world, casting doubt and fear among retail investors with infinite resources to do so. This has been on display and is still ongoing. What does he think about the obviously discoverable short attacks and market manipulation against retail investors that have happened for the last 3 days and driven the price down artificially on no trading volume? This includes the continued prevention of purchasing shares. edit: Please look at this post from today: https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/lauvug/monday_market_opening_attack_explained_how/ as user submitted evidence. How do we regulate/remove hedge funds as they provide no value to society. What part of this situation upset you the most? What grabbed your attention first? What are shareholders owed at this point? How does this come to a resolution now? Would you agree that its absurd that people can't....you know freely buy as much of a stock they want regardless if its for fundamentals, momentum, or swinging? Does this jeopardize the integrity of the markets? Who is to blame? Do you think anything will change? What does he think of the wallstreetbets community? What does he believe the future of investing looks like? What sauce do you eat with your chicken tendies? Will you take a position in GME for the boys? YOLO in true WSB fashion. MC answer truthfully and you’ll have access to 8 million new girlfriends. Or maybe we’ll all be rich with your help and our wives won’t need a boyfriend anymore since we can afford Tesla’s and Mavs season tickets . Cheers! last edited 9:11AM CST.

mvk5dv

A House of Cards - Part 1

**TL;DR- The DTC has been taken over by big money. They transitioned from a manual to a computerized ledger system in the 80s, and it played a significant role in the 1987 market crash. In 2003, several issuers with the DTC wanted to remove their securities from the DTC's deposit account because the DTC's participants were naked short selling their securities. Turns out, they were right. The DTC and it's participants have created a market-sized naked short selling scheme. All of this is made possible by the DTC's enrollee- Cede & Co.** \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ ​ [**Andrew MoMoney - Live Coverage**](https://youtu.be/zKzRDpBBFLQ) **I hit the image limit in this DD. Given this, and the fact that there's already SO MUCH info in this DD, I've decided to break it into AT LEAST 2 posts. So stay tuned.** **Previous DD** [1. Citadel Has No Clothes](https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/m4c0p4/citadel_has_no_clothes/) [2. BlackRock Bagholders, INC.](https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/m7o7iy/blackrock_bagholders_inc/) [3. The EVERYTHING Short](https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/mgucv2/the_everything_short/) [4. Walkin' like a duck. Talkin' like a duck](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ml48ov/walkin_like_a_duck_talkin_like_a_duck/) \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ *Holy SH\*T!* The events we are living through *RIGHT NOW* are the 50-year ripple effects of stock market evolution. From the birth of the DTC to the cesspool we currently find ourselves in, this DD will illustrate just how fragile the *House of Cards* has become. We've been warned so many times... We've made the same mistakes *so. many. times.* **And we never seem to learn from them..** \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ In case you've been living under a rock for the past few months, the DTCC has been proposing a boat load of rule changes to help better-monitor their participants' exposure. If you don't already know, the DTCC stands for Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation and is broken into the following (primary) subsidiaries: 1. **Depository Trust Company (DTC)** \- *centralized clearing agency that makes sure grandma gets her stonks and the broker receives grandma's tendies* 2. **National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC)** \- *provides clearing, settlement, risk management, and central counterparty (CCP) services to its members for broker-to-broker trades* 3. **Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC)** \- *provides central counterparty (CCP) services to members that participate in the US government and mortgage-backed securities markets* *Brief* *history* *lesson: I promise it's relevant (this* [*link*](https://www.dtcc.com/annuals/museum/index.html) *provides all the info that follows).* The DTC was created in 1973. It stemmed from the need for a centralized clearing company. Trading during the 60s went through the roof and resulted in many brokers having to quit before the day was finished so they could manually record their mountain of transactions. All of this was done on paper and each share certificate was physically delivered. This obviously resulted in many failures to deliver (FTD) due to the risk of human error in record keeping. In 1974, the Continuous Net Settlement system was launched to clear and settle trades using a rudimentary internet platform. In 1982, the DTC started using a [Book-Entry Only](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bookentrysecurities.asp) (BEO) system to underwrite bonds. For the first time, there were no physical certificates that actually traded hands. Everything was now performed virtually through computers. Although this was advantageous for many reasons, it made it MUCH easier to commit a certain type of securities fraud- naked shorting. One year later they adopted [NYSE Rule 387](https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/rulebooks/retired-rules/rule-387) which meant most securities transactions had to be completed using this new BEO computer system. Needless to say, explosive growth took place for the next 5 years. Pretty soon, other securities started utilizing the BEO system. It paved the way for growth in mutual funds and government securities, and even allowed for same-day settlement. At the time, the BEO system was a tremendous achievement. However, we were destined to hit a brick wall after that much growth in such a short time.. By October 1987, that's exactly what happened. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ [*"A number of explanations have been offered as to the cause of the crash... Among these are computer trading, derivative securities, illiquidity, trade and budget deficits, and overvaluation.."*](https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/895)*.* If you're wondering where the birthplace of High Frequency Trading (HFT) came from, look no further. The same machines that automated the exhaustively manual reconciliation process were also to blame for amplifying the fire sale of 1987. [https:\/\/historynewsnetwork.org\/article\/895](https://preview.redd.it/3l08f1ud6bu61.png?width=810&format=png&auto=webp&s=2331f409fb4f60b3d62e475c58cf44211b4122a3) The last sentence indicates a much more pervasive issue was at play, here. The fact that we still have trouble explaining the calculus is even more alarming. The effects were so pervasive that it was dubbed the [1st global financial crisis](https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/stock-market-crash-of-1987) Here's another great summary published by the [NY Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/business/a-computer-lesson-from-1987-still-unlearned-by-wall-street.html): \*"..\****to be fair to the computers.. \[they were\].. programmed by fallible people and trusted by people who did not understand the computer programs' limitations. As computers came in, human judgement went out."*** Damned if that didn't give me goosiebumps... \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Here's an EXTREMELY relevant [explanation](https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/895) from [Bruce Bartlett](https://www.creators.com/author/bruce-bartlett) on the role of derivatives: https://preview.redd.it/tu88v96vqau61.png?width=805&format=png&auto=webp&s=6e69760997379cb404163cfc6a11b411adbaa344 Notice the last sentence? A major factor behind the crash was a disconnect between the price of stock and their corresponding derivatives. The value of any given stock should determine the derivative value of that stock. It shouldn't be the other way around. **This is an important concept to remember as it will be referenced throughout the post.** In the off chance that the market DID tank, they hoped they could contain their losses with [portfolio insurance](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/portfolioinsurance.asp#:~:text=Portfolio%20insurance%20is%20a%20hedging,also%20refer%20to%20brokerage%20insurance)*.* Another [article from the NY times](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/business/a-computer-lesson-from-1987-still-unlearned-by-wall-street.html) explains this in better detail. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ ​ https://preview.redd.it/rf6ocoe9abu61.png?width=629&format=png&auto=webp&s=e638c4479aceac77a003ae86fa1cfdd23f5406b8 https://preview.redd.it/8igwi6mflbu61.png?width=612&format=png&auto=webp&s=853945852aea5a355266bf52b6f1fa573db1e29a https://preview.redd.it/fe78gr1qlbu61.png?width=608&format=png&auto=webp&s=4ec59987333e04cef07541229161b3ff30881444 A major disconnect occurred when these futures contracts were used to intentionally tank the value of the underlying stock. In a perfect world, organic growth would lead to an increase in value of the company (underlying stock). They could do this by selling more products, creating new technologies, breaking into new markets, etc. This would trigger an organic change in the derivative's value because investors would be (hopefully) more optimistic about the longevity of the company. It could go either way, but the point is still the same. This is the type of investing that most of us are familiar with: investing for a better future. I don't want to spend too much time on the crash of 1987. I just want to identify the factors that contributed to the crash and the role of the DTC as they transitioned from a manual to an automatic ledger system. **The connection I really want to focus on is the ENORMOUS risk appetite these investors had. Think of how overconfident and greedy they must have been to put that much faith in a computer script.. either way, same problems still exist today.** Finally, the comment by Bruce Bartlett regarding the mismatched investment strategies between stocks and options is crucial in painting the picture of today's market. Now, let's do a super brief walkthrough of the main parties within the DTC before opening this **can of worms.** \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ I'm going to talk about three groups within the DTC- **issuers, participants, and Cede & Co.** Issuers are companies that issue securities (stocks), while participants are the clearing houses, brokers, and other financial institutions that can utilize those securities. Cede & Co. is a subsidiary of the DTC which holds the share certificates. Participants have MUCH more control over the securities that are deposited from the issuer. Even though the issuer created those shares, participants are in control when those shares hit the DTC's doorstep. The DTC transfers those shares to a holding account *(Cede & Co.)* and the participant just has to ask "*May I haff some pwetty pwease wiff sugar on top?"* \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ **Now, where's that can of worms?** Everything was relatively calm after the crash of 1987.... until we hit 2003.. *\*deep breath\** The DTC started receiving several requests from issuers to pull their securities from the DTC's depository. I don't think the DTC was prepared for this because they didn't have a written policy to address it, let alone an official rule. Here's the half-assed response from the DTC: [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/rules\/sro\/34-47978.htm \(section II\)](https://preview.redd.it/1ctpj263zdu61.png?width=788&format=png&auto=webp&s=6ff2e2d543f53a6ece6d95c334ed995fe67f9c8d) Realizing this situation was heating up, the DTC proposed [SR-DTC-2003-02](https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/34-47978.htm#P19_6635).. [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/rules\/sro\/34-47978.htm#P19\_6635](https://preview.redd.it/io22id3n7eu61.png?width=774&format=png&auto=webp&s=424ef5b6a70d073c62a47f6a1b82cd739b527b88) Honestly, they were better of WITHOUT the new proposal. It became an even BIGGER deal when word got about the proposed rule change. Naturally, it triggered a TSUNAMI of comment letters against the DTC's proposal. There was obviously something going on to cause that level of concern. Why did *SO MANY* issuers want their deposits back? **...you ready for this sh\*t?** \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ As outlined in the DTC's opening remarks: [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/rules\/sro\/34-47978.htm#P19\_6635](https://preview.redd.it/eq9q8mcubeu61.png?width=1028&format=png&auto=webp&s=eee6231336e398b0d53299a2a7639fdfd333af8c) *OK... see footnote 4.....* [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/rules\/sro\/34-47978.htm#P19\_6635](https://preview.redd.it/v884rfqwbeu61.png?width=1053&format=png&auto=webp&s=6fe5db76c9c6fd5e596bbe3c3c64bc6feb64fd97) **UHHHHHHH WHAT!??!** Yeah! I'd be pretty pissed, too! Have my shares deposited in a clearing company to take advantage of their computerized trades just to get kicked to the curb with NO WAY of getting my securities back... AND THEN find out that the big-d\*ck "participants" at your fancy DTC party are literally short selling my shares without me knowing....?! ....This sound familiar, anyone??? IDK about y'all, but this "trust us with your shares" BS is starting to sound like a major con. The DTC asked for feedback from all issuers and participants to gather a consensus before making a decision. All together, the DTC received 89 comment letters (a pretty big response). 47 of those letters opposed the rule change, while 35 were in favor. *To save space, I'm going to use smaller screenshots. Here are just a few of the opposition comments..* \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/rules\/sro\/dtc200302\/srdtc200302-89.pdf](https://preview.redd.it/ds068omndeu61.png?width=894&format=png&auto=webp&s=7958cbf3fde10e1bbb81c6adeb87f2bfc5dc8fde) \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ ​ **And another:** ​ [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/rules\/sro\/dtc200302\/rsrondeau052003.txt](https://preview.redd.it/953v7l47feu61.png?width=884&format=png&auto=webp&s=83c2d1998b3c111da7cb31b183b83c62abbe353b) \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ ​ **AAAAAAAAAAND another:** ​ [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/rules\/sro\/dtc200302\/msondow040403.txt](https://preview.redd.it/pkifz41sqeu61.png?width=804&format=png&auto=webp&s=733a219050239012a2b6b29c1985bdbd1df60303) \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ ***Here are a few in favor***\*..\* *All of the comments I checked were participants and classified as market makers and other major financial institutions... go f\*cking figure.* [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/rules\/sro\/dtc200302\/srdtc200302-82.pdf](https://preview.redd.it/myk7675zseu61.png?width=617&format=png&auto=webp&s=94c622511fc3392bacca6f1c34375920612bc9bb) \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ ​ **Two** ​ [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/rules\/sro\/dtc200302\/srdtc200302-81.pdf](https://preview.redd.it/ouwx18qmteu61.png?width=692&format=png&auto=webp&s=39dcaabcc228e60ba5e472353285aa330c13ea0a) \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ ​ **Three** ​ [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/rules\/sro\/dtc200302\/rbcdain042303.pdf](https://preview.redd.it/xpzt606pueu61.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=79685c694f661b9c7d03093a8908eebe6cad421e) \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Here's the [full list](https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/dtc200302.shtml) if you wanna dig on your own. ...I realize there are advantages to "paperless" securities transfers... However... It is EXACTLY what Michael Sondow said in his comment letter above.. ***We simply cannot trust the DTC to protect our interests when we don't have physical control of our assets***\*\*.\*\* Several other participants, including **Edward Jones, Ameritrade, Citibank,** and **Prudential** overwhelmingly favored this proposal.. How can someone NOT acknowledge that the absence of physical shares only makes it easier for these people to manipulate the market....? This rule change would allow these 'participants' to continue doing this because it's extremely profitable to sell shares that don't exist, or have not been collateralized. Furthermore, it's a win-win for them because it forces issuers to keep their deposits in the holding account of the DTC... Ever heard of the [fractional reserve banking system](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fractionalreservebanking.asp#:~:text=Fractional%20reserve%20banking%20is%20a,by%20freeing%20capital%20for%20lending)?? Sounds A LOT like what the stock market has just become. Want proof of market manipulation? Let's fact-check the claims from the opposition letters above. *I'm only reporting a few for the time period we discussed (2003ish). This is just to validate their claims that some sketchy sh\*t is going on.* 1. [**UBS Securities**](https://files.brokercheck.finra.org/firm/firm_7654.pdf) **(formerly UBS Warburg):** 1. pg 559; SHORT SALE VIOLATION; 3/30/1999 2. pg 535; OVER REPORTING OF SHORT INTEREST POSITIONS; 5/1/1999 - 12/31/1999 3. PG 533; FAILURE TO REPORT SHORT SALE INDICATORS;INCORRECTLY REPORTING LONG SALE TRANSACTIONS AS SHORT SALES; 7/2/2002 2. [**Merrill Lynch**](https://files.brokercheck.finra.org/firm/firm_16139.pdf) **(Professional Clearing Corp.):** 1. pg 158; VIOLATION OF SHORT INTEREST REPORTING; 12/17/2001 3. [**RBC**](https://files.brokercheck.finra.org/firm/firm_31194.pdf) **(Royal Bank of Canada):** 1. pg 550; FAILURE TO REPORT SHORT SALE TRANSACTIONS WITH INDICATOR; 9/28/1999 2. pg 507; SHORT SALE VIOLATION; 11/21/1999 3. pg 426; FAILURE TO REPORT SHORT SALE MODIFIER; 1/21/2003 Ironically, I picked these 3 because they were the first going down the line.. I'm not sure how to be any more objective about this.. Their entire FINRA report is littered with short sale violations. Before anyone asks "how do you know they aren't ALL like that?" The answer is- I checked. If you get caught for a short sale violation, chances are you will ALWAYS get caught for short sale violations. Why? Because it's more profitable to do it and get caught, than it is to fix the problem. Wanna know the 2nd worst part? Several comment letters asked the DTC to investigate the claims of naked shorting **BEFORE** coming to a decision on the proposal.. I never saw a document where they followed up on those requests..... NOW, wanna know the WORST part? [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/rules\/sro\/34-47978.htm#P99\_35478](https://preview.redd.it/q6jk7as8rfu61.png?width=1057&format=png&auto=webp&s=c66aac021818993e6c23bb7fe96382de8cc9fe7e) The DTC passed that rule change.... They not only prevented the issuers from removing their deposits, they also turned a 'blind-eye' to their participants manipulative short selling, even when there's public evidence of them doing so... ....Those companies were being attacked with shares THEY put in the DTC, by institutions they can't even identify... \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ ..Let's take a quick breath and recap: The DTC started using a computerized ledger and was very successful through the 80's. This evolved into trading systems that were also computerized, but not as sophisticated as they hoped.. They played a major part in the 1987 crash, along with severely desynchronized derivatives trading. In 2003, the DTC denied issuers the right to withdraw their deposits because those securities were in the control of participants, instead. When issuer A deposits stock into the DTC and participant B shorts those shares into the market, that's a form of [rehypothecation](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rehypothecation.asp#:~:text=Rehypothecation%20is%20a%20practice%20whereby,or%20a%20rebate%20on%20fees). This is what so many issuers were trying to express in their comment letters. In addition, it hurts their company by driving down it's value. They felt robbed because the DTC was blatantly allowing it's participants to do this, and refused to give them back their shares.. It was critically important for me to paint that background. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ ..now then.... Remember when I mentioned the DTC's enrollee- Cede & Co.? [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/rules\/sro\/34-47978.htm#P19\_6635 \(section II\)](https://preview.redd.it/97z3b2k9pju61.png?width=283&format=png&auto=webp&s=67ad209f338a0ccebfaee09cd43944730ac35279) I'll admit it: I didn't think they were that relevant. I focused so much on the DTC that I didn't think to check into their enrollee... ..Wish I did.... [https:\/\/www.americanbanker.com\/news\/you-dont-really-own-your-securities-can-blockchains-fix-that](https://preview.redd.it/oqpj59jypju61.png?width=830&format=png&auto=webp&s=a7de5c100699c85132b531b501b79a8bafcdfa18) That's right.... Cede & Co. hold a "master certificate" in their vault, which **NEVER** leaves. Instead, they issue an *IOU* for that master certificate.. ​ Didn't we JUST finish talking about why this is such a major flaw in our system..? And that was almost 20 years ago... **Here comes the mind f\*ck** [https:\/\/smithonstocks.com\/part-8-illegal-naked-shorting-series-who-or-what-is-cede-and-what-role-does-cede-play-in-the-trading-of-stocks\/](https://preview.redd.it/o4xemx63rju61.png?width=1117&format=png&auto=webp&s=26f60bceb160cefcd95b0d55d2b375f4058981e2) [https:\/\/smithonstocks.com\/part-8-illegal-naked-shorting-series-who-or-what-is-cede-and-what-role-does-cede-play-in-the-trading-of-stocks\/](https://preview.redd.it/1yfr9x0arju61.png?width=1109&format=png&auto=webp&s=066cac93b0c8fb05e617c81e9fc63eeacb847d4f) \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Now..... You wanna know the BEST part??? *I found a list of all the DTC* [*participants*](https://www.dtcc.com/-/media/Files/Downloads/client-center/DTC/alpha.pdf) *that are responsible for this mess..* **I've got your name, number, and I'm coming for you-** ***ALL OF YOU*** ​ ​ ***to be continued.*** **DIAMOND.F\*CKING.HANDS**

Superstonk

Wait, so if I'm understanding this correctly, the entire stock market consists of nothing but IOUs, and the master vault holding the actual shares and the technical ownership of those shares all belongs to the "elites" that we're fighting?

w1av32

What top 10 company will no longer be there in 5-10 years?

It's tempting to buy some of the top growth companies after the recent market downturn but history tells us that in 5 years 1-2 of the top 10 stocks will change and in 10 years up to half could be different. There is a chance one of the top 10 stocks at the end of 2021 already has hit there all time highs and may not fully recover. The top 10 stocks in the US at the end of 2021 before most of the sell off were: 1. Apple 2. Microsoft 3. Alphabet 4. Amazon 5. Meta 6. Tesla 7. Berkshire Hathaway 8. Nvidia 9. Visa 10. JP Morgan and Chase For international top 10 add in Tencent, Alibaba, and TSMC to the mix. Already from the end of 2021 to the second quarter, Alibaba and TSMC are out and UnitedHealth and JNJ are in. Personally, I think that Berkshire Hathaway and Nvidia are good bets to be out in 5-10 years. Berkshire because of questions about what is the company like when Buffett and Munger pass away. Nvidia I think may still be the leader in GPUs but never get back to previous all time highs due to decreased crypto mining demand. JP Morgan and Visa could flirt in and out of the top ten also. What companies do you think will be out of the top ten in 5-10 year? And the million dollar question, which companies will replace them?

ValueInvesting

A lot of people saying Meta with the reason “I don’t know anyone who uses Facebook anymore.” Keep in mind Metas user base is mostly outside the US and Canada. Their monthly and daily active users continue to grow. I’m not defending Meta, I’m just saying “my friends don’t use it anymore” is a very narrow view of the company and it’s actual growth. Don’t make the mistake of assuming a company is losing customers based on your personal social circle. The world is a big place. https://s21.q4cdn.com/399680738/files/doc_financials/2022/q1/Q1-2022_Earnings-Presentation_Final.pdf

fz1s0q

Help me understand how the FED can just print a dozen Trillion USD without any noticeable consequences

Maybe I'm missing something but printing dozens of trillions USD out of thin air in order to buy junk bonds and bail out every major company that is about to fail should have some major concequences right? Like the USD devaluating or hyperinflation? If not, which I don't currently see(if anything the stock market is rallying), then what stops them from printing a couple trillion more to inject into healthcare, infastructure - hell might as well write a 50K USD check and mail it to everyone, I don't see why not.

StockMarket

An attempt at an ELI5: Let’s say I tip a bartender a $1. That bartender buys a $1 drink from the deli. That deli owner uses that $1 dollar to buy something, and so on and so forth. A while lot of people are going to say they made $1. Total income from that $1 will exceed one dollar since that same dollar was used over and over again. But if I think, “oh, I might need this dollar later” and stick it in my sock drawer, all those transactions won’t happen. Economic activity falls. Incomes fall. Prices may even decrease as everyone on that chain of economic activity saw their income fall when I broke the chain by stuffing the money in my sock drawer. If the Fed goes out and buys something for $1, the hope is it’ll start the same chain of economic activity my $1 did. But the bar is closed. So it skips step one and goes and buys the drink at the deli. But no one is shopping much, so that deli owner doesn’t want to buy stuff either, so they just stuff it in their sock drawer. So now the Fed has to introduce another dollar in hopes of starting up the chain. But everyone just keeps sticking them in their sock drawers. Yes, sure, there’s tons more dollars, but they’re not being used. $1 being used 5 times is the same as 5 one dollar bills used once each before being stuffed in the sock drawer. In both cases it’s $5 worth of transactions. Since it’s the same dollar amount funding the same number of transactions, prices aren’t going to go up. The potential problems come later when people start spending normally and everyone busts open their sock drawers and all those dollars that had gone unused start competing with each other to buy stuff. Me, the deli owner, everyone pulls out their dollar and start bidding up the price of things. That’s when inflation would happen. And the Fed’s idea is that, at this point, it starts selling all the stuff it bought when it introduced those dollars, and does so until those dollars are removed from the economy, and it’l returns back to how things were at the beginning. That’s the goal. That’s the hope. It doesn’t always work though. That may not be able to undo it and we’ll see the inflation. or people never bust open their sock drawers, and so no matter how often the Fed prints more and more money, nothing happens. In fact, if people keep stuffing them in sock drawers faster than the fed can print them, the number of dollars being used could actually decrease and lead to deflation. That’s essentially what happened to Japan in the 1990s. They kept printing and printing and saying, “your goddamn sock drawers are overflowing with cash! Go use it!” But since no one was using it, prices kept falling. Problem is, if prices keep falling, the incentive is to hold off on buying, which means even more reason to keep it money stashed in the drawer, and the cycle perpetuates. No amount of money printing will cause inflation if no one uses the money. Stacks of in your money in sock drawer isn’t any more inflationary than your socks are. It only becomes inflationary when you spend it. The real world is more complicated, but the general idea is the same. It’s not just how much money there is, but also whether or not (and how frequently) that money is being used for transactions that matters. So, in the end, if activity normalizes and they can unwind, no inflation. If they they can’t unwind, inflation. If activity doesn’t normalize, potentially deflation.

o7klxj

Looks like the recent RobinHood Class Action SI Report just proved /u/broccaaa's data. That the shorts haven't covered, that they hid SI% through Deep ITM CALLs, and SI% is a minimum of 226.42%.

​ # Edit: Numbers from RobinHood case are alleged so far, not proven. I cannot edit the post title. That being said, results of Deep ITM CALLs comes up with roughly the same 226.42%, which is quite telling. We also see that PHLX exchange is used to buy and exercise these calls almost immediately - exactly as outlined in the SEC document on how to shift a short position to become synthetic. # 0. Preface I am not a financial advisor and I do not provide financial advice. Thoughts here are my opinion, and others are speculative. Shout out to king /u/broccaaa for their contributions. I always figured that your assumptions were correct that the SHFs were using these Deep ITM CALLs to hide SI%, but we never got some quick maths behind it to see if it was true. (Maybe we did though! Sorry if I did not see anyone's posts about this) Well, this is for you /u/broccaaa, and all the apes. [Spreading Love To All](https://preview.redd.it/seveg72frd771.png?width=466&format=png&auto=webp&s=820b960584c2976dfe040f84463f84e3d9ba1ad3) # 1. GME SI% Is A Minimum Of 226.42%; Shorts Were Hidden With Deep ITM CALLs Way way back in time, since many of you probably feel like you've aged years over the course of 6 months, there was a blip of **226.42**% SI in January. Many believed this was a glitch: [https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/GME\/comments\/lgjztf\/wtf\_is\_going\_on\_with\_finra\_is\_it\_7846\_or\_22642\/](https://preview.redd.it/scgcw5t6qd771.png?width=959&format=png&auto=webp&s=10059cac48bcb52fdb8cbc8d27743f3dcff97166) ~~That's what many may have thought, that it was just a glitch, until recently a~~ [~~Class Action against RobinHood~~](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/o6mp0c/from_class_action_against_rh_look_at_that_juicy/) ~~proved that was, indeed, the SI% upon January 15th, 2021:~~ Edit: Thank you much for everyone's replies. We must consider this as still speculative and not proven as it is a number alleged by the plantiff. Allegedly, [per a Class Action against RobinHood](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/o6mp0c/from_class_action_against_rh_look_at_that_juicy/), the SI% was 226.42% upon January 15th, 2021: [https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Superstonk\/comments\/o6mp0c\/from\_class\_action\_against\_rh\_look\_at\_that\_juicy\/](https://preview.redd.it/vnlimw17qd771.png?width=602&format=png&auto=webp&s=079aa90f257df07a297b6c5d8961e6500bc17139) Put yourself in the SHF's shoes. You have a shitload of retail buy pressure going on. You're way overshorted. What do you do? Do you cover? Pfft. Nah. That's way too much. Impossible to cover. Absolutely screwed. Lucky for you the SEC [has identified malicious options practices](https://www.sec.gov/about/offices/ocie/options-trading-risk-alert.pdf) which can be used for just such an occasion to make it appear that you've covered. Let's say you want to make it "appear" that you covered your short. You can perform a buy-write trade with a bona-fide Market Maker. Who might help you out as a bona-fide Market Maker? **Citadel** might come to mind (not saying it's them, just an example since they are well known)! The trade ends up being the following: 1. Trader A who needs to hide their short position enters the buy-write trade with Trader B (Citadel). 2. Trader A sells a Deep ITM CALL to Trader B (Citadel). 3. Trader A simultaneously buys shares from Trader B (Citadel). 4. Trader A now appears to have purchased shares to cover their short position, and Trader B (Citadel) gets a small amount of cash in return. * They tend to trade Deep ITM CALLs that have little to no OI so that the trade is almost guaranteed to be between Trader A and Trader B. * Trader B tends to exercise these CALLs **on the same day.** **And this is exactly what we have been seeing because CALL OI does not increase.** * The net effect on this is that Trader B has looped around their shares. They sold them to Trader A, and then got them back through exercising the CALL. Meanwhile, Trader A has "covered" their original short position but now they are "short" the CALL, meaning it is now a synthetic short. Here is the supporting text [from the SEC itself](https://www.sec.gov/about/offices/ocie/options-trading-risk-alert.pdf) if you want to verify for yourself. A report from 2013 titled "**Strengthening Practices for Preventing and Detecting Illegal Options Trading Used to Reset Reg SHO Close-out Obligations**": [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/about\/offices\/ocie\/options-trading-risk-alert.pdf Section II](https://preview.redd.it/eckz2hh7qd771.png?width=794&format=png&auto=webp&s=ec5f2fe9ca82bfba28eac658aac8fd3eb5c21d5e) [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/about\/offices\/ocie\/options-trading-risk-alert.pdf Section II](https://preview.redd.it/ttjlxv28qd771.png?width=797&format=png&auto=webp&s=0eaaba948743cc947567322eba21603acf2ac2df) [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/about\/offices\/ocie\/options-trading-risk-alert.pdf Section II](https://preview.redd.it/pti33wf8qd771.png?width=780&format=png&auto=webp&s=237494bf40c19dd2ef0771f42168bbf3ca90d6cb) [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/about\/offices\/ocie\/options-trading-risk-alert.pdf Section II](https://preview.redd.it/zq8z28y8qd771.png?width=804&format=png&auto=webp&s=c80ec2e4932aa8e5660bcb8da4b88871611a377f) [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/about\/offices\/ocie\/options-trading-risk-alert.pdf Section II](https://preview.redd.it/2zah2nc9qd771.png?width=798&format=png&auto=webp&s=df0a14005a591657d993ea153a5240516417f875) [https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/about\/offices\/ocie\/options-trading-risk-alert.pdf Section II](https://preview.redd.it/sjip9hp9qd771.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=1848c26e64e7c9806e77e5b60bc2f1a4c7feacc8) ​ So, they can utilize Deep ITM CALLs to hide their short positions. We don't care about identifying Trader A and Trader B in this case. Just the fact that trades occurred on these Deep ITM CALL strikes and that OI is unaffected the day thereafter. That's enough to support the above theory that they're utilizing this practice to make it 'appear' that they've covered their short position. Check out what /u/broccaaa's data identified. Tons and tons of Deep ITM CALLs were traded in January prior to SI% dropping off of a cliff. By [my estimations](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nc1lny/ive_estimated_the_current_si_based_on_the_si/), about 1,100,000 CALL OI was traded prior to January 29th SI Report Date: [\/u\/broccaaa Data on Deep ITM CALL Volumes Vs FTDs of GME](https://preview.redd.it/0hp6hvx9qd771.png?width=1789&format=png&auto=webp&s=19d5261cf1cd7ec7995c12409bd46d2116094203) The SI Report Date of January 29th matters because that is the cutoff of when FINRA will [require settlement of short interest numbers](https://www.finra.org/filing-reporting/regulatory-filing-systems/short-interest) for the next SI report date. The next SI report date following January 29th settlement is February 12th. And we can see that after the mayhem of Deep ITM CALL purchases, SI% dropped from 226.42% of the January 15th report, to 30.2% upon February 12th: [https:\/\/www.marketbeat.com\/stocks\/NYSE\/GME\/short-interest\/](https://preview.redd.it/qpvqagaaqd771.png?width=1683&format=png&auto=webp&s=6d54d763f3bb46a697c4ff2ee94148806bf928e3) With the difference in SI% from 226.42% on January 15th down to 30.2% on February 12th, **we can assume that they have not covered their short position but rather hid their short position in synthetics if we can come up with a roughly equivalent SI% from the approximate Deep ITM CALL purchases.** The float of GME in January was approximately 57,840,000. The estimated Deep ITM CALL OI that was swapped is \~1,100,000 OI = \~110,000,000 shares worth. Which then gives an estimated SI% reduction of \~110,000,000 / 57,840,000 = \~190.18% shorts hidden between January 15th and February 12th report date. And since SI% on February 12th was 30.2%, then that gives a grand total of 190.18% + 30.2% = **220.38% SI per estimations**. That's dangerously close to the reported 226.42% SI from January 15th. So with that in mind - do you think they covered? [Estimations of SI% Based on Deep ITM CALL Purchases Up To January 29th](https://preview.redd.it/oieer6saqd771.png?width=1878&format=png&auto=webp&s=3355b8760408907f165bf7687581ce722bedc844)

Superstonk

I have officially been here too long- I understood all of that. I could once have polished my brain & sold it as a mirror. Now there is at least one wrinkle, (maybe two?). We knew this, and it has been postulated that this was their method - but the summary is still enlightening. This is gonna hurt them really, really bad.

vzyejp

My son's current situation worries me a bit

My 15-year-old son is obsessed with money and thinks it's a kind of power that produces a kind of freedom and all my conversations with him are about ways to make money and ways to build wealth and I find it's worrisome and excessive, especially for someone his age so I want to ask you Is this normal or not?

Money

What is this, Moms Against Cars? It's completely normal, in fact it could signify that he'll be responsible with his money down the road. My girlfriend sucked with money as a kid and she's now an adult and still sucks with money. I started out about his age and I have financial freedom. He's a 15 year old boy, he's gonna want cool toys and gizmos, cool toys and gizmos cost money, 15 year old boy wants to buy cool toys and gizmos but doesn't have any money, 15 year old boy wants money but doesn't know how to generate revenue, 15 year old boy starts researching how to make money, eventually he'll start applying for jobs and be sure to support him, but also don't be one of *those* parents where you hold all of their money from them or take a chunk of the paycheck, but also monitor the general spending habits.

l70vrq

Robinhood just blocked several stocks from being bought. They locked the buy button when it suited them. Don't buy Bitcoin on Robinhood. Ever.

Anyone following the WSB drama this morning will see that several brokers have blocked only the 'Buy' button to prevent GME, AMC etc being purchased. People can still sell. Don't let this happen to your bitcoin. Don't buy bitcoin on Robinhood.

Bitcoin

Noticed this. Signed up for robinhood with a free referral just to get a free stock and I submitted to buy $1 of gme stock as to be apart of the meme wagon. Woke up this morning to see my buy order was canceled and couldn't buy the stock anymore. Ya ill stick to btc

ww2bp3

Obese travel tips?

I'm a guy in my early 30s and just sold my startup for over $50M. The money hit my account today. I've always loved to travel. I previously spent 3 years of my life backpacking, just hopping between hostels around the world. Last year, I was invited to spend a week at the Cheval Blanc in the Maldives and it was a truly eye-opening experience, the first time I got to experience real luxury. I'd really like to start my retirement with a bang. What FAT destinations can you recommend? And perhaps more importantly, which luxury travel advisors? ​ UPDATE: Whoa, I didn't expect such massive response. This has been super helpful. I especially wanted to thank /u/CupResponsible797 for putting me in touch with Berkeley Travel, communicating with the team there has been super impressive. I'll be starting my first trip with them in just a couple of days.

fatFIRE

Destinations? If you’re into Maldives, go to Velaa instead. It’s better than CB. I think Maldives is pretty boring though, St Barth offers a much more rounded paradise island experience IMO. Some argue that the CB is the best hotel on St Barth, I’d go for Eden Rock though. Do some classics, go to Paris and stay at George V. Go spend a week at FS Cap Ferrat. Spend another week relaxing in Park Hotel Vitznau before heading to MO Lake Como. Spend another week or two at FS Florence before heading to Rome for a private Vatican tour. The sky is the limit. Want to do something crazy? Charter a private jet to Antarctica https://white-desert.com/ Why stop there? Blow 300k on a Safari with Singita, take the Belmond Andean Explorer, go to Awasi Patagonia and spend a week or two hiking Torres del Paine. Go see the norther lights at the Deplar Farm in Iceland. Oh yeah, don't forget to book Courchevel for this winter while there's still availability. Cheval Blanc is probably full already. As far as travel advisors go, I’ll paste my previous comment below. A lot of the stuff about travel agency bookings being good value probably isn’t relevant to you but if you want the best of the best advising you, these are the right people. I could write so much about this, at this point my travel agent/concierge service handles most aspects of my day-to-day life. I've been using [Berkeley Travel](http://berkeleytravel.co.uk), a London based agency offering services globally. They charge no fees for travel, just take the standard commissions properties offer to travel agencies. However, because of this they're not really interested in clients with annual travel budgets below 250k. Is it worth it? Absolutely. For years I used to book directly, but reading Flyertalk I eventually realised that I could save tons of money booking through somebody who has more negotiating power than me. Good agents will have contracted rates and partnership agreements with top properties, offering huge discounts and guaranteed upgrades. For example, Berkeley is a Four Seasons preferred partner and they've managed to arrange incredible (even triple category) upgrades at multiple Four Seasons properties for me. Money isn't the most important thing though, it's just the convenience of all of it. Before I had my PA handling my bookings for me, she's incredible but she's just not a luxury travel specialist. She'll fight for me, but she hasn't actually visited the properties I want. She's got no problem spending hours on the phone, but doesn't have direct contacts at the properties or restaurants I want to book. The agency I work with has me in a Whatsapp group with a bunch of people able to provide expert advice within a couple of minutes. And because they actually go to the same destinations as I do, they tend to have direct lines for restaurant managers, maitre d's, etc - often enabling them to get me last minute tables even at super busy places. Overall, I think the most important thing is to avoid the big shops. The big ones like essentialist, mrandmrssmith and velocity black are all a disaster. You want to work with a small team of experts where everyone knows you and your preferences, not with a glorified amex concierge hiring hundreds of people with little industry expertise. If you're interested in a personal referral, feel free to message me directly.

x46al3

Feel like giving up after 4/5 years

Hi guys I really feel like giving up forex, after 4/5 years giving up thousands of hours of my life and still not consistently profitable I think it’s time to throw the towel in. I technically haven’t lost a tonne of money, I’ve never blown an account, so that’s a good thing, I’m just consistently losing more money than I’m profiting, struggle to hit 1:2 ratios. I work full time and one of few things I can take away from my experience is the higher timeframes are the best, nothing below 4hour TF for sure, and recently been looking more and more into daily timeframe for analysis AND entry. I feel like I’ve tried EVERYTHING, and that’s the main thing that sticks with me, the idea of looking at charts for analysis and entry just once a day sounds like a dream. Anyway, I’m struggling! Come so close so many times over the years to nail this. I’ll be brutally honest my ‘strategy’ is too much of ‘trade what you see’ for e.g. if there is a strong rejection of a major trendline and an entry candlestick then that is enough for me. I cannot faff around with hourly candlesticks and checking my phone multiple times per day for the perfect 15min candlestick…. I guess I’m looking for more literature or general education on higher timeframe trading… Who has come very close to giving up and been grateful to themselves for sticking with it in the ups and downs?

Forex

Hey man, i've been here, this wave happens...it passes. I trade full time now, it's my sole income and it's the only job i'll ever do. I'd like to think i've helped a few people on Reddit now, and i'll extend the offer to you also, i'm happy to talk about your entries, and the thinking behind it, perhaps we can find some areas of attention. I hope you're ok mate, it's a rough game sometimes \*EDIT FOR VISIBILITY\* Ok guys, based on the responses here, and in messages, i've decided to do an AMA tomorrow. It'll be 11:00AM UTC, and i'll host it on r/DayTrading, and link back here. If you won't be able to make the time, just ask the question to this comment here, and i'll add the question to the AMA and respond with the answer. Hope to hear from you all, \*END OF EDIT 1\* \*EDIT 2\* [Here's](https://www.reddit.com/r/Daytrading/comments/x4zsb5/improving_your_trading_chances_lessons_ive/) the link to the AMA that starts tomorrow from 11:00AM UTC, if you have any questions, please ask them there whenever convenient, and we'll get started from 11. \*END OF EDIT 2\*

l6uva1

Companies try to prevent people from trading GME and AMC

Not sure about the other trading apps but Trading212 prevents people now from buying shares. Quote: - Warning! In the interest of mitigating risk for our clients, we have temporarily placed GameStop and AMC Entertainment in reduce-only mode as highly unusual volumes have led to an unprecedented market environment. New positions cannot be opened, existing ones can be reduced or closed. - Not sure if they are really concerned about their customers, or they've been lobbied by hedge funds to prevent ordinary people from destroying them. I don't care about GME and AMC, I have no position, but now I am angry for this decision. They always go against the poor individuals and let the billionaires save their asses. No one saves us when we go bankrupt by them. Let that sink in Edit: thank you for all the rewards and comments! What a great community we are!

stocks

This is utter bs and arguably market manipulation. What rule is being broken? As if the tables were turned they wouldn't allow the hedge fund to double down and buy at every dip to "mitigate their risk." Really the violation was allowing 40% more shrts than stocks exist. If you or I did that, are we getting protected too with market halts and bailouts? Edit: a word was spelled wrong, and since I'm here I guess some 🚀🚀🚀

o0scoy

The Bigger Short. How 2008 is repeating, at a much greater magnitude, and COVID ignited the fuse. GME is not the reason for the market crash. GME was the fatal flaw of Wall Street in their infinite money cheat that they did not expect.

​ # 0. Preface I am not a financial advisor, and I do not provide financial advice. Many thoughts here are my opinion, and others can be speculative. TL;DR - **(Though I think you REALLY should consider reading because it is important to understand what is going on**): * The market crash of 2008 never finished. It was can-kicked and the same people who caused the crash have **still** been running rampant doing the **same** **bullshit in the derivatives market** as that market continues to be unregulated. They're profiting off of short-term gains at the risk of killing their institutions and potentially the global economy. **Only this time it is much, much worse.** * The bankers abused smaller amounts of leverage for the 2008 bubble and have since abused much higher amounts of leverage - creating an even larger speculative bubble. Not just in the stock market and derivatives market, but also in the crypt0 market, upwards of 100x leverage. * COVID came in and rocked the economy to the point where the Fed is now pinned between a rock and a hard place. In order to buy more time, the government triggered a flurry of protective measures, such as mortgage forbearance, expiring end of Q2 on June 30th, 2021, and SLR exemptions, which expired March 31, 2021. **The market was going to crash regardless. GME was and never will be the reason for the market crashing.** * The rich made a fatal error in **way** overshorting stocks. There is a potential for their decades of sucking money out of taxpayers to be taken back. The derivatives market is potentially a **$1 Quadrillion market**. "Meme prices" are not meme prices. There is so much money in the world, and you are just accustomed to thinking the "meme prices" are too high to feasibly reach. * The DTC, ICC, OCC have been passing rules and regulations (auction and wind-down plans) so that they can easily eat up competition and consolidate power once again like in 2008. The people in charge, including Gary Gensler, are not your friends. * The DTC, ICC, OCC are also passing rules to make sure that retail will **never** be able to to do this again. **These rules are for the future market (post market crash) and they never want anyone to have a chance to take their game away from them again**. These rules are not to start the MOASS. They are indirectly regulating retail so that a short squeeze condition can never occur after GME. * The COVID pandemic exposed a lot of banks through the Supplementary Leverage Ratio (SLR) where mass borrowing (leverage) almost made many banks default. Banks have account 'blocks' on the Fed's balance sheet which holds their treasuries and deposits. **The SLR exemption made it so that these treasuries and deposits of the banks 'accounts' on the Fed's balance sheet were not calculated into SLR, which allowed them to boost their SLR until March 31, 2021 and avoid defaulting. Now, they must extract treasuries from the Fed in reverse repo to avoid defaulting from SLR requirements. This results in the reverse repo market explosion as they are scrambling to survive due to their mass leverage.** * This is not a "retail vs. Melvin/Point72/Citadel" issue. This is a "retail vs. **Mega Banks**" issue. The rich, and I mean **all of Wall Street,** are trying **desperately** to shut GameStop down because it has the chance to suck out trillions if not hundreds of trillions from the game they've played for decades. They've rigged this game since the 1990's when derivatives were first introduced. **Do you really think they, including the Fed, wouldn't pull all the stops now to try to get you to sell?** End TL;DR ​ A ton of the information provided in this post is from the movie **Inside Job (2010)**. I am paraphrasing from the movie as well as taking direct quotes, so please understand that a bunch of this information is a summary of that film. I understand that **The Big Short (2015)** is much more popular here, due to it being a more Hollywood style movie, but it does not go into such great detail of the conditions that led to the crash - and how things haven't even changed. But in fact, got worse, and led us to where we are now. Seriously. **Go**. **Watch**. **Inside Job**. It is a documentary with interviews of many people, including those who were involved in the Ponzi Scheme of the derivative market bomb that led to the crash of 2008, and their continued lobbying to influence the Government to keep regulations at bay. ​ [Inside Job \(2010\) Promotional](https://preview.redd.it/vvdd32qkei571.png?width=776&format=png&auto=webp&s=982445a99f17af054bd351990017e364b137cf02) ​ # 1. The Market Crash Of 2008 # 1.1 The Casino Of The Financial World: The Derivatives Market It all started back in the 1990's when the **Derivative Market** was created. This was the opening of the literal Casino in the financial world. These are bets placed upon an underlying asset, index, or entity, and are **very** risky. Derivatives are contracts between two or more parties that derives its value from the performance of the underlying asset, index, or entity. One such derivative many are familiar with are **options** (CALLs and PUTs). Other examples of derivatives are **fowards**, **futures**, **swaps**, and variations of those such as **Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs)**, and **Credit Default Swaps (CDS)**. The potential to make money off of these trades is **insane**. Take your regular CALL option for example. You no longer take home a 1:1 return when the underlying stock rises or falls $1. Your returns can be amplified by magnitudes more. Sometimes you might make a 10:1 return on your investment, or 20:1, and so forth. Not only this, you can grab leverage by borrowing cash from some other entity. This allows your bets to potentially return that much more money. You can see how this gets out of hand really fast, because the amount of cash that can be gained absolutely skyrockets versus traditional investments. Attempts were made to regulate the derivatives market, but due to mass lobbying from Wall Street, regulations were continuously shut down. **People continued to try to pass regulations, until in 2000, the** [Commodity Futures Modernization Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_Futures_Modernization_Act_of_2000) **banned the regulation of derivatives outright**. And of course, once the Derivatives Market was left unchecked, it was off to the races for Wall Street to begin making tons of risky bets and surging their profits. The Derivative Market exploded in size once regulation was banned and de-regulation of the financial world continued. You can see as of 2000, the cumulative derivatives market was already out of control. [https:\/\/www.hilarispublisher.com\/open-access\/investment-banks-and-credit-institutions-the-ignored-and-unregulateddiversity-2151-6219-1000224.pdf](https://preview.redd.it/9igfmi69di571.png?width=578&format=png&auto=webp&s=27fefbf3443e8be528849221f2eadeb1a5c10833) The Derivatives Market is big. **Insanely big**. Look at how it compares to **Global Wealth**. [https:\/\/www.visualcapitalist.com\/all-of-the-worlds-money-and-markets-in-one-visualization-2020\/](https://preview.redd.it/s22atssgdi571.png?width=1029&format=png&auto=webp&s=086dcebf3e710052f78b7490150203d0f8376b89) At the bottom of the list are three derivatives entries, with "Market Value" and "Notional Value" called out. The "Market Value" is the value of the derivative at its current trading price. The "Notional Value" is the value of the derivative if it was at the strike price. E.g. A CALL option (a derivative) represents 100 shares of ABC stock with a strike of $50. Perhaps it is trading in the market at $1 per contract right now. * Market Value = 100 shares \* $1.00 per contract = $100 * Notional Value = 100 shares \* $50 strike price = $5,000 **Visual Capitalist estimates that the cumulative Notional Value of derivatives is between $558 Trillion and $1 Quadrillion**. So yeah. **You** are not going to cause a market crash if GME sells for millions per share. The rich are already priming the market crash through the Derivatives Market. # 1.2 CDOs And Mortgage Backed Securities Decades ago, the system of paying mortgages used to be between two parties. The buyer, and the loaner. Since the movement of money was between the buyer and the loaner, the loaner was very careful to ensure that the buyer would be able to pay off their loan and not miss payments. But now, it's a chain. 1. Home buyers will buy a loan from the lenders. 2. The lenders will then sell those loans to Investment Banks. 3. The Investment Banks then combine thousands of mortgages and other loans, including car loans, student loans, and credit card debt to create complex derivatives called "**Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO's**)". 4. The Investment Banks then pay Rating Agencies to rate their CDO's. This can be on a scale of "AAA", the best possible rating, equivalent to government-backed securities, all the way down to C/D, which are junk bonds and very risky. **Many of these CDO's were given AAA ratings despite being filled with junk**. 5. The Investment Banks then take these CDO's and sell them to investors, including retirement funds, because that was the rating required for retirement funds as they would only purchase highly rated securities. 6. Now when the homeowner pays their mortgage, the money flows directly into the investors. The investors are the main ones who will be hurt if the CDO's containing the mortgages begin to fail. [Inside Job \(2010\) - Flow Of Money For Mortgage Payments](https://preview.redd.it/0xtaww3ydi571.png?width=1493&format=png&auto=webp&s=f448a113043b043243efd879f174493bd33423fe) [https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/ask\/answers\/09\/bond-rating.asp](https://preview.redd.it/uyk9ms4fei571.png?width=756&format=png&auto=webp&s=d61e9a0754b676e64a1f6c97277ba877e946fcb6) # 1.3 The Bubble of Subprime Loans Packed In CDOs This system became a ticking timebomb due to this potential of free short-term gain cash. Lenders didn't care if a borrower could repay, so they would start handing out riskier loans. The investment banks didn't care if there were riskier loans, because the more CDO's sold to investors resulted in more profit. And the Rating Agencies didn't care because there were no regulatory constraints and there was no liability if their ratings of the CDO's proved to be wrong. So they went wild and pumped out more and more loans, and more and more CDOs. Between 2000 and 2003, the number of mortgage loans made each year nearly quadrupled. They didn’t care about the quality of the mortgage - they cared about maximizing the volume and getting profit out of it. In the early 2000s there was a huge increase in the riskiest loans - “Subprime Loans”. These are loans given to people who have low income, limited credit history, poor credit, etc. They are very at risk to not pay their mortgages. It was predatory lending, because it hunted for potential home buyers who would never be able to pay back their mortgages so that they could continue to pack these up into CDO's. [Inside Job \(2010\) - % Of Subprime Loans](https://preview.redd.it/wsr30iorei571.png?width=1447&format=png&auto=webp&s=59cf72f6eb8209d69e0a13ccf2f0127e69a45142) In fact, the investment banks **preferred** subprime loans, because they carried higher interest rates and more profit for them. **So the Investment Banks took these subprime loans, packaged the subprime loans up into CDO's, and many of them still received AAA ratings. These can be considered "toxic CDO's" because of their high ability to default and fail despite their ratings.** Pretty much **anyone** could get a home now. Purchases of homes and housing prices skyrocketed. It didn't matter because everyone in the chain was making money in an unregulated market. # 1.4 Short Term Greed At The Risk Of Institutional And Economic Failure In Wall Street, annual cash bonuses started to spike. Traders and CEOs became extremely wealthy in this bubble as they continued to pump more toxic CDO's into the market. Lehman Bros. was one of the top underwriters of subprime lending and their CEO alone took home over $485 million in bonuses. [Inside Job \(2010\) Wall Street Bonuses](https://preview.redd.it/io87r9vxei571.png?width=1494&format=png&auto=webp&s=944300df8faf8da35d75de6f10fb951a6d230154) And it was all short-term gain, high risk, with no worries about the potential failure of your institution or the economy. When things collapsed, they would not need to pay back their bonuses and gains. They were literally risking the entire world economy for the sake of short-term profits. AND THEY EVEN TOOK IT FURTHER WITH LEVERAGE TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS. During the bubble from 2000 to 2007, the investment banks were borrowing heavily to buy more loans and to create more CDO's. The ratio of banks borrowed money and their own money was their leverage. The more they borrowed, the higher their leverage. They abused leverage to continue churning profits. And are still abusing massive leverage to this day. It might even be much higher leverage today than what it was back in the Housing Market Bubble. In 2004, Henry Paulson, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, helped lobby the SEC to relax limits on leverage, allowing the banks to sharply increase their borrowing. Basically, the SEC allowed investment banks to gamble a lot more. **Investment banks would go up to about 33-to-1 leverage at the time of the 2008 crash**. Which means if a 3% decrease occurred in their asset base, it would leave them insolvent. **Henry Paulson would later become the Secretary Of The Treasury from 2006 to 2009**. He was just one of many Wall Street executives to eventually make it into Government positions. Including the infamous Gary Gensler, the current SEC chairman, who helped block derivative market regulations. [Inside Job \(2010\) Leverage Abuse of 2008](https://preview.redd.it/k87x53h7fi571.png?width=1619&format=png&auto=webp&s=b12004d6bb3e70643516ef0477303f4652ccd348) The borrowing exploded, the profits exploded, and it was all at the risk of obliterating their institutions and possibly the global economy. Some of these banks knew that they were "too big to fail" and could push for bailouts at the expense of taxpayers. Especially when they began planting their own executives in positions of power. # 1.5 Credit Default Swaps (CDS) To add another ticking bomb to the system, AIG, the worlds largest insurance company, got into the game with another type of derivative. They began selling Credit Default Swaps (CDS). For investors who owned CDO's, CDS's worked like an insurance policy. An investor who purchased a CDS paid AIG a quarterly premium. If the CDO went bad, AIG promised to pay the investor for their losses. Think of it like insuring a car. You're paying premiums, but if you get into an accident, the insurance will pay up (some of the time at least). But unlike regular insurance, where you can only insure your car once, **speculators could also purchase CDS's from AIG in order to bet against CDO's they didn't own**. You could suddenly have a sense of rehypothecation where fifty, one hundred entities might now have insurance against a CDO. [Inside Job \(2010\) Payment Flow of CDS's](https://preview.redd.it/7xoupx0ffi571.png?width=1258&format=png&auto=webp&s=869beb0d99b9fbb4108cd5af692d0a6332fd52dd) If you've watched The Big Short (2015), you might remember the Credit Default Swaps, because those are what Michael Burry and others purchased to bet against the Subprime Mortgage CDO's. CDS's were unregulated, so **AIG didn’t have to set aside any money to cover potential losses**. Instead, AIG paid its employees huge cash bonuses as soon as contracts were signed in order to incentivize the sales of these derivatives. But if the CDO's later went bad, AIG would be on the hook. It paid everyone short-term gains while pushing the bill to the company itself without worrying about footing the bill if shit hit the fan. People once again were being rewarded with short-term profit to take these massive risks. AIG’s Financial Products division in London issued over $500B worth of CDS's during the bubble. Many of these CDS's were for CDO's backed by subprime mortgages. The 400 employees of AIGFP made $3.5B between 2000 and 2007. And the head of AIGFP personally made $315M. # 1.6 The Crash And Consumption Of Banks To Consolidate Power By late 2006, Goldman Sachs took it one step further. It didn’t just sell toxic CDO's, it started actively betting against them at the same time it was telling customers that they were high-quality investments. Goldman Sachs would purchase CDS's from AIG and bet against CDO's it didn’t own, and got paid when those CDO's failed. Goldman bought at least $22B in CDS's from AIG, and it was so much that Goldman realized AIG itself might go bankrupt (which later on it would and the Government had to bail them out). So Goldman spent $150M insuring themselves against AIG’s potential collapse. They purchased CDS's against AIG. [Inside Job \(2010\) Payment From AIG To Goldman Sachs If CDO's Failed](https://preview.redd.it/m54zv03yfi571.png?width=1411&format=png&auto=webp&s=f6cb605b4c9b36c22e60cd8205b80bd6ac770fac) Then in 2007, Goldman went even further. They started selling CDO's specifically designed so that the more money their customers lost, the more Goldman Sachs made. Many other banks did the same. They created shitty CDO's, sold them, while simultaneously bet that they would fail with CDS's. All of these CDO's were sold to customers as “safe” investments because of the complicit Rating Agencies. The three rating agencies, Moody’s, S&P and Fitch, made billions of dollars giving high ratings to these risky securities. Moody’s, the largest ratings agency, quadrupled its profits between 2000 and 2007. The more AAA's they gave out, the higher their compensation and earnings were for the quarter. AAA ratings mushroomed from a handful in 2000 to thousands by 2006. Hundreds of billions of dollars worth of CDO's were being rated AAA per year. When it all collapsed and the ratings agencies were called before Congress, the rating agencies expressed that it was “their opinion” of the rating in order to weasel their way out of blame. Despite knowing that they were toxic and did not deserve anything above 'junk' rating. [Inside Job \(2010\) Ratings Agencies Profits](https://preview.redd.it/tto0v644gi571.png?width=1332&format=png&auto=webp&s=f4361dcc23801691d46ec88b241c7d5fa56e2aaf) [Inside Job \(2010\) - Insane Increase of AAA Rated CDOs](https://preview.redd.it/91dpnu78gi571.png?width=1259&format=png&auto=webp&s=1f196573f47a757a8bcca8b9e712c537be84cbe2) By 2008, home foreclosures were skyrocketing. Home buyers in the subprime loans were defaulting on their payments. Lenders could no longer sell their loans to the investment banks. And as the loans went bad, dozens of lenders failed. The market for CDO's collapsed, leaving the investment banks holding hundreds of billions of dollars in loans, CDO's, and real estate they couldn’t sell. Meanwhile, those who purchased up CDS's were knocking at the door to be paid. In March 2008, Bear Stearns ran out of cash and was acquired for $2 a share by JPMorgan Chase. The deal was backed by $30B in emergency guarantees by the Fed Reserve. This was just one instance of a bank getting consumed by a larger entity. [https:\/\/www.history.com\/this-day-in-history\/bear-stearns-sold-to-j-p-morgan-chase](https://preview.redd.it/gbgc30vlhi571.png?width=873&format=png&auto=webp&s=74def34d1783c5e3195492913370e6ae65670301) AIG, Bear Stearns, Lehman Bros, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, were all AA or above rating days before either collapsing or being bailed out. Meaning they were 'very secure', yet they failed. The Fed Reserve and Big Banks met together in order to discuss bailouts for different banks, and they decided to let Lehman Brothers fail as well. The Government also then took over AIG, and a day after the takeover, asked the Government for $700B in bailouts for big banks. At this point in time, **the person in charge of handling the financial crisis, Henry Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs**, worked with the chairman of the Federal Reserve to force AIG to pay Goldman Sachs some of its bailout money at 100-cents on the dollar. Meaning there was no negotiation of lower prices. **Conflict of interest much?** The Fed and Henry Paulson also forced AIG to surrender their right to sue Goldman Sachs and other banks for fraud. **This is but a small glimpse of the consolidation of power in big banks from the 2008 crash. They let others fail and scooped up their assets in the crisis.** **After the crash of 2008, big banks are more powerful and more consolidated than ever before. And the DTC, ICC, OCC rules are planning on making that worse through the auction and wind-down plans where big banks can once again consume other entities that default.** # 1.7 The Can-Kick To Continue The Game Of Derivative Market Greed After the crisis, the financial industry worked harder than ever to fight reform. The financial sector, as of 2010, employed over 3000 lobbyists. More than five for each member of Congress. Between 1998 and 2008 the financial industry spent over $5B on lobbying and campaign contributions. And ever since the crisis, they’re spending even more money. President Barack Obama campaigned heavily on "Change" and "Reform" of Wall Street, but when in office, nothing substantial was passed. But this goes back for decades - the Government has been in the pocket of the rich for a long time, both parties, both sides, and their influence through lobbying undoubtedly prevented any actual change from occurring. So their game of playing the derivative market was green-lit to still run rampant following the 2008 crash and mass bailouts from the Government at the expense of taxpayers. There's now more consolidation of banks, more consolidation of power, more years of deregulation, and over a decade that they used to continue the game. And just like in 2008, it's happening again. We're on the brink of another market crash and potentially a global financial crisis. # ​ # 2. The New CDO Game, And How COVID Uppercut To The System # 2.1 Abuse Of Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities It's not just /u/atobitt's "House Of Cards" where the US Treasury Market has been abused. It is abuse of many forms of collateral and securities this time around. It's the **same thing** as 2008, but much worse due to even higher amounts of leverage in the system on top of massive amounts of liquidity and potential inflation from stimulus money of the COVID crisis. Here's an excerpt from [The Bigger Short: Wall Street's Cooked Books Fueled The Financial Crisis of 2008. It's Happening Again](https://theintercept.com/2021/04/20/wall-street-cmbs-dollar-general-ladder-capital/): >A longtime industry analyst has uncovered creative accounting on a startling scale in the commercial real estate market, in ways similar to the “liar loans” handed out during the mid-2000s for residential real estate, according to financial records examined by the analyst and reviewed by The Intercept. A recent, large-scale academic study backs up his conclusion, **finding that banks such as Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have systematically reported erroneously inflated income data that compromises the integrity of the resulting securities.** > >... > >The analyst’s findings, first reported by ProPublica last year, are the subject of a whistleblower complaint he filed in 2019 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, the analyst has identified complex financial machinations by one financial institution, one that both issues loans and manages a real estate trust, that may ultimately help one of its top tenants — the low-cost, low-wage store Dollar General — flourish while devastating smaller retailers. > >This time, the issue is not a bubble in the housing market, **but apparent widespread inflation of the value of commercial businesses, on which loans are based.** > >... > >**Now it may be happening again** — this time not with residential mortgage-backed securities, based on loans for homes, **but commercial mortgage-backed securities, or CMBS, based on loans for businesses.** And this industrywide scheme is colliding with a collapse of the commercial real estate market amid the pandemic, which has **business tenants across the country unable to make their payments.** They've been abusing Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS) this time around, and potentially have still been abusing other forms of collateral - they might still be hitting MBS as well as treasury bonds per /u/atobitt's DD. John M. Griffin and Alex Priest released a study last November. They sampled almost 40,000 CMBS loans with a market capitalization of $650 billion underwritten from the beginning of 2013 to the end of 2019. **Their findings were that large banks had 35% or more loans exhibiting 5% or greater income overstatements.** The below chart shows the overstatements of the biggest problem-making banks. The difference in bars is between samples taken from data between 2013-2015, and then data between 2016-2019. Almost every single bank experienced a positive move up over time of overstatements. >Unintentional overstatement should have occurred at random times. Or if lenders were assiduous and the overstatement was unwitting, one might expect it to diminish over time as the lenders discovered their mistakes. **Instead, with almost every lender, the overstatement** ***increased*** **as time went on**. - [Source](https://theintercept.com/2021/04/20/wall-street-cmbs-dollar-general-ladder-capital/) [https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/04\/20\/wall-street-cmbs-dollar-general-ladder-capital\/](https://preview.redd.it/5xmcu9hwhi571.png?width=846&format=png&auto=webp&s=66f636574bd66afd3512b9587981e4caaa381cf3) So what does this mean? **It means they've once again been handing out subprime loans (predatory loans). But this time to businesses through Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities.** Just like Mortgage-Backed Securities from 2000 to 2007, the loaners will go around, hand out loans to businesses, and rake in the profits while having no concern over the potential for the subprime loans failing. # 2.2 COVID's Uppercut Sent Them Scrambling The system was propped up to fail just like from the 2000-2007 Housing Market Bubble. Now we are in a speculative bubble of the entire market along with the Commercial Market Bubble due to continued mass leverage abuse of the world. Hell - also in Crypt0currencies that were introduced after the 2008 crash. **Did you know that you can get over 100x leverage in crypt0 right now? Imagine how terrifying that crash could be if the other markets fail.** There is SO. MUCH. LEVERAGE. ABUSE. IN. THE. WORLD. All it takes is one fatal blow to bring it all down - **and it sure as hell looks like COVID was that uppercut to send everything into a death spiral.** When COVID hit, many people were left without jobs. Others had less pay from the jobs they kept. It rocked the financial world and it was so unexpected. Apartment residents would now become delinquent, causing the apartment complexes to become delinquent. Business owners would be hurting for cash to pay their mortgages as well due to lack of business. The subprime loans all started to become a really big issue. Delinquency rates of Commercial Mortgages started to **skyrocket** when the COVID crisis hit. They even surpassed 2008 levels in March of 2020. Remember what happened in 2008 when this occurred? **When delinquency rates went up on mortgages in 2008, the CDO's of those mortgages began to fail. But, this time, they can-kicked it because COVID caught them all off guard.** [https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/04\/20\/wall-street-cmbs-dollar-general-ladder-capital\/](https://preview.redd.it/cqbceix0ii571.png?width=848&format=png&auto=webp&s=da81781094a31ae1293b019c4e24f68dfdccc634) # 2.3 Can-Kick Of COVID To Prevent CDO's From Defaulting Before Being Ready COVID sent them **Scrambling**. They could not allow these CDO's to fail just yet, because they wanted to get their rules in place to help them consume other failing entities at a whim. Like in 2008, they wanted to not only protect themselves when the nuke went off from these decades of derivatives abuse, they wanted to be able to scoop up the competition easily. That is when the DTC, ICC, and OCC began drafting their auction and wind-down plans. In order to buy time, they began tossing out emergency relief "protections" for the economy. Such as preventing mortgage defaults which would send their CDO's tumbling. **This protection ends on June 30th, 2021**. And guess what? **Many people are still at risk of being delinquent**. [This article](https://therealdeal.com/issues_articles/defusing-the-forbearance-time-bomb/) was posted just **yesterday**. The moment these protection plans lift, we can see a surge in foreclosures as delinquent payments have accumulated over the past year. When everyone, including small business owners who were attacked with predatory loans, begin to default from these emergency plans expiring, it can lead to the CDO's themselves collapsing. **Which is exactly what triggered the 2008 recession**. [https:\/\/www.housingwire.com\/articles\/mortgage-forbearance-drops-as-expiration-date-nears\/](https://preview.redd.it/b68fsf5aii571.png?width=945&format=png&auto=webp&s=daa8c725185480d988802023a27291ee782b5c5f) # 2.4 SLR Requirement Exemption - Why The Reverse Repo Is Blowing Up Another big issue exposed from COVID is when SLR requirements were leaned during the pandemic. They had to pass a quick measure to protect the banks from defaulting in April of 2020. >In a brief announcement, the Fed said it would allow a change to the **supplementary leverage ratio to expire March 31**. The initial move, announced April 1, 2020, **allowed banks to exclude Treasurys and deposits with Fed banks from the calculation of the leverage ratio**. - [Source](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/19/the-fed-will-not-extend-a-pandemic-crisis-rule-that-had-allowed-banks-to-relax-capital-levels.html) What can you take from the above? **SLR is based on the banks deposits with the Fed itself. It is the treasuries and deposits that the banks have on the Fed's balance sheet. Banks have an 'account block' on the Fed's balance sheet that holds treasuries and deposits. The SLR pandemic rule allowed them to neglect these treasuries and deposits from their SLR calculation, and it boosted their SLR value, allowing them to survive defaults.** This is a **big**, **big**, **BIG** sign that **the banks are way overleveraged by borrowing tons of money just like in 2008.** The SLR is the "Supplementary Leverage Ratio" and they enacted quick to allow it so banks wouldn't fail under mass leverage for failing to maintain enough equity. >The supplementary leverage ratio is the US implementation of the Basel III Tier 1 **leverage ratio**, with which **banks calculate the amount of common equity capital they must hold relative to their total leverage exposure**. **Large US banks must hold 3%**. **Top-tier bank holding companies must also hold an extra 2% buffer, for a total of 5%**. The SLR, which does not distinguish between assets based on risk, is conceived as a backstop to risk-weighted capital requirements. - [Source](https://www.risk.net/definition/supplementary-leverage-ratio-slr) [Here is an exposure of their SLR](https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/07/26/which-of-the-large-us-banks-is-most-leveraged.aspx) from earlier this year. The key is to have **high SLR, above 5%, as a top-tier bank**: |Bank|Supplementary Leverage Ratio (SLR)| |:-|:-| |JP Morgan Chase|6.8%| |Bank Of America|7%| |Citigroup|6.7%| |Goldman Sachs|6.7%| |Morgan Stanley|7.3%| |Bank of New York Mellon|8.2%| |State Street|8.3%| The SLR protection ended on March 31, 2021. Guess what started to happen just after? T**he reverse repo market started to explode. This is VERY unusual behavior because it is not at a quarter-end where quarter-ends have significant strain on the economy. The build-up over time implies that there is significant strain on the market AS OF ENTERING Q2 (April 1st - June 30th).** [https:\/\/fred.stlouisfed.org\/series\/RRPONTSYD](https://preview.redd.it/ijp4wkxdii571.png?width=1455&format=png&auto=webp&s=46f67d7efcc98ee475ba27fa41850fbf5d894064) **Speculation: SLR IS DEPENDENT ON THEIR DEPOSITS WITH THE FED ITSELF. THEY NEED TO EXTRACT TREASURIES OVER NIGHT TO KEEP THEM OFF THE FED'S BALANCE SHEETS TO PREVENT THEMSELVES FROM FAILING SLR REQUIREMENTS AND DEFAULTING DUE TO MASS OVERLEVERAGE. EACH BANK HAS AN ACCOUNT ON THE FED'S BALANCE SHEET, WHICH IS WHAT SLR IS CALCULATED AGAINST. THIS IS WHY IT IS EXPLODING. THEY ARE ALL STRUGGLING TO MEET SLR REQUIREMENTS.** # 2.5 DTC, ICC, OCC Wind-Down and Auction Plans; Preparing For More Consolidation Of Power We've seen some interesting rules from the DTC, ICC, and OCC. For the longest time we thought this was all surrounding GameStop. Guess what. **They aren't all about GameStop**. Some of them are, but not all of them. **They are furiously passing these rules because the COVID can-kick can't last forever. The Fed is dealing with the potential of runaway inflation from COVID stimulus and they can't allow the overleveraged banks to can-kick any more. They need to resolve this as soon as possible. June 30th could be the deadline because of the potential for CDO's to begin collapsing.** Let's revisit a few of these rules. The most important ones, in my opinion, because they shed light on the bullshit they're trying to do once again: Scoop up competitors at the cheap, and protect themselves from defaulting as well. * **DTC-004:** Wind-down and auction plan. - [Link](https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/dtc/2021/34-91429.pdf) * **ICC-005:** Wind-down and auction plan. - [Link](https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/icc/2021/34-91806.pdf) * **OCC-004:** Auction plan. Allows third parties to join in. - [Link](https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/occ/2021/34-91935.pdf) * **OCC-003**: Shielding plan. Protects the OCC. - [Link](https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/occ/2021/34-92038.pdf) Each of these plans, in brief summary, allows each branch of the market to protect themselves in the event of major defaults of members. They also **allow members to scoop up assets of defaulting members**. What was that? Scooping up assets? **In other words it is more concentration of power**. **Less competition**. I would not be surprised if many small and large Banks, Hedge Funds, and Financial Institutions evaporate and get consumed after this crash and we're left with just a select few massive entities. That is, after all, exactly what they're planning for. They could not allow the COVID crash to pop their massive speculative derivative bubble so soon. It came too sudden for them to not all collapse instead of just a few of them. It would have obliterated the entire economy even more so than it will once this bomb is finally let off. They needed more time to prepare so that they could feast when it all comes crashing down. # 2.6 Signs Of Collapse Coming - ICC-014 - Incentives For Credit Default Swaps A comment on this subreddit made me revisit a rule passed by the ICC. It flew under the radar and is another sign for a crash coming. This is [ICC-014](https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/icc/2021/34-91922.pdf). Passed and effective as of June 1st, 2021. Seems boring at first. Right? That's why it flew under the radar? But now that you know the causes of the 2008 market crash and how toxic CDO's were packaged together, and then CDS's were used to bet against those CDO's, check out what ICC-014 is doing **as of June 1st**. [ICC-014 Proposed Discounts On Credit Default Index Swaptions](https://preview.redd.it/phrxcouvii571.png?width=731&format=png&auto=webp&s=469560cf06458b51b1b5439d84062e9f6e04bda4) **They are providing incentive programs to purchase Credit Default Swap Indexes. These are like standard CDS's, but packaged together like an index. Think of it like an index fund.** **This is allowing them to bet against a wide range of CDO's or other entities at a cheaper rate. Buyers can now bet against a wide range of failures in the market. They are allowing upwards of 25% discounts.** There's many more indicators that are pointing to a market collapse. But I will leave that to you to investigate more. Here is quite a scary compilation of charts relating the current market trends to the crashes of Black Monday, The Internet Bubble, The 2008 Housing Market Crash, and Today. [Summary of Recent Warnings Re Intermediate Trend In Equities](https://preview.redd.it/y4reiv86hi571.jpg?width=550&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8845b7b90adf28409772483c6eeeef1763bbaaaf) ​ ​ ​ # 3. The Failure Of The 1% - How GameStop Can Deal A Fatal Blow To Wealth Inequality # 3.1 GameStop Was Never Going To Cause The Market Crash GameStop was meant to die off. The rich bet against it many folds over, and it was on the brink of Bankruptcy before many conditions led it to where it is today. It was never going to cause the market crash. And it never will cause the crash. The short squeeze is a result of high abuse of the derivatives market over the past decade, where Wall Street's abuse of this market has primed the economy for another market crash on their own. We can see this because when COVID hit, GameStop was a non-issue in the market. The CDO market around CMBS was about to collapse on its own because of the instantaneous recession which left mortgage owners delinquent. If anyone, be it the media, the US Government, or others, try to blame this crash on GameStop or anything **other than the Banks and Wall Street**, **they are WRONG.** # 3.2 The Rich Are Trying To Kill GameStop. They Are Terrified In January, the SI% was reported to be 140%. But it is very likely that it was **underreported at that time**. Maybe it was 200% back then. 400%. 800%. Who knows. From the above you can hopefully gather that Wall Street **takes on massive risks all the time, they do not care as long as it churns them short-term profits**. There is loads of evidence pointing to shorts never covering by hiding their SI% through malicious options practices, and manipulating the price every step of the way. The conditions that led GameStop to where it is today is a miracle in itself, and the support of retail traders has led to expose a fatal mistake of the rich. **Because a short position has infinite loss potential**. There is SO much money in the world, especially in the derivatives market. This should scream to you that any price target that **you** think is low, could very well be extremely low in **YOUR** perspective. You might just be accustomed to thinking "$X price floor is too much money. There's no way it can hit that". I used to think that too, until I dove deep into this bullshit. The market crashing no longer was a matter of simply scooping up defaulters, their assets, and consolidating power. The rich now have to worry about the potential of **infinite** losses from GameStop and possibly other meme stocks with high price floor targets some retail have. It's not a fight against Melvin / Citadel / Point72. **It's a battle against the entire financial world**. There is even speculation from multiple people that the Fed is even being complicit right now in helping suppress GameStop. **Their whole game is at risk here.** **Don't you think they'd fight tooth-and-nail to suppress this and try to get everyone to sell?** **That they'd pull every trick in the book to make you think that they've covered?** The amount of money they could lose is unfathomable. With the collapsing SI%, it is mathematically impossible for the squeeze to have happened - its mathematically impossible for them to have covered. /u/atobitt also discusses this in [House of Cards Part 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nlwaxv/house_of_cards_part_2/). [https:\/\/www.thebharatexpressnews.com\/short-squeeze-could-save-gamestop-investors-a-third-time\/](https://preview.redd.it/6hge0pxfhi571.png?width=871&format=png&auto=webp&s=aab736cc279cc727524d2cf96384ea3e33109250) And in regards to all the other rules that look good for the MOASS - I see them in a negative light. They are passing NSCC-002/801, DTC-005, and others, in order to prevent a GameStop situation from **ever** occurring again. They realized how much power retail could have from piling into a short squeeze play. These new rules will snap new emerging short squeezes instantly if the conditions of a short squeeze ever occur again. There will **never** be a GameStop situation after this. It's their game after all. They've been abusing the derivative market game for decades and GameStop is a huge threat. It was supposed to be, "crash the economy and run with the money". Not "crash the economy and pay up to retail". But GameStop was a flaw exposed by their greed, the COVID crash, and the quick turn-around of the company to take it away from the brink of bankruptcy. The rich are now at risk of losing that money and insane amounts of cash that they've accumulated over the years from causing the Internet Bubble Crash of 2000, and the Housing Market Crash of 2008. So, yeah, I'm going to be fucking greedy.

Superstonk

HOLY MOLY THIS IS LONG!!! Before I read it I just want to say THANK YOU for the time you spend researching and writing all of the DD you contribute!!! It takes me quite a bit of time to read it so I can’t imagine how long you spend creating it!! EDIT: HOOOOLLLLLLYYYYY FUCKING MOOOOLLLLLLYYYYY WHAT THE FUCK?!? This is like a fucking joke. It’s a joke. THIS RIGHT HERE IS RAMPANT UNCHECKED GREED. Generation upon generation of greed usually perpetrated by the same groups of people who went to the same schools, were in the same clubs, worked at the same bullshit job given to them. I’m fucking sick. I keep telling people this is going to be bad and they look at me crazy because when they’re outside they see the blue sky, when I’m outside I smell smoke. ALL SHORTS MUST COVER WE OWN THE FLOAT GME TO THE MOON

lhk49b

Is anyone trading while holding a 9 to 5 job?

I'm a software developer in my 30s. I have a day job in my field but I don't see myself getting anymore promotions. Most developers my age move on to managerial positions. I don't have the social skills required for those kind of positions. I have recently started reading up on day trading and slowly trying to get in this market. My goal is to start very slow and make progress over a span of 3 - 5 years. So if you're trading while holding 9 - 5 jobs, I'd be grateful for some tips and strategies.

Daytrading

I recommend mastering swing trading over 5d,1W, 1-3-6M and learning algo trading to program the same into an automated strategy,I found python and associated libraries to be useful ( software consultant turned algo trader with modest monthly earnings)

rhh92s

I've put 25% of my wealth in BABA @200. Tempted to add more at it's current price @122.

Hello I'm an unproven value investor. My qualifications are that I've recently read all the industry standard books on this topic. I only have two investments, BABA and VZ. Rest of the money is hard cash. Buffet says why put your money in your second best idea when you can in your first. I have not changed my views on BABA. Still find it to be an awesome business. About VIE structure, I don't think I'll be hurt by that as an investor (but who knows). So is it worth adding more at this point? Or should I sit still? 😅

ValueInvesting

Don't think if it as "I'm down" or "I'm up". Think of it as "I want to own shares". Imagine you're collecting Monster energy drink cans. Because you like the can. You have 100 cans. They cost you $3 per can. Now someone offers to sell you 20 cans for $1 each while someone else says they'll buy your cans for .98 cents each. Are you upset or are you happy? If you like the can then you buy more cans. Its just that simple. I had a guy randomly ask if I would sell him my car. I said no. I didn't even ask a price. I don't want to sell. If you're not in the market for selling then the bid is meaningless. If you're in the market for for buying then the ask is everything. Do you want more shares? Its fine to say no even at lower prices. Maybe you have enough and you're happy with your collection.

wxdje9

The canceling of student loan debt has greatly helped me and my family.

I’ve read a lot of post about the outrage and how unjust this decision was. I wonder if I am alone in feeling this is the first time the government has directly helped me as a citizen. I’m 32 years old went to college and nursing school, have a modest house and two children. I have worked as a registered nurse for 8 years now. I personally have cared for thousands of individuals on some of the worst days of their lives, and still make just enough money to buy groceries and pay bills. I have felt that essentially I’ve never been directly helped my government and often felt they were out to make my life harder. The amount of money that comes from my check, I pay in property taxes , school taxes , tax on everything I purchase, ect. It appears people are disgusted by this decision. I still will have 40,000 debt from my schooling after this assistance. But this will greatly improve the life of my family and the dread of student loan payments when looking at the ability to pay for everyday things. Clothes for my children, groceries, gas. I haven’t found a lot of things to be excited about recently. If you turn on the news it’s quite literally depressing. But today I felt some hope. Is there anybody else out there that feels this way? Or is it just people that think we are freeloaders and don’t deserve assistance?

economy

For an economy sub there seems to be an alarming number of people who don't understand that taxes will never ever 100% benefit their individual lives. The amount of things I'll pay for in taxes that don't directly benefit my household are many. I may never use Medicare or medicaid but I pay taxes for them. We are all paying off the national debt with our taxes; how does that help MY household? Veterans Affairs? I've never been in service, why should I pay for them! Public education, school lunches? Forget about it I've never had kids and never will.... Let's not even start on the corporate bailouts. OP this sub is one of the least empathetic I frequent. I stick around to try and become more educated. It's hard because there's a lot of ego here, a lot of people thinking they know everything and the human element is just an afterthought. I'm personally glad this will help so many, and I'm not going to waste any life worrying about some "undeserving" people being helped because i know more deserving people will be helped. And FWIW it's fucking ridiculous that a Healthcare provider should have to struggle for so long with abysmal pay and Neverending debt. I wish you the best!

l6omry

An Open Letter to Melvin Capital, CNBC, Boomers, and WSB

**Mods do not delete, this is important to me, please read** ​ I was in my early teens during the '08 crisis. I vividly remember the enormous repercussions that the reckless actions by those on Wall Street had in my personal life, and the lives of those close to me. I was fortunate - my parents were prudent and a little paranoid, and they had some food storage saved up. When that crisis hit our family, we were able to keep our little house, but we lived off of pancake mix, and powdered milk, and beans and rice for a year. Ever since then, my parents have kept a food storage, and they keep it updated and fresh. Those close to me, my friends and extended family, were not nearly as fortunate. My aunt moved in with us and paid what little rent she could to my family while she tried to find any sort of work. Do you know what tomato soup made out of school cafeteria ketchup packets taste like? My friends got to find out. Almost a year after the crisis' low, my dad had stabilized our income stream and to help out others, he was hiring my friends' dads for odd house work. One of them built a new closet in our guest room. Another one did some landscaping in our backyard. I will forever be so proud of my parents, because in a time of need, even when I have no doubt money was still tight, they had the mindfulness and compassion to help out those who absolutely needed it. To Melvin Capital: you stand for everything that I hated during that time. You're a firm who makes money off of exploiting a company and manipulating markets and media to your advantage. Your continued existence is a sharp reminder that the ones in charge of so much hardship during the '08 crisis were not punished. And your blatant disregard for the law, made obvious months ago through your (for the Melvin lawyers out there: alleged) illegal naked short selling and more recently your obscene market manipulation after hours shows that you haven't learned a single thing since '08. And why would you? Your ilk were bailed out and rewarded for terrible and illegal financial decisions that negatively changed the lives of millions. I bought shares a few days ago. I dumped my savings into GME, paid my rent for this month with my credit card, and dumped my rent money into more GME (which for the people here at WSB, I would not recommend). And I'm holding. This is personal for me, and millions of others. You can drop the price of GME after hours $120, I'm not going anywhere. You can pay for thousands of reddit bots, I'm holding. You can get every mainstream media outlet to demonize us, I don't care. I'm making this as painful as I can for you. To CNBC: you must realize your short term gains through promoting institutions' agenda is just that - short term. Your staple audience will soon become too old to care, and the millions of us, not just at WSB but every person affected by the '08 crash that's now paying attention to GME, are going to remember how you stuck up for the firms that ruined so many of us, and tried to tear down the little guys. I know for sure I'll remember this. In response, here is a [list of CNBC sponsors and partners](https://www.cnbcevents.com/sponsors/). They include, but are not limited to, **IBM**, **Cisco**, **TMobile**, **JPMorgan**, **Oracle**, and **ZipRecruiter**. Their parent company is [NBCUniversal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBCUniversal), owned by **Comcast** and **GE**. To the boomers, and/or people close to that age, just now paying attention to these "millennial blog posts": you realize that, even if you weren't adversely effected by the '08 crash, your children and perhaps grandchildren most likely were? *We're not enemies, we're on the same side*. Stop listening to the media that's making us out to be market destroyers, and start rooting for us, because we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to punish the sort of people who caused so much pain and stress a decade ago, and we're taking that opportunity. Your children, your grandchildren, might have suffered as I described because of the institutions that we're fighting against. You really want to choose them, over your own family and friends? We're not asking you to risk your 401k or retirement fund on a single GME bet. We're just asking you to be understanding, supportive, and to not support the people that caused so much suffering a decade ago. To WSB: you all are amazing. I imagine that I'm not the only one that this is personal for. I've read myself so many posts on what you guys went through during the '08 crash. Whether you're here for the gains, to stick it to the man as I am, or just to be part of a potentially market changing movement - thank you. Each and every one of you are the reason that we have this chance. I've never felt this optimistic about the future before. This is life changing amounts of money for so many of you, and to be part of a rare instance of a wealth distribution from the rich to the poor is just incredible. I love you all. ​ ​ Note: I can't seem to get a hold of mods and they keep fucking removing the post. I have no idea how to get this to stick and its important to me that the people I'm addressing read it.

wallstreetbets

My dad was a concrete contractor, our livelihood was based on people doing well, buying houses, and having money to put into those houses. The crash fucked him, as an adult now I have no idea how he managed to hold onto his house. I know he said he was bidding jobs so low he could barely make anything just to keep his crew working. He passed on January 3rd (fuck it hurts to type that). You’re all gonna meet him when I spread his gray ashes on that red fucking Mars dust 🚀🚀🚀 Edit: such an outpouring of supportive replies from all you smoothbrain 🦍🦍🦍. I thank you all.

llb1qn

Why does no one seem to think the housing market will crash?

From what I've read house prices being high and rapidly increasing is a good sign they may crash. I've read this in property investment guides and online about timing the cycle. Everywhere I look seems to assume that property prices will continue to rise well into the 2040s! Now I've read the average baby boomer will die in 2034, which will create a buyers market but no analysts from property firms or banks seem to agree. My sneaking suspicion is that they are wealthy and benefit from increasing house prices and wouldn't want anyone to know the party has to end eventually.

AskEconomics

Your question seems to be entirely focused on "the hosing market" in the United States, so I'm only going to speak to that. The suggestion that "no one" thinks the housing market will "crash" is just wrong. There are plenty of people who think that. But even though home prices have risen quickly over the past year, the idea that there will be a "crash" is dubious. Yes, real estate can be used as an asset like stocks, silver, gold, bitcoin, etc., all of which saw dramatic increases in the last year. But unlike bitcoin, which only has value if people agree it has value, a house is also a consumable (i.e. a place to live). So while bitcoin could crash to $0, real estate wouldn't "crash" in the same way because it has an inherent, useful value. Looking at real estate specifically, there are (at least) three factors driving the increase in home prices: 1. Mortgage rates are [near record lows](http://www.freddiemac.com/pmms/pmms30.html). When we "[reduce the interest rates faced by households" that will "push prices up](https://www.bis.org/publ/cgfs64.pdf)." That is, when mortgage rates go down a person can afford a home with a higher sticker price because their overall monthly mortgage payment stays the same. 2. The supply of houses for sale (relative to the demand for houses) is also [near record lows](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSACSR). When there's less supply to meet the demand, you're going to see price increases. 3. The US population keeps growing, but the amount of land remains the same. There are simply more people competing for the same sq ft of land. The first two factors will let up eventually. When the economy recovers and inflation picks up, the Fed will raise interest rates and unwind its balance sheet. That will cause mortgage rates to rise, and prices to fall. But the Fed knows not too do that too quickly and cause a "crash." Likewise, higher home prices will incentivize builders to create more housing and for people to sell. But it takes time to build new housing so there wouldn't be a sudden "crash," and people would be less likely to sell if there were a "crash," causing supply to dry up. The third factor will continue to push prices up: The population is growing and [will continue to grow for decades to come](https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/demo/p25-1144.pdf) (even considering the death rate for "the average baby boomer"), and the amount of land isn't. Home prices will almost certainly *rise more slowly* in the future. They might even go down a bit. But a decrease would likely occur slowly rather than as a "crash." A "crash" happens when the price declines dramatically and unexpectedly. That is unlikely because (a) homes have an inherent value, like I mentioned above, and (b) none of what I'm discussing is ground breaking. I'm not saying there can't be a "crash" in home prices. We saw that in 2008. But it's precisely *because* we have a good understanding of what happened in 2008 that we're unlikely to see it happen again. In spite of COVID, the current [delinquency rate](https://www.corelogic.com/insights-download/loan-performance-insights-report.aspx) is dramatically lower than the mortgage delinquency rate [after the great recession](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DRSFRMACBS). A big reason for that is that lenders have been much more strict since 2008. In 2006, subprime mortgages made up [about 20%](https://www.recenter.tamu.edu/articles/tierra-grande/Lingering-Effects-of-Subprime-Lending#:~:text=Subprime%20mortgages%E2%80%94broadly%20defined%20as,to%2020%20percent%20in%202006) of the overall mortgage market, whereas today they make up less than 5%. In other words, home prices may be high today, but people with mortgages are more creditworthy and are better able to afford the mortgages. So we're less likely to see a huge foreclosure spike, meaning we're less likely to see a dramatic increase in the number of homes for sale, meaning prices are unlikely to "crash," per se. **To the hundred plus people downvoting the automod and complaining you don't see any responses:** The reason there aren't any approved responses to this thread is because literally none of the dozen plus comments in the queue cite to a single source of any kind. Many of the comments are just one sentence long or say something like "here's my take," "I'm not an expert," I "believe," or this is "my guess." Rule II says: >All claims (and especially claims in top-level comments) should be rooted in economic theory and empirical research - not opinions, anecdotes, lay speculation, or personal politics. It is strongly recommended that claims be sourced by citations to applicable research. If your comment begins with "This is just my opinion, but..." or any variation, it will nearly always be removed.

l7awnp

Today is a dark day for traders

It does not matter if you invested in GME, made money on NOK, or you are just interested in the stock market. Today different brokers took down from MILLIONS of retail traders the opportunity to partecipate actively in the stock market to save some billionaires hedge funds. In the last generation most of the people thought about the stock market as something abstract and only reserved to the richest getting richer, only having a clue about what Wall Street is thanks to movies. For few years in wich the possibility to partecipate was estended to a lot of retail users, and guess what happened? Most retail users (up to 80%) lost money having no idea what they were doing. In the last few weeks GME has been the opportunity for normal people to take something back from the people controlling the market, and when they were finally succeeding, guess what? They cut us out. I do not know how today will be called but it will go down in history books after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the crash of 2008.

stocks

Imagine if George Soros is in the middle of a fucking risky billionaire trade and his broker call him and say: "well you're only allowed to sell now, sorry George but tomorrow after your strategy is absolutely fucked we'll resume the trading normally."

xb2bho

I've seen a lot of posts in the last few days, accusing Britain of stealing $45 trillion of India's wealth. How rich was India that it had so much and how did the British manage it nevertheless?

For example. https://np.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/x9btdc/whats_up_with_black_twitter_celebrating_queen/innq96h/ https://np.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/xaekvs/during_the_british_rule_of_india_from_1769_to/ I also get [this](https://mronline.org/2019/01/15/britain-robbed-india-of-45-trillion-thence-1-8-billion-indians-died-from-deprivation/) article accusing not only Britain of stealing almost $50 trillion but also killing 1.8 *billion* Indians. Lastly, a [master's thesis](https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1590981&dswid=-5913) from Linnaeus University in Sweden, states > British economic exploitation of Indian society is visible in the dreadful death toll from famine. Emeritus professor Utsa Patnaik estimated under the British regime, about **1. 6 trillion people had died.** Would like to know how far these large numbers are true.

AskEconomics

I was trying to track down the original article by Utsa Patnaik but I couldn't find it. Part of where that $50 trillion comes from is the "compounding at 5%" assumption. 5% is a very high interest rate over 250 years - £1 in 1772 compounded forward at 5% becomes nearly £200,000 in 2022. If you only adjusted for UK inflation, which averaged 1.9% over the last 250 years, £1 in 1772 only becomes about £100 in 2022. To try and make sense of the influence of that we can look at the average flow of transfers per year between 1765 and 1938 that you'd need to get to $45 trillion with compounding to the present day at 5%; [I calculate that as $9 million per year](https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=%2845*10%5E12%29%2F%28%5Csum_%7Bx%3D80%7D%5E%7B253%7D+1.05%5Ex%29), which is still a large sum, but if you change the compounding rate to 2% you instead get a total of $69 billion - almost a thousand times less than the figure Patnaik suggests. So the compounding assumption makes a big difference to the total figure. Still, is a flow of $9 million a year accurate? It's certainly true that there was a good deal of direct wealth extraction by British people from India, with a minority of British people involved with the East India Company getting filthy rich at the expense of Indians, to say nothing of the direct human rights atrocities and murder (William Dalrymple and Anita Anand's ongoing *Empire* podcast has some vivid details about what the British did in India). But there's a specific figure claimed here. Patnaik seems to equate "drain" with India's export surplus. Usually, exports are not a drain on a country because the countries that import the goods have to pay for them with something. The argument Patnaik makes is that the colonial setup allowed the British effectively to get exports from India without paying anything for them, so that the total value of the exports was all drained from India. Whether that's true is both an economic and a historical claim, and I don't know enough about the history to evaluate it. But [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/gc3ifr/utsa_patnaik_claims_that_the_british_siphoned_45/fp9yyx0/) on /r/AskHistorians argues against the claim that all exports from India constituted drain, which would imply Patnaik is also overstating the flow of resources from India. The 1.6 trillion people died figure is surely a typo for billion, a trillion is simply not a possible figure and it's not claimed by the other sources. The 1.8 billion deaths figure [seems to come from assuming](https://countercurrents.org/polya201111.htm) that if the British had not ruled India, the annual death rate for India over the entire period would be 11 per 1000, which is the death rate of the US in the early 1920s; this doesn't seem like a remotely plausible assumption to me, but I'm no more a demographer than I am a historian. Finally, drain isn't necessarily the only way that Britain impoverished India. Acemoglu and Robinson have a lot of work on the importance of institutions in determining how fast a country grows. When the British were in India they set up institutions that were predominately extractive, aimed at taking wealth from the country rather than improving the lives of the people living there. Bad institutions can have persistent effects even after the British left, and may well have made India poorer by inhibiting its growth without actually making Britain commensurately richer.

7dsnh5

Heads up if you have a Bank of America eBanking checking account: your account is about to be converted to one with fees

Multiple people have received a notice at the bottom of their October statement. These accounts are scheduled to be converted to Core Checking in January 2018. If you don't want to pay fees for a checking account or want a savings account that actually pays interest instead of charging fees, you can check the wiki for a list of the most frequently recommended banking institutions on /r/personalfinance: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/banks_and_credit_unions

personalfinance

I tried to cancel a personal checking account for BoA and they wanted to charge me an overdraft fee when they cashed out my balance by an extra 7 cents by accident. They wouldn’t waive the $25 charge when I called after receiving a notice in the mail about the $25.07 that I “owed” them. I (made arrangements to switch to a local bank first who I had been using for personal banking and wanted to switch to but never took the time to) and walked in and withdrew nearly 400k from 3 business operating and payroll accounts, and closed a refinanced (through the local Bank) $750,000 loan that they stood to make nearly 140k more in interest off me over the next 12 years. The look on the branch managers face was priceless. “Enjoy your $25.” Fuck BOA. Edit: Holy Crap! Thanks for gold and karma! Also, it was actually more like 140k they would have made off the loan looking back at it.

la34bh

It's fucking awful seeing the "Silver" misinformation campaign everywhere I look

⚠️⚠️⚠️ ***DON'T BUY SILVER, IT'S A TRAP***⚠️⚠️⚠️ They're talking on CNBC as if people on Reddit are actually squeezing silver. It's fucking absurd, they're practically encouraging it. They're like, "Wow, these redditors are squeezing silver, how cool" actually fucking encouraging it. Literally scum Edit: Should have mentioned, it's literally fucking impossible to squeeze silver. It's not shorted at all. Hedge funds and Citadel hold lots of Long positions in it, not shorts. Buying it would be playing right into their hands. Buying silver will make you likely lose money and absolutely give it to the hedge funds and Citadel. By Silver, I mean $SLV, *I know nothing about phisical silver*. For anybody confused Edit 2: If you bought $SLV months or years ago and made a profit, that's fantastic. This post is just saying that you should not buy silver right now. This isn't financial advice, I am mentally challenged

stocks

Many of the misinformation lies on the fact that media outlets saying that retailers are moving the price, like seriously wtf. Along with the fact that all this shit happened starting from friday. Fucking cnbc, never trust those paid scums. Full of lies and misinformation.

n7rl2y

You hear about the kid who put in $500 into a memecoin and made 100k, but you don't hear about the hundreds who put $1000 and are left with $0.1

You hear about the kid who put in $500 into a memecoin and made 100k, but you don't hear about the hundreds who put $1000 and are left with $0.1 You also don't hear about the guys who put $10,000 but cant cash out because these memecoins have no liquidity. Don't beat yourself up for missing out. Survivorship bias is a dangerous thing.

CryptoCurrency

You also don't hear about the early Bitcoin investors who have already made millions probably because they have better things to do. Most of us are still here posting because we haven't reached our life changing goals yet.

ukay2p

Why is Russia still poor even though it has all the requisites to be rich?

Have natural resources - check Having an educated population - check Being able to create complex technologies with high added value - check My country (Brazil) lacks an educated population and high value-added technology, so I understand it to be poor. But Russia, has a Soviet legacy of industry and a population skilled in technology, see the war and space capabilities they have, in addition to some national car brands. So it tortures me that Australia has 1/6 of the population but six times the GDP per capita. It makes no sense.

AskEconomics

A well established economic relationship is that corruption reduces economic growth: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147596700917037 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0176268019301156 The mechanics here are pretty straightforward: corruption increases costs similarly to taxes, but do not have the growth of beneficial government spending. When government taxes people / businesses there is a higher cost for whatever is taxed and therefore reduced quantity. If the government spends that tax revenue on something that promotes economic growth, then the economic growth benefits of that can even out (or in some cases even result in a net positive benefit). When instead individuals either impose additional costs (bribes) or cause government spending to go to non-beneficial costs (kickbacks) you get more of the negative effects and less of the positive. So growth is reduced accordingly.

l8uzu9

GME First Started As a Value Play by DFV

Here is the link to Roaring Kitty (DFV channel). He has been posting about gme for awhile now. https://youtu.be/1zi7XVudxME He describes himself as a value investor.

ValueInvesting

He was buying in when it was $5 or less and everyone was telling him it would go bankrupt and that he would lose everything and he was an idiot. At one point he replied to someone, "Your ignorance of the facts is my opportunity". He was right.

k7v0dg

A beginner's guide to investing in the stock market (and mutual funds).

The stock market has witnessed a huge inflow of new investors during this calendar year. The pandemic allowed young people to stay at home with nothing to do. Several have lost their jobs and people have started to realise the importance of investing, and that's always a good thing. Starting off early is a huge advantage for investors. Although we have [a set of posts for people who are absolutely zero in terms of money management](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/comments/9ltgni/for_someone_who_is_absolutely_at_level_zero_in/), I want to focus specifically on stock market investing. There are several things to know about investing in the stock market. Searching on Youtube or Google or Reddit will provide us with an abundance of information. New investors are often confused because of the availability of many different investment products. And, new investors are often indecisive on what to do after starting their investment. I'll do my best to summarise the experiences that I have learned throughout my investment journey, and share all the details that can be helpful for new investors. To be a successful investor in the stock market, here are the things that we need to do : ##1. Invest with a proper goal and purpose. The first step in investing is not to select the best stocks or best mutual funds. It's to identify why you're investing. Find out what you want to achieve by investing. The goal/purpose can be as generic as 'to become wealthy' or 'to save up for retirement'. Or, it can be more specific like 'to buy a home in 10 years', 'to save for my children's education in 20 years' etc. Deciding on the goal is crucial, since it allows the investor to think of a proper plan. A goal that's 10 years away will need a different investment strategy than a goal that's 20 years away. If we're saving up for retirement, we'll likely have 20-30 years ahead of us. Knowing the end goal allows the investors to properly decide the amount of money they need to invest. Without a goal or purpose, we'll have a hard time continuing our investment journey. ##2. Invest with consistency and discipline. An average investor doesn't need any special skills to invest successfully in the stock market. We don't always have to be invested in the *best* mutual funds or the top stocks. We just have to stay invested. Before choosing a stock or mutual fund for investment, research about it and convince yourself that this is a good investment and that you'll stay invested in it for the long haul. We shouldn't invest in something just because it has performed well recently. Once you have chosen your investment, invest consistently. Don't stop investing just because the returns in the last couple of years have been bad. Even the best stocks/mutual funds undergo periods of bad performance. **Example :** [The Average Investor Lost Money in the Best Performing Mutual Fund in History](https://www.alphawealthfunds.com/2019/08/the-average-investor-lost-money-in-the-best-performing-mutual-fund-in-history/) Peter Lynch is one of the best investors of all time, and his Magellan fund has an [annualised returns of 29%](https://i.imgur.com/RfrRMvU.png). Even if the fund outperformed the S&P 500, the average investor lost money. Because, the investor will 'buy high and sell low'. That is, whenever the fund isn't performing well, they'll withdraw & whenever the fund performs well, they'll invest money. Instead of investing consistently, they'll look at the past performance of the fund and then invest. So, investing consistently is more important than choosing the best investment. Even for a consistent investor, they might be forced to withdraw from their investments if there's a sudden need for money. To avoid this, **have a rock-solid emergency fund**. Keep 5% of your net worth in low-risk liquid assets that is unrelated to the stock market. It's good to keep 1 year's expenses as an emergency fund, so that even during worse-case scenarios, you can handle financial emergencies without withdrawing your investments. ##3. Don't stop investing just because there's 'choppy waters' in the market. Don't start investing just because there's optimism in the market. We should stop investing only when we're close to attaining our goal. When we're years from achieving our goals, we should invest irrespective of the short-term market conditions. Often, a mutual fund will give nil or negative returns over the span of a few years. It can be extremely discouraging for investors, but that shouldn't a reason to stop investing. Equities don't always perform well. They undergo periods of low performance. That's the time to invest a lot of money, so that when they perform well, we'll reap the rewards for investing in the rough times. The volatility of the stock market can be hard for new investors to grasp. Slowly build up a tolerance to it. Embrace it, and appreciate it. **Example :** [Time in the market beats timing the market.](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/k7cnl9/a_discussion_about_time_in_the_market_vs_timing/). There'll always be some reason to cause turmoil in the market. Even most recently, a lot of people expected the market to crash because of the 2020 US election. But, nothing happened ! In fact, the market rallied even more during and after election. [If an investor investing in the S&P 500 index missed out on the 10 best days during the past 15 years, their returns would have been halved !](https://www.putnam.com/literature/pdf/II508-ac37f7ad02b2d8889f7e5361f0e8ac86.pdf). Missing out on the 20 best trading days means that their returns would be ~1/9th of the index's returns. Missing out on the best 30 trading days means that they have lost money. In the short-term, no one knows what the market is going to do. For a healthy growing economy, the stock market tends to go up in the long-term. For an average investor, [Buy & Hold](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/08/passive-active-investing.asp) is the best strategy. ## 4. Don't chase after 'returns'. Stick to your plan. There's always going to an investment that'll give the 'best returns' of a particular year. If we look at a mutual fund and invest in it just because the past 1 year return has been good, we'll be disappointed. No mutual fund or stock (unless it's Asian Paints) perform consistently on a yearly basis. All of them will have periods of low performance. **Example :** Let's take [PPLTE mutual fund](https://www.valueresearchonline.com/funds/19701/parag-parikh-long-term-equity-fund-direct-plan#fund-performance). It's one of the most favourite mutual fund among investors. When it started in 2014, it gave an annual return of 45%. Any new investor seeing this fund's return would be ecstatic. They'll think "If i Invest in this, I'll also get such great returns". They'll invest without any plan or research, and will be utterly disappointed because the returns for the next two years (2015 and 2016) were 9% and 3% respectively. A new investor, who lacks discipline, will stop investing or withdraw because it's a 'bad fund'. BUT, such investors will lose out on the next year's great return which is 30%. ##5. Have faith and optimism in yourself & your investments. Self-confidence is crucial for investing success. Let's say we buy a luxury house for 2 crores. If someone sees the house and says "Oh, this house is worth only 1 crore", would we panic and sell the house for 1 crore ? We wouldn't, right ? We should have the same mentality for our stock market investments. If we had done enough research, we would know the intrinsic value of our investments. Therefore, we shouldn't sell randomly whenever it's performing badly (temporarily) or if someone criticises it. I'm not saying that we should invest in the same thing throughout out life. I'm saying that we should have faith in our plan. Have faith in the fact that we have analysed and chosen an investment. If the investment tuns out to be bad investment, no problem. Analyse and choose a better investment, and invest with conviction. Mutual fund investors often have the nagging doubt of whether they have chosen the 'best' mutual fund. For a fund to be the best fund, the fund manager has to do a good job & the market conditions should be good as well. So, the investor has to put their faith in the fund managers and the market. If you find yourself struggling to trust any fund manager to give you consistently good returns, invest in a broad market index fund like Nifty or Sensex. In such a case, you'll just have to put faith in the economy of the country. Even if you don't have faith in the Government, have faith in the county's overall economy. Have the faith that the country will grow, thrive and prosper. Indices like Nifty and S&P 500 are a decent representation of how the county's economy is going. Quotes from the book **Learn to Earn : A Beginner's Guide to the Basics of Investing and Business** - > Before 1930, depressions and panics were a common occurrence, but since the Great One, we haven’t had a single repeat. So in the last fifty years or so, the odds of a slowdown turning into a depression have been quite remote—in fact, they’ve been zero in nine chances. Nobody can be sure you’ll never see a depression in your lifetime, but so far, in the past half-century, you would have gone broke betting on one. > Is it possible that we’ve found a permanent cure for economic depression, the way we have for polio? There are several reasons to think so. First, the government, through its Federal Reserve Bank system, stands ready to lower interest rates and pump money into the economy any time it begins to look sluggish and to jolt it back into action. Second, we’ve got millions of people on social security and pensions, with money to spend no matter what. Add in the 18 million employees of government at all levels, from federal to local, and you’ve got an army of spenders. As long as this huge group is throwing its money around, the economy can slow, but it can’t come to a complete halt, the way it did in the 1930s. Third, we’ve got deposit insurance at the banks and the savings and loans, so if the banks go bankrupt, people won’t lose all their money. In the 1930s, when hundreds of banks shut their doors, their depositors lost everything. That in itself was enough to drive the country into a catatonic state. > If you buy the argument that we’re not likely to suffer a relapse into depression, then you can be a little more relaxed about drops in the stock market. **As long as the economy is alive and kicking, companies can make money. If companies are making money, their stocks won’t go to zero. The majority will survive until the next period of prosperity, when stock prices will come back. History doesn’t have to repeat itself. When somebody tells you that it does, remind him or her that we haven’t had a depression in more than a half-century. People who stay out of stocks to avoid a 1929-style tragedy are missing out on all the benefits of owning stocks, and that’s a bigger tragedy.** Because of fear-mongering news articles, there'll always be a fear of an 'impending market crash' or a recession. An esteemed investor rarely changes his long-term investing strategy no matter what the market does. ##6. Don't chase after shiny new funds/stocks. [Successful investing is quite boring](https://www.thebalance.com/why-boring-is-almost-always-more-profitable-357440). An average investor is better-off by investing in [index funds](https://i.imgur.com/h433tbs.jpg) and going on with their lives. Even if we invest in stocks directly, always chasing after the 'best' stocks is a recipe for disaster. Yes, there's a miniscule chance that an average investor can invest in a 'multi-bagger'. But, it's nearly impossible to do it consistently. Some of the consistently-performing stocks are companies that do business in boring sectors. Buying stocks of quality companies (with good financials) will do well in the long-term. Buy stocks of companies that are considered as 'essential' goods, and those stocks will prosper even during recessions. **Example :** [Domino’s stock outperformed Apple and Amazon over 7 years](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/01/no-point-1-pizza-chain-dominos-outperformed-amazon-google-and-apple-stocks.html) . For the past decade, Asian Paints has a CAGR of ~25%, and it's stock price has increased tenfold during the decade. Pidilite Industries's stock price has went up by 15 times during the past decade. Neither Asian Paints nor Pidilite Industries is doing anything 'revolutionary' and 'world-changing', like the tech companies. Yet, their stock went up because they produce goods that are essential & they're pioneers in their respective industries. ##7. Keep your emotions in control. When investing, it's crucial to keep our emotions under control. It's better to avoid having any emotions towards our investments. For instance, let's say that an investor has 20 lakhs invested in a Nifty index fund. Every 1% gain or fall in the Nifty would mean that the investor's money increased or decreased by 20 thousand. Those are not real losses (or gains). They're real only when we sell them. Let me clarify some of the emotionally-charged doubts that new investors face on a consistent basis : **Question :** "The market is at an all-time-high. Should I sell ?!!" **Answer :** For whatever reasons, new investors are scared of all-time-highs. They somehow think that if a market reaches a new ATH, it means that there'll be a correction. Selling at an all-time-high to 'book profits', for a goal that's several years away, is the most amateurish things an investor can do. Most investors don't even have a plan on what to do with the money after selling. Let the money be invested. No one is gonna steal it. [If you're not investing in the market to reach all-time-highs, what're you investing for ?](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/k6tj3j/sp_500_nasdaq_dow_30_russell_2000_close_at_all/genawtv/). ATHs are [nothing to be afraid of](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/k6tj3j/sp_500_nasdaq_dow_30_russell_2000_close_at_all/gen01sn/). **Queston :** "The market is falling everyday.. Should I stop my SIPs?" **Answer:** This is something that new investors think when they encounter their first bear market. If they started invested during a bull market, they'll suddenly feel scared when the market goes down gradually. A falling market is the best time to invest, for a long-term goal. A falling market means that you're buying stocks at a cheaper price. The market isn't going to keep going down forever. Invest more and more during bear markets, so that you'll make more gains during the bull market. **Question :** "What is the best time to book profits ?" **Answer :** Only if you're approaching your goals. Otherwise, **don't redeem your investments for no real reason !** Time in the market is important. Although, some would recommend a tactical rebalancing between equity and debt investments. **Question :** "Should I subscribe to this new NFO/IPO ?!" **Answer :** Avoid it. Let the stock or mutual fund perform for a while, and then decide. There's no need to chase after 'shiny new things'. **Question :** "The market is at an all time high. Is it a good time to start investing ?" **Answer :** Yes, it is a good time. [Market will be a lot higher 10 years from now](https://i.imgur.com/MheXjxP.jpg). You'd wish that you had started investing right now. For a real life example, let's assume that an investor started doing an SIP in a Sensex index fund on Jan 2008. It was the peak of the market, right before the market crash. IF the investor continued the monthly SIP till now, the investor's returns would have been ~11%. Even if there's a 10% market correction during next month, have the faith that the market will recover gradually. India is a growing economy with a young population. Being the 5th largest economy in the world, we have a LOT of growth ahead of us. An equities investor can reap the benefits of our economic development by investing early and investing consistently.

IndiaInvestments

Really appreciate this subreddit and the people here who put their time and effort in introducing and explaining on investments to newbies. All the older posts and notes in here is a goldmine to anyone starting to learn about personal finance management!

rv4axv

A News Blackout on the Fed’s Naming of the Banks that Got Its Emergency Repo Loans; Some Journalists Appear to Be Under Gag Orders

Final edit at bottom. If you are on new Reddit or the standard app, a screenshot from the final update may appear here, when it is supposed to appear at the bottom. I’m not sure why this screenshot shows at the top of the post, when it isn’t at the top, so I’ll just write here to let you know, it goes with the final link in the final update from 10JAN21, at the bottom. 🤷‍♂️ Alternatively, view this post by opening it in old Reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/rv4axv/a_news_blackout_on_the_feds_naming_of_the_banks/ ___ Second attempt to try to post this...will post the link in the comments below. Intro: > Four days ago, the Federal Reserve released the names of the banks that had received $4.5 trillion in cumulative loans in the last quarter of 2019 under its emergency repo loan operations for a liquidity crisis that has yet to be credibly explained. Among the largest borrowers were JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, three of the Wall Street banks that were at the center of the subprime and derivatives crisis in 2008 that brought down the U.S. economy. That’s blockbuster news. But as of 7 a.m. this morning, not one major business media outlet has reported the details of the Fed’s big reveal. ___ Edit: This appears to be the dataset used: https://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/OMO_transaction_data.html#rrp *(Also, thank you for the awards - I’m just glad this got some attention. The real awards should go to the authors, Pam Martens and Russ Martens, but that’s another matter, and I am not allowed to directly link the WSOP site here in the post, despite the site having an incredibly reputable, fact-based reputation for several decades now. Regardless, the link is in the comments (odd, site-wide rule, huh?). Here is what I will add: Please read the full article, I know it’s tempting to just read a headline, but this is kind of a serious matter in my personal opinion. And, if you would like this to gain more attention, please consider reaching out to your state’s representatives, consider sharing the article with those outside of reddit, etc.)* ___ Edit 2: The site was given the ol’ Reddit hug o’ death - I emailed the author, Pam Martens, explained (and apologized). I don’t think she was aware of where all the traffic was coming from. She said they’re working on a server fix, and was thankful for us bringing this “assault on press freedom” (her exact words) to the attention of Reddit users. She also has no idea why they’re banned from Reddit, as they post articles 5 days a week and have no time for a social media presence. Nice job Reddit! :) *RIP inbox, gonna take some time to sort through this* ___ **Edit 3:** How can we petition (?) Reddit admins to unban links to WSOP? No idea why it was actually originally banned, and it makes no sense. The site is great and there’s simply no reasonable, logical reason it should be banned at a site-wide level. It doesn’t seem to be subreddit specific. That in itself is insane to me. Kinda mirrors what the article is talking about, actually. This seems to go to the top (the Reddit admins), not the mods here. If the mods or anyone has any experience with appealing a ban like that, I welcome your help. *shrug* ___ **Edit 4:** Today’s article, “Redditors Raged Against the News Blackout of the Fed’s Bailout – Then All Hell Broke Loose When They Learned the Wall Street Banks Literally Own the New York Fed” was just posted. wallstreetonparade dot com/2022/01/redditors-raged-against-the-news-blackout-of-the-feds-bailout-then-all-hell-broke-loose-when-they-learned-the-wall-street-banks-literally-own-the-new-york-fed/ (Site may take a couple of tries to load) Archived version if that doesn’t work: https://archive.is/zYcb9 *(And, upon seeing a few requests, I’ve updated the flair from News -> Due Diligence. Hope this helps.)* **Nice job everyone!** ___ **final edit - Today, 10Jan22, ~10PM ET, I was permanently banned, without warning, from news sub for trying to post the following article from bettermarkets.org:** https://bettermarkets.org/newsroom/vice-chairman-claridas-resignation-confirms-there-is-an-epidemic-of-ethical-and-legal-violations-at-the-highest-levels-of-the-federal-reserve/ I’m not sure why, as this is not a political issue, and better markets is a nonpartisan, nonprofit group. Further, I was given no warning, and was told I was banned because my account had an “agenda.” I replied that my only “agenda” was exposing corruption. Here is the conversation. (*The “blank spot” in my final message to them was simply a link to wallstreetonparade’s article. The Apollo app has a bug right now where it sometimes doesn’t show the links you send in messages.*) ___ Convo: > https://imgur.com/a/nntFVwe/ If they decide to unban me I will update this, but so far they have not responded. More and more, it seems that information distribution online cannot be trusted to be fair.

Superstonk

*Four days ago, the Federal Reserve released the names of the banks that had received $4.5 trillion in cumulative loans in the last quarter of 2019 under its emergency repo loan operations for a liquidity crisis that has yet to be credibly explained. Among the largest borrowers were JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, three of the Wall Street banks that were at the center of the subprime and derivatives crisis in 2008 that brought down the U.S. economy. That’s blockbuster news. But as of 7 a.m. this morning, not one major business media outlet has reported the details of the Fed’s big reveal.* *On September 17, 2019, the Fed began making trillions of dollars a month in emergency repo loans to 24 trading houses on Wall Street. The Fed released on a daily basis the dollar amounts it was loaning, but withheld the names of the specific banks and how much they had borrowed. This made it impossible for the public to see which Wall Street firms were experiencing the most severe credit crisis.* *It was the first time the Fed had intervened in the repo market since the 2008 financial crash – the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The COVID-19 crisis remained months away. The first reported case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was not reported by the CDC until January 20, 2020 and the World Health Organization did not declare a pandemic until March 11, 2020.* *The dollar amounts of the Fed’s repo loans grew to staggering levels. On October 24, 2019, we reported the following:* *”The New York Fed will now be lavishing up to $120 billion a day in cheap overnight loans to Wall Street securities trading firms, a daily increase of $45 billion from its previously announced $75 billion a day. In addition, it is increasing its 14-day term loans to Wall Street, a program which also came out of the blue in September, to $45 billion. Those term loans since September have been occurring twice a week, meaning another $90 billion a week will be offered, bringing the total weekly offering to an astounding $690 billion. It should be noted that if the same Wall Street firms are getting these loans continuously rolled over, they are effectively permanent loans. (That’s exactly what happened during the 2007-2010 Wall Street collapse: some teetering Wall Street casinos received, individually, $2 trillion in cumulative loans that were rolled over for two and one-half years – without the authorization or even awareness of Congress or the American people. One bank, Citigroup, received over $2.5 trillion in Fed loans, much of them at an interest rate below 1 percent, at a time when it was insolvent and couldn’t have obtained loans in the open market at even high double-digit interest rates.)”* *Under the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010, the Fed was legally required to release the names of the banks and the amounts they borrowed “on the last day of the eighth calendar quarter following the calendar quarter in which the covered transaction was conducted.” The New York Fed released the information for the third quarter of 2019 last Thursday, a day earlier than required. We reported on it the following day.* *Those Fed revelations, that had been withheld from the American people for two years, should have made front page headlines in newspapers and on the digital front pages of every major business news outlet. Instead, there was a universal news blackout of the story at the largest business news outlets, including: Bloomberg News, the Wall Street Journal, the business section of the New York Times, the Financial Times, Dow Jones’ MarketWatch, and Reuters.* *Could this critically important story have simply slipped by all of the dozens of investigative reporters and Fed watchers at these news outlets? Absolutely not. The Fed was required to release its repo loan data and names of the banks for the span of September 17 through September 30, 2019 at the end of the third quarter of this year. We reported on what that information revealed on October 13. Because we were similarly stunned by the news blackout on that Fed release, out of courtesy we sent our story to the reporters covering the Fed for the major news outlets. Our article alerted each of these reporters that a much larger data release from the Fed, for the full fourth quarter of 2019, would be released on or about December 31. The data was posted at the New York Fed sometime before 1:23 p.m. ET last Thursday.* *A The most puzzling part of this news blackout is that the majority of the reporters who covered this Fed story at the time it was happening in 2019, are still employed at the same news outlets. We emailed a number of them and asked why they were not covering this important story. Silence prevailed. We then emailed the media relations contacts for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Financial Times and the Washington Post, inquiring as to why there was a news blackout on this story. Again, silence.* *Next, we emailed a number of reporters who had covered this story in 2019 but were no longer employed at a major news outlet. We asked their opinion on what could explain this bizarre news blackout on such a major financial story. We received emails praising our reporting but advising that they “can’t comment.”* *The phrase “can’t comment” as opposed to “don’t wish to comment” raised a major alarm bell. Wall Street megabanks are notorious for demanding that their staff sign non-disclosure agreements and non-disparagement agreements in order to get severance pay and other benefits when they are terminated. Are the newsrooms covering Wall Street megabanks now demanding similar gag orders from journalists? If they are, we’re looking at a form of corporate tyranny previously unseen in America.*

7nfejn

Congratulations on your "depreciating asset" OP

"Nice car OP, I'm really happy for you and all, but if you'd bought something else you could have made more money. May I recommend not buying a car in the future, but maybe a house instead or in fact maybe just keep hodling forever? That's how you maximize profit OP, buying that car was a financially unwise decision. But yeah really happy for you OP, big congratulations" Don't be that guy. OP isn't a fucking moron, he didn't make hundreds of thousands by being retarded, he obviously didn't buy an expensive car without realising it will lose resale value. You're not adding anything useful, you're not giving solid advice, you're just being really petty. Meanwhile you probably got a gaming rig and a laptop and an android phone all "depreciating in value" while you're sharing this bullshit advice. Maybe this one time you bought a $10 pizza, but do you realise if you'd put those $10 into ETH when it was worth $3.50 you would have had over $2,000 now?! Have you been wiping your ass with 3-ply toilet paper? Yeah should have used your hand and put all those dollars into ETH. You've literally been wiping your ass with thousands of dollars! But yeah congratulations, real happy you wiped your ass.

ethtrader

I posted this comment in another thread, but not everyone sees a car as a financial asset or investment. For many people owning and maintaining a car is a hobby like any other. They pay money and they get enjoyment out of it. Some people just can't understand that. One of my hobbies is food. I really like making and eating good food and I'm willing to pay a lot for high quality ingredients and eating at fancy restaurants. Why would I pay a bunch of money for something I shove in my face hole and shit out the next day? Why not just buy the cheapest form of nutrition I can find, like dry beans and rice, and just live on that? Because food makes me happy.

l5ptjl

Official Statement Regarding the WSB $GME plays

Good afternoon r/dividends, This post is to let the record show that the moderators of r/dividends support our fellow investors at r/wallstreetbets in their quest to make as much money from the Gamestop short squeeze as possible. This community believes wholeheartedly in all retail investors making money. We do not judge how others choose to earn their fortunes. We wish you all the best of luck in teaching the mainstream investing world some humility. Many of our community members live outside the US and do not have access to American markets. As a result, many of the r/dividends community can only look on and wish the community the best of luck. Thank you for your time. u/Firstclass30

dividends

Sometimes people in WSB give a hard time to r/dividends because they make little money and don't yolo that much, but in reality, we are all here to support and help each other out. That sort of division leads to nowhere and we need to recognize the fact that we are handling our own money is already a victory. We are not giving it to the same people: big banks and hedge fund managers that by their greed crash the economy in 2008 and made extreme gambles such as the CDOs or charge outrageous fees and don't even beat the SPY. If you don't believe me see Warren Buffet and the bet against a hedge fund manager. We are taking chances and we are winning, if some are not winning as much or some are losing money, we as retail investors need to support and nurture each other in the most caring way possible to lead them on a better path. Godspeed and to the moon with your investments! Either dividends or meme stocks! 🚀🚀🚀

irx8l0

I'm wealthy, but no one knows. Can I fuck it up by keeping it as a secret?

How do you cope with disclosing (not disclosing) your finances to others? I don't feel comfortable talking about how much money I earn or have. Not with the random strangers, but with the closest people. My SO of 5 years doesn't know my true net worth. I mean, I don't have to tell anyone, but I'm afraid if at some point in time I say "Honey, I have a **XXXk** of euros, let's buy a home" how should she react that all of a sudden I'm considerably wealthy and I haven't told her before? I feel like she'll feel betrayed that I haven't told her before - it's not like I got it overnight. My online business is doing well in the past few years. I would disclose this to a max of 3 people that I have a closest personal relationship with (family member, SO, and best friend) but I'm still resentful to that idea. Currently, I feel like I'm lying to them when finance topic came to discussion even though no one asked specifically about how much I earn or have. At some point they will probably figure out after I make some big purchase (i.e. property), so is it better to delay it even more or be straightforward? *Random bad idea: One thing that could mask big purchase is to use loan, so I wouldn't have to disclose anything to anyone - ever. Hooraay!* The main reason that no one knows about it is that I don't want people to look at me differently and willingly or unwillingly influence my financial decisions. Does anyone have experience in situations like this? Am I overthinking this and creating potential problems only in my head?

eupersonalfinance

Mate. Your SO needs to know big things like that if you wanna build a home with your SO. In fact, you should do your financial planning together, cards on the table and all. This isn't even something about finances, this is a basic human decency/trust issue. You don't have to tell anyone else (fuck em) but your SO needs to know if you two want to be in a mutually trustful relationship for the long run. Of course, if it's just a fling… but 5 years? Are you planning on staying together?

c84bp

How real-world corruption works.

This is a throwaway account (I'm a longtime redditor under another login). /r/economics might not be the correct place to put this, but it was the best I could think of. I'm a mid-career guy in a business that does a lot of work with governmental and quasi-governmental agencies. I've never ripped anyone off personally, but I have seen and occasionally been an incidental beneficiary of quite a bit of patronage, insider dealing, nepotism, misuse of taxpayer money, and outright corruption. While I have always been honest in my own dealings on a case-by-case basis, I have refrained from many opportunities to be a "whistleblower". A lot of stuff on reddit misunderstands the relationships between wealth, power, and influence. For starters, all the above three are always and have always been inter-related, and probably always will be. And that might not always be a bad thing: those who have risen to high levels of wealth are often pretty smart, and surprisingly often exceptionally honest. Those who rise to high levels of influence usually have some pretty good insight and talent in their area of expertise. Those who have acquired a lot of power tend to be good at accomplishing things that lots of people want to see happen. None of which is purely democratic, nor even purely meritocratic, but there is a certain dose of both kind of baked into the cake: stuff like wealth or family connections only gets you so far in modern, developed, and relatively open and transparent societies such as the US. And while that can be pretty far by normal standards, at some point sunlight does shine through any crack, and outright robbery or complete incompetence is difficult to sustain indefinitely. But there is an awful lot of low-level waste, patronage, and corruption that happens both in the private and in the public sector. Without going ideological, the private sector in a free-ish market has a more immediate system of checks and balances if only because you have to actually persuade the end users to keep buying your stuff for the price you're charging: if it's no good, or if you are grossly over-charging, your customers will tend to catch on sooner or later. But in the public sector, the "consumer" often has little choice... so-called "market discipline" is a lot more diffuse when you have a former-schoolteacher-or-real-estate-broker-turned city councilman whose job it is to disburse a multi-million-dollar street-paving contract or whatever. And neither the schoolteacher nor the real-estate broker has any clue how to write or evaluate a road-paving contract... Let's say that there are three credible bidders for that street-paving contract: * Bidder 1 is "Paver Joe", a local guy with a driveway-paving company and three trucks who sees this as a big opportunity to expand his business and get the city to pay for five new trucks. He puts in a dirt-cheap bid that he wrote up himself with the help of his estate attorney. The cost to taxpayers is very low, but the certainty that he will complete it on schedule and as specified is a little iffy. Paver Joe plans to work overtime and bust his tail on the job, not for profits, but to grow his business. He's offering the taxpayers a great deal, but a slightly risky one. * Bidder 2 is "Muni Paver Inc", a company who has the experience and expertise to do the job, who knows what's involved and who has done this work before. They already have the trucks, their workers are all unionized and paid "prevailing wage", everything will be done by the book, all their EPA certifications are in place, etc... The bid is a lot more expensive than Paver Joe, but it's credible and reliable. They are offering the taxpayers a degree of certainty and confidence that Paver Joe cannot match. * Bidder 3 is me, "Corruptocorp". Instead of Paver Joe's 2-page contract with typos, or Muni-Paving's 20-page contract, I'm offering the city council a full package of videos, brochures, and a 40-page contract with a price just a tad higher than Paver Joe (my quoted price is meaningless, as we will see). Moreover, I'm inviting the city council to Corruptocorp-owned suites in a golf resort near my headquarters to give my presentation (all expenses paid, of course, and of course, bring your spouses). There the city council members will, after the first day of golf, dinner, dancing, and cocktails, see a slideshow and chorus-line of smiling multi-ethnic faces and working mothers talking about how much Corruptocorp's paving improved their town and their lives. I'll then stand up and tell a self-effacing joke about being one of those corporate guys trying to get their money, and then I'll wax a bit emotional about my small-town roots and how Corruptocorp was started by a man with a simple dream to make life better for everyone, and to do well by doing good in local communities, and that we actually plan to hire local contractors such as Joe's Paving to do the work, backed our economies of scale and reliability. I'll mention that paragraph 32 subsection B of our proposal mandates twice-yearly performance reviews by the city council, to of course be held at the golf resort, at Corruptocorp's expense, ("so I hope to see you all back here every February and August!"), and of course I make sure that each of them has my "personal" cell phone and home numbers in case they have any questions.... So needless to say I get the bid, and six months later it's time for our review at the golf resort. After dinner and cocktails I step up to the podium and announce that there is both good news and bad news: *"The bad news is that our subcontractor has found over 1,000 rocks in the road. And as I'm sure you know, paragraph 339 subsection D.12 specifies that any necessary rock removal will be done at prevailing wages, currently $1,500 per rock, for a total cost overrun of $1.5 million. But the good news is (and believe me, I had to fight long and hard for this with the board of directors), Corruptocorp has agreed to remove those rocks for only $1,000 apiece! So even though there have been some cost overruns, your smart decisions have saved your taxpayers **half a million dollars**! Give yourselves a round of applause!"* *"Now, the other situation is that there has been some 'difficult terrain' as described in subsection 238b, which I'm sure you're all familiar with. And as you know, 'difficult terrain' is not covered by the contract, which is for paving, not for turning mountains into flat roads... (wistful chuckle). Now, technically, according to the contract, we should be charging your town prevailing rates for these sections, but I've worked it so that you will be allowed to re-bid them, if you wish, since our contract doesn't specifically include terrain as described in subsection 238b."* Now the contract price has doubled, and Corruptocorp has completely sidestepped all of the difficult and costly work, taking profits only on the easy stuff. The city council members can either admit that they were duped and bought (political suicide), or can simply feed corruptocorp's line to the voters. Which do you think will happen? And it gets even worse on smaller scales: look up your local building or electrical inspector. Ten-to-one he is a relative, friend, or campaign donor to the mayor or city council. What's in it for him? Every single construction or home improvement project not only has to pay him a fee, it also has to pass his inspection. Guess which contractors are most likely to pass his inspection? His brothers, friends, family... or the cheapest guy who for some reason has a hard time finding work in this town? Guess how the local inspector feels about homeowner self-improvements: does he think they are a great way for regular people to improve their wealth with a little elbow grease, or does he see them as stealing work from his friends and family? The US military is by far the most wasteful customer I've ever had. I'll talk about that if this topic gets any interest. edit: as promised, here's the post about military spending: http://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/c84bp/how_realworld_corruption_works/c0qrt6i

Economics

Thats a really well-written and illustrative story, but I would posit that this relatively minor level of corruption is probably (a) not that harmful, and (b) somewhat unavoidable. The real issue with corruption is that it scales exponentially in terms of harm as you move from County -> State -> Federal. By the time it reaches the Federal level, the corruption is not just stealing money, but writing laws and setting governmental policies. For instance at the state level you see it with our prison-industrial complex. All the well meaning (and somewhat naive) redditors that think that people just need to be exposed to the concept of drug legalization....fail to realize that it will never happen, not for moral reasons, but for economic. The "black leather boot" contract for DEA agents alone is a multi-million dollar thing. Moreover - and more insidiously - the sum total of employees working in (a) prisons, (b) law enforcement, (c) supply chain to a + b, and (d) families of all the above creates a *huge* voting block that will only vote for candidates that think throwing stoners in prison is a great idea. This state-level corruption again grows by an exponential leap as you move upwards...eventually where Congress itself agrees to outsource its money creation ability to a private contractor (aka. The Federal Reserve). The resulting banking oligarchy then dictates all national and international policies to push for ever more debt. Social welfare programs are not hoisted upon us because politicians feel bad for poor people, its because the bankers know its an unending debt parade that will only grow. Ditto Wars. What a great way to force customers to continually ask for money but to plunge them into wars against concepts (ie. Global War on Terror).

l5ptjl

Official Statement Regarding the WSB $GME plays

Good afternoon r/dividends, This post is to let the record show that the moderators of r/dividends support our fellow investors at r/wallstreetbets in their quest to make as much money from the Gamestop short squeeze as possible. This community believes wholeheartedly in all retail investors making money. We do not judge how others choose to earn their fortunes. We wish you all the best of luck in teaching the mainstream investing world some humility. Many of our community members live outside the US and do not have access to American markets. As a result, many of the r/dividends community can only look on and wish the community the best of luck. Thank you for your time. u/Firstclass30

dividends

This is the way. Hedge funds throwing millions at redditors pockets. Im gladly one of them nice to see this community so together. Honestly, i got so much love for reddit and for r/dividends and r/wallstreetbets

nbrwhl

I think I’m done

The $10k I put into eth over the past 18 months is worth about $75k at the moment. I am considering selling at least half today, to lock in some gains, but may just sell all of it. I come from modest means and have modest expectations in terms of lifestyle. 65k in profit is not exactly a life changing amount of money, but it’s a lot, even after taxes, and not something I’m comfortable risking any more. I fully recognize that eth will probably be worth more in the future, but this is eth *trader* after all, not eth holder. This is a good trade. Putting a down payment on a house this summer is my personal moon. I salute those of you who have the courage to power thorough long term. Please hire me as your butler in 10 years.

ethtrader

No shame. I would consider not selling all though. Hold even as little as 15% of your original eth just don't sell it all. You should probably still afford your down payment and you can keep your feet in ETH and use the gains to pay down the mortgage faster. Just my 2 cents though you do you and do what you think is best.

lxd6d5

It's crazy that I almost thought about monetizing this, rather than giving it for free. It's time to realize and the real flaw of money--it makes people selfish. I want to end that and make people care about each other again. Here is my year long TradingView project, for free. I keep the code tho :)

Make sure you backtest this baby to learn how it works, but god damn has it improved my winrate drastically. I love retail traders. But to hell with the institutions that manipulate this game in their favor and take advantage of people like us only trying to earn a nice life for our families. Here is my hard-work, and I'm giving it to you all to look out for the little guy, like the stupidly wealthy of society fail and refuse to do. [https://www.tradingview.com/script/dBpudiCE-Volume-Strength-Indicator/](https://www.tradingview.com/script/dBpudiCE-Volume-Strength-Indicator/) Comment below any questions regarding the use of this indicator and I will try to answer as many as I can. I wish everyone a sincere, honest luck with the markets. May we all master them one day and earn the lives we can only dream of. Btw I will be starting a Youtube series to educate people on how to make their own market edge. If that is something there is a lot of interest for, be sure to let me know, and I can get started on it ASAP. Thanks and love you guys, T. EDIT: Due to some overwhelming demand I will be releasing a short tutorial video on YouTube to go over some uses I have found with this unique indicator. I will update with the link when it's live.

Trading

I haven’t really checked out the indi yet, but man I like your style. I can help with your website, maybe convert to TOS, idk other stuff too probably. Feel free to pm if you need anything. You rock.

l9f2m3

I guess Thetagang is my new home now

Long time WSB member. Been dabbling in Thetagang for years even when it was all one in WSB. Really sucks to see WSB blow up so quickly and lose the culture. There used to be some really solid DD and some really smart people just acting like a bunch of idiots. Now, it’s just a bunch of idiots. So with that. I guess Theta gang is the new home, where I can intelligently discuss stock plays and not just see retards spam emojis and try to “bring down hedge funds” Please don’t let the noobs find this sub.

thetagang

With you bro, glad to find thetagang, been apart of WSB for years and while I get they don't really care about "stupid" stuff like position size, scaling or risk management, the "DiAMoND hANdS eeRrrYtINg" crap is really old. Feels just like 2017 with hodl and bitcoin. We get it. Big money bad. GME good.

lxgsec

All our favorite stocks are being shorted!

https://shortdata.ca/largest-short-positions/ List includes: HITI FLT EXRO NUMI NEXE GDNP CBDT FANS DFLY TRIP What are you thoughts? Why are these retards shorting companies that for the most part, want to make the world a better place?

Canadapennystocks

That's to be expected, the big players have now learned to watch what's going on on Reddit to see which stocks will be pumped by users migrating left and right everytime people release a new DD. Didn't you notice that every new ticker that gets mentioned ends up going down? Someone who already has a position at a low price will release a DD to get people to buy in, then a bunch of people who were there for a long time will see their profit go up, sell tons of shares and down the shitter it goes. People can laugh all they want about Cramer, saying that when he mentions a ticker it's time to sell, but the same thing is happening with tickers mentioned on Reddit.

o6pifl

i was gifted 10,000 dollars of IBM stock

basically, i'm one of like 10 people in the family who was given this stock and it looks like I was given the least amount of anyone, but i'll take it. So, i'm wondering if I should keep it or just sell and dump into my VOO fund. IBM grew almost 1000% since the mid 90s, but does the stock have any room to grow? Its late to the game in cloud, but it does have a tight grip on the mainframe market because the government and many other companies will not give up their mainframes.

investing

I see a lot of answers that say "sell it!" or "don't sell it!" but at the end of the day the way to make a rational decision is: *If you were handed that money right now in $10K in cash, would you spend it on IBM?* If not, you should put the money elsewhere.

dhuq60

Bernie Sanders unveils plan to raise corporate tax rate to 35% and ban stock buybacks

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders introduced a plan on Monday that would reverse President Donald Trump's tax cuts for businesses and return the corporate tax rate to 35% from its current 21%. The Corporate Accountability and Democracy Plan would also eliminate many of the tax breaks and loopholes in the tax code and do away with off-shore tax havens. The senator is also calling to democratize corporate boards, ban stock buybacks and diversify corporations. The detailed plan includes these highlights, according to the campaign website: - Nearly half of the board of directors in any large corporation with at least $100 million in annual revenue, corporations with at least $100 million in balance sheet total, and all publicly traded companies would be directly elected by the firm's workers. - They would be required to consider the interests of all of the stakeholders in a company – including workers, customers, shareholders and the communities in which the corporation operates. - Large-scale stock buybacks would be "treated like stock manipulation" via repeal of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Rule 10b-18. - Rules would be developed to diversify corporate boards "ensuring a significant portion of every board be comprised of people from historically underrepresented groups." And they would require every corporation to "complete an annual report that gives the compensation, gender, and racial composition of board and employees." [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/10/14/bernie-sanders-would-raise-corporate-tax-rate-to-35percent-ban-stock-buybacks.html)

investing

>"complete an annual report that gives the compensation, gender, and racial composition of board and employees." Is there a legal definition for determine one's race? Like, could a half white/half Asian person simply claim to be either "white" or "Asian", and ignore the fact that they are mixed? As demand for defacto racial quotas increase, I can't help but wonder if we will see an increasing number of people who are clearly visibly one race claim to be an entirely different race, simply because they are bold enough to play off the fact that since race is a social construct without a scientific basis, there can be no objective measurement to be used to identify the race of any given person other than the subjective human interpretation.

7ouwwz

Who remembers the days when eth was stuck on $300

Whilst all other crypto went up in value... Those were some frustrating times but I always believed in ethereum and I'm glad I stuck with it and didn't move to bitcoin and litecoin because in all honesty I don't at all believe in those technologies. Ethereum for me is the future. I can see it's potential use cases in the real world and I am excited as fuck right now to see the price at over $1000

ethtrader

I remember buying on day 1 of the crowd sale. Then later, during the second round of the crowd sale wherein buyers could obtain less Eth for the same amount of money, I sat on my toilet taking a shit, staring at the Ethereum Foundation Website on my HTC smart phone, thinking "I should buy more. This might be huge." But I passed, as 23 cents per Eth was WAY more than the 17 Cents per eth I just bought. No fool am I, I thought. Those were the good old days, when FUDsters called us Vaporware, when VB personally responded to my reddit comments. I remember when Eth shot up to $7, and telling my wife about my $450 investment and how it could pay our mortgage for a year. We sold a bit at first (I now sleep on a bed that I purchased two years ago with the sale of 100 ETH). I continued to sell a bit off here and there, to pay to remodel our kitchen when a pipe burst, to pay for my Bar exam, to pay off our credit card debt so my wife could quit her job and stay home with our three young boys and not work. I've got enough left now to PAY OFF the entire mortgage and my LAW SCHOOL DEBT. My boys have a full-time mom, I have a career as an attorney, I'm going to be 100% debt free by the end of the year and still have some left over to... So if anyone out there reading this ever sees VB in person, or can get a message to him, tell that dude I owe him a beer.

l7jcxx

IM URGING YOU TO READ IF YOU OWN AMC

Guys, first off i’ve been part of this community for only a short time, a little bit before this whole short interest craze but I seriously love the amazing things we’ve done for peoples lives. I’ve read about college kids paying off their student loans, people being able to afford to pay for family members cancer treatment, pet owners being able to afford their pups surgery. It’s incredible and I couldn’t be more proud to know I have a stake in this historical moment in time with all of you. You see those headlines? That pushback from the big suits of wall street? WE did that. Together. If today was any indication at all, they are shitting their pants right now. I urge all of you to hold AMC and take advantage of dips if you’re inclined to do so. Please do not fall for hedge funds manipulating the market to send you into a panic sell frenzy. The squeeze may not be tomorrow, and maybe not Monday, but it’s coming. I was DEEP in the red today and in any other scenario, I’d be panicking but this is bigger than me. It’s bigger than you, yes you reading this. This is a chance for us to come together as a collective and revolutionize the economy for better. Do your DD, stay on the ball, don’t let emotions cloud your judgement. I’m here to ride or die, AMC (and GME) to the fuckin moon baby, i love all you morons🚀🚀🚀🚀🌕🌕🌕💎🙌📈📈 (edit: ik this technically isn’t a penny stock but we do have an AMC mega thread here)

pennystocks

IM IN AMC FOR THE LONG RUN AND IM NOT FUCKING LEAVING! 2K+ SHARES DEEP AND IM ADDING MORE TOMORROW! ITS TIME TO STOP GETTING FUCKED AND START DOING THE FUCKING! HOLD THAT FUCKING LINE TOMORROW!🔥🚀🌕🪐#SaveAMC 

rqsh26

My wife and I disagree. We've reached our crypto goal of a house downpayment. She says pull now before interest rates spike, I say HODL. Thoughts?

Here's the facts. We live in one of the most expensive cities in North america. Average two/three bedroom townhouse here is about 900k. We have finally saved up 15% of a down payment (other 5% covered) and we would love to get into the market before our family expands and before the inevitable interest rate hikes in the new year. Most of the holding is in ETH. We're kind of going sideways with price right now but I would still cover the down payment if I pulled today at a recent low (4800cdn). My question is, if even 1% of an interest rate hike means an extra $100k on a mortgage, is holding for 6 months to a year to see a possible 10K eth a smart move? Am I basically gaining more crypto but paying more for a house as the rates go up? I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. A lot of hard work got me to the single goal that most crypto apes hold for, a house, but now I'm finding it impossible to pull the trigger. Also I don't know shit about fuck and she's probably smarter than me. Ps: yes i'll make sure to ignore any DMs with great offers on how to double my eth thx EDIT: Thank you everyone for your solid advice, knowledge and stories. I didn't expect such a reaction. They say you should always bet against the common sentiment in the sub but today we prove them wrong. I think I know what I need to do now.

CryptoCurrency

If you end up holding and things go south , you'll hear a "I told you so" from your wife. But if you sell and buy a house and then it ends up mooning you get to say "I told you so" to your wife while having a new house. So buy that house.

71c0w4

[UPDATE] I found out that a coworker in the same position, with the same education, experience, workload, etc. is making almost twice what I make

[Original Post](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6t8hme/i_found_out_that_a_coworker_in_the_same_position/?st=J7T77MXH&sh=810eb4d6) For those of you who read my original post, I just wanted to update. Everyone was so encouraging and supportive, I really did not expect it! After making my post, I met with my boss in order to inform her that I needed a raise. She told me she would submit a pay raise request. 1 week later she called me into her office. She absolutely berated me for thinking I could move into the coordinator position for which I was already doing the work, and complained about my work performance. Last month I had an evaluation, and received very high praise for my performance, and there has not ever been complaints about my performance in the past. All in all, I assume she was making excuses not to increase my pay. Fast forward a bit, and I received a text from the wife of one of my boyfriend's friends, offering me a job at a rehab facility. I interviewed for the job, and they offered me the position at $20 an hour ($6 more an hour than my current job). In the meantime, my boss called me into her office AGAIN, and informed me that I was VERY fortunate, as corporate had approved my pay increase. She stated that she "truly shot for the stars when submitting my new pay" and that corporate had "gone above and beyond" anything she ever thought I would receive: $17 an hour. Still $7 less than my coworker. I accepted the new job, and put in my two weeks notice. My boss was absolutely side swept. She could not believe that I was quitting. She waited a day, and called me into her office yet again, and asked me what they were offering me that was so great that I would choose to leave. I told her $20 an hour. She said, "If I can offer you that, will you stay?" Wow. And here I thought $17 was above and beyond what they could ever offer me. I told her I would think about it. In the meantime, I contacted my new employer and informed them that my current employer was offering to match their offer to keep me, and got an even bigger offer from them. I start next Monday!! Thank you r/personalfinance for all your support and advice! I can't wait to start my new job :)

personalfinance

The stark reality is that is how the world operates. It happened to me too. I was given a 6% raise at my annual review and was told that I was very lucky to get that. 2 months later, I have an offer from another company, and all of a sudden, they're willing to give me a 25% raise on top of the 6%, plus a 20% retention bonus. If a company had 100 employees grumbling about pay, 95 of them wouldn't do more than complain. Of the remaining five, three would accept counter offers and the other two would leave. That means the company only has to give 3% of the people big raises and deal with 2% turnover.

mpzbju

It is done

​ [Because editing my name out of 4 JPEGs is fuck \(also lifeline didnt email a receipt yet\)](https://preview.redd.it/rs0tn8agvws61.png?width=2048&format=png&auto=webp&s=80f27687dd731dd419a0138586c54a4a8ebe5167) Hey Cunts, So the last few runs of DW8 and EXR have finally pipped me over the $100k portfolio I made a promise back in Jan to donate $10k once i hit this milesone..([https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX\_Bets/comments/l6hwxu/rasx\_bets\_gives\_back\_a\_pledge/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l6hwxu/rasx_bets_gives_back_a_pledge/)) It is with the utmost humbleness that I offer my tendies to these organisations as a thank you to all of you who have allowed me to find financial independence that I could have only dreamed of what feels like a short year ago. Although this might look like an outrageous humblebrag (whales have big peepees etc) - that really isnt my aim. I do hope that others, who have made profits, consider giving back in their communities if you can afford to do so. Im not very good at this trading shit and most of it is dumb luck for me. But I hope it continues so that when i reach $150k I can make another donation. A few shoutouts for anyone still reading this: Im donating to Batyr because they do awesome work in mental health prevention in young australians. That donation is in the name of a friend who took her life and left us too soon. Her name was Carli. Im donating to Lifeline because the service they provide is amazing and saves lives. The donation is in the name of another friend who took her own life and is dearly missed. Her name was Denise. Im donating to guide dogs Aus because I like dogs. Also u/kervio suggested naming a dog ("Tendie") which would be fukn rad - but it costs like $35k to name a dog so yeah... nah. Im donating to Autism Austrlia with the literal message of "u/stinkyfatwhale is donating these funds on behalf of all the cucks on r/ASX_Bets". Im not sure if the people at Autism australia will find that funny but idgaf and they $2.5k to the good so meh. Also u/urban_avocado suggested it and it got the most up ticky things. A massive shoutout to all my madlad autistic big peepee smol brain friends that ive met and made within this community. Its been a fukn blast. I could try name you all - but ill just fuck up and type your names wrong and its gonna be a mess. Typing with fat flippers is hard enough as it is. u/username-taken82 \- you may take me off the purge list if im still on it - If more proof is required i can provide the actual tax receipts to these organisations for verification purposes - Just DM me. (except lifeline - coz they slow as fuck but ill get it from them eventually - TAX RETURN BABY) lucky last - huge thank you to the mods u/letsburn00 u/The_lordofruin u/phantom_hax0r u/username-taken82 u/mcfucking and even AutoMod for keeping all these retards in some semblance of order and creating an awesome community. mad respect lads. *"May your tendies be plentiful so you can ride a coke line to the moon🚀" - Ghandi* Godspeed retards 🐋❤ Stinky

ASX_Bets

You're a legend, it doesn't matter how much you give, the fact that you give is what matters most. ​ To anyone reading this, even its a few cents that you can afford to share based on the money you make; for the right causes which are taken care of by the right organisations, please do so....It'll make you feel like a better person each time you do it....trust me ! ​ **just an idea, you can also feed the birdies in your neighborhood too for a start, by buying some bird-feed and a tray to keep their feed in**

l78fuh

I just bought $5,000 in $GME. I would not have done this if the brokerages didn't try to manipulate the market.

I've been following /r/wallstreetbets for years. Usually just for a laugh as I am a stodgy buy and hold guy and don't speculate often. When I saw the $GME shit happening a week ago I thought it was pure stupidity and was not planning on investing. In fact, I bought some $GME puts (which I've since sold since somehow they've gone up based on volatility) betting against the crowd here. However, what has started as a decentralized short squeeze has morphed into a class movement. I'm a big populist and think we need big changes in this country, especially a transfer of wealth and power from the elites to the people. When this morphed into a class movement I became obsessed. However, I still wasn't going to buy in because I shy away from speculating on ultra risky stuff like this. But when Robinhood and all the other major brokerages colluded to cause a massive sell off, that's when it became a matter of principle. I've watched all day as the stock has remained relatively stable on very little volume. People are holding despite wall street twisting your arm and trying to make you tap out by only allowing you to sell. It's a beautiful thing to see. I don't think of my purchase as an investment, but as putting my own skin in the game as a fuck you against a rigged system.

wallstreetbets

I also only bought in because of sheer rage at the response. *edit: There are barriers of entry for hedge funds because they are considered high risk, but when the high risk comes calling, their buddies bail them out. If we lost everything because we placed bad bets, fair enough. But this became rich folks manipulating the market to help other rich folks. Screw that.

vtlw5c

The U.S. is not a democracy anymore, it is an oligarchy

3 people have more money than the bottom 50% of Americans. 3 investment firms control virtually everything: Blackstone, Vanguard, State Street. Most Congress, House, Senators, and even the president are bribed and paid off by big corporations to do their bidding, which usually means fucking over the middle/lower classes in every way including gaming the system so they don’t have to pay any taxes while the middle class carries most of the tax burden. Student loan companies are spending hundreds of millions bribing politicians, hiring lobbyists, flooding mass media with anti-loan forgiveness leaning news articles, to keep student loans high and extremely difficult to pay off so we stay debt slaves for the rest of our life while they live a decadent life of luxury The only way things will change is when all the working poor unite, take over the military from within, and guillotine the top 0.01% multi-billionaires pulling the strings of politicians in their pockets just like the French Revolution in the 1700s

economy

> Student loan companies are spending hundreds of millions bribing politicians LOL > [Most student loans — about 92% — are owned by the U.S. Department of Education.](https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/student-loans/student-loan-debt)

l6utb0

Crazy thought..WSB might have just made Value investing cool again.

Sounds crazy but WSB just made value investing cool again. I know right now its all hype and momo investing but the guy that started it all was a value investor named deepf&ingvalue. He bought gamestop as a value play, they are celebrating michael burry for his value play. I know this is value play plus huge luck that market shenanigans amplified your play, but still it started as a value play. I think when its all over people will start looking for the next gamestock buy digging through undervalued out of favor stocks. plus when everyone loses money they always come to Buffett.

ValueInvesting

Right now GME is all momentum but once the dust settles I do think more ppl will be interested in value investing and investing in general. They won't be going back to not investing, that's for sure, and while some ppl might still use some of their portfolio for shits and giggles, a significant portion could be dedicated to value investing. My concern is that some ppl might not be satisfied with conservative gains after seeing a 300% jump in 3 days.

lag8zs

How To Become a Consistent Profitable Trader (My Favourite Set Up)

Hey guys, I’ve had a few comments on reddit and instagram to explain the ATH (all time high) breakout trades I take on a daily basis and so here it is. I’m a full time trader and I hope you guys find this helpful. To explain this in great detail would take hours upon hours however I’ve wrote up a simplified description to make it digestible. “We do not trade ideas we trade set ups” As professional traders you should not be trading ideas, you should be trading sets ups. Something that you can measure, replicate, improve upon and learn from. Not random events. Here’s an example of how a novice traders mind may work: You see an article pop up about a Tesla car that was on auto pilot and crashed into a stationary car causing injury to both the driver and the passenger. Your instant thoughts are “This could effect Tesla’s stock price” and you put it on your watchlist for the day. Now the issue with this is this the specific event Is not measurable. The way in which the stock reacts will be random and you won’t be able to use the stats for any other trades. Making the event a coin flip and therefore a gamble. Focus on set ups not ideas. It’s ok to have an idea for the set up but the set up HAS TO BE THERE. Now lets get straight to it. What is an all time high breakout? 1. The answer is simple. This is when a stock breaks out into a new ATH. Why is this such a good set up to take? 1. Because everybody who’s EVER brought the stock is now in the GREEN “no reason to sell” and everybody who’s shorting the stock is now red “May look to cover” Here’s how it works: A lot of professional traders, myself included, love the all time high break outs for many reasons. The main being the explosive moves it can often provide. Due to this a lot of day traders, swing traders, investors, funds and algorithms will monitor the market for these potential plays. Meaning they’re often on the buying side. This is why you can see what appears to be a stock doing very little yet the moment it trickles over it’s previous ATH high it can rally for days. It’s called “buying the breakout” You see the market is run on mostly Human emotion, we know this but very few understand how that works. The reason most people lose money in the market is they are untrained and do not have the discipline to handle their own barbaric emotions. Here’s why that’s important. For this example we’ll call the company $STONKS it’s been on the market for 3 years and it’s current all time high is $10. Some bad news comes out and the stock gaps down to $8 causing people to panic sell and the stock to drop even further. Over the next 12 months it drops to a low of $5 until finally reclaiming to today at $9.90. It’s been consolidating between $9 and $9.90 for 10 days. For the past year there has been a lot of people bag holding. Those who brought at the previous all time high have seen their investment drop by 50% and slowly recover. In between this time a lot of people have cut their loses, some have averaged down, new investors have “brought the dip” and we’re now back to where we was a year ago. Now we have a few things at play here. 1. Those who rode through the entire year, the 50% drop and who haven’t sold now at break even clearly have no intention to sell. 2. Out of those who brought the dip some will have sold and some and still holding onto their shares even though the price has been stagment the past 10 days. 3. For the past 10 days people have been buying consistently and have been paying $9 or above for the stock. Showing a growing interest and price acceptance at these prices. 4. People who shorted the stock are now either at break even or at a loss. 5. Anybody new who wants to purchase some shares has currently got to pay all time high prices. The longer we consolidate at these price the more powerful the move can become, why you ask? Because it has more chance of the float being rotated. Understand that the first time $STONKS went up to $10 1 year ago the average price paid by an investor may have been $3 which meant a lot of profit taking occurred. When the bad news hit a lot of those investors jumped ship. Causing more supply than demand and therefore the price to drop. Fast forward to today and the longer it consolidates above $9 the high the AVG price held will be. When this happens the buyers are literally sitting on basically no loss nor no gain giving them no reason to sell. For those unaware, if you short a stock the only way to get out for a loss is to cover your position. This in turn means “buying the stock”. Creating more buying pressure. Short positions will often risk in this scenario the all time high. Meaning if it breaks they start to cover. If they start to cover it increases buying pressure and with buying pressure increasing the stock moves up (extremely simple explanation). So we as traders recognise the stock is setting up for an ATH breakout and here’s what we do. We decide we want to risk $2,000 in the stock. We buy $500 worth at 9.20 known as a starter position and we wait. A week goes by and it’s still chopping between this range. A press release then comes out (a bullish catalyst). The market opens are $STONKS see’s a huge 15 minute candle at open. The largest amount of volume it’s seen in months. On that volume it breaks $10 and instantly jumps to $10.50. We managed to get our other $1,500 in at $10.20 bringing our average to roughly $9.90 a share. We move our stop loss to below the previous ATH with some breathing room AKA $9.50/share. Everybody who now has shares in this stock prior to today is in the green, they’re estactic. Those who held through the entire past year and refused to sell are now mentioning how they’re in profit on an investment they made to work colleagues. Short positions are now aware there’s no resistance and start covering “buying shares”. FOMO buyers who are “trading the news” (not a set up ;) ) are now buying in. Professional swing traders are buying the break out, day traders are buying the opening drive. Everybody is buying.. The stock closes at $12 marking a 25% daily gain. Barrons, CNBC, MSN all post above how $STONKS rallied into ATH due to X,Y,Z The following morning the stock gaps up. People are hyped, pre market goes wild and opens at $16. We instantly sell half… The stock is extremely extended as new investors flurry in, we sell them some more. There’s now 25% left of our original investment. We move our stop loss under PM support and go to focus on the next set up. The same set up. Something we can measure. Something we take day in day out. If the stock goes to 20 then we don’t get annoyed we could have missed out on further profits as it wasn’t our trade. The stock taps 20, massive selling occurs and settles around 14. Where it stays for months, consolidationg. Meanwhile, we’re just waiting for it to once again set up. So how do I find these trades? I use trading view, I create a list of sectors such as EVs, Solar, Tech, AI etc etc and I scan through each day. Literally just flick through. Is the stock near it’s ATH? If not, I go to the next and the next. My indicators are as follows. Volume Profile, RSI (for the daily only) That’s it. If you master just this single set up you can make money consistently. Why? Because it’s measurable, you can improve upon it. You can learn from each event but most importantly you have a set plan where the market is in your favour for the outcome to work. Never under estimate human emotion. I post all my trades on Instagram at the moment but I’ll look into posting my watchlist here too if it’ll help you guys. Feel free to ask questions.

Daytrading

I have been slowly trying to learn more about day trading over the past several months, and man, this was the most concise, simplified write up I have seen. Thank you! Just a quick question, it sounds like you hold positions overnight in these situations? I thought that wasn't common due to potential problems outside if trading hours? Obviously, as you said, you should analyze and try to improve upon strategies. Thanks again!!

l6xpjg

Trading212 banning people from buying GME and AMC. This is unacceptable!

I don't have any GME/AMC, I'm not riding this hype train, but I find it ridiculous that a broker is basically prohibiting people to invest in whatever they want. It's their money, not yours, T212. Great thing I abandoned them! https://i.imgur.com/h6HMchO.png

eupersonalfinance

Still possible on degiro with limit orders. Message in trader: ## Trading in GME & AMC possible with Limit orders Dear Investor, Due to extreme market conditions in AMC Entertainment Holdings (US00165C1045) and GameStop (US36467W1099) the order types with non defined execution price are currently not available. This is to protect our clients. Trading in these stocks is possible with regular limit order. No extra fees apply. Order types for other products are not affected. Kind regards, DEGIRO

ijvpry

The US spends 23% budget on healthcare but U.K. spends 20% so how can the latter afford universal healthcare but the US can’t ?

Sources: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending_in_the_United_States https://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/government_spending.html?show=n

AskEconomics

The US Federal budget is (for FY2021) $4.829 trillion while the UK's budget (converted to dollars to keep things easier) is about $1.167 trillion. Using the percentages you've given (which I have no reason to doubt), this means that the US will spend about $1,110 billion on healthcare while the UK will spend $230 billion The population of the US is 328 million, which means that the US will spend, on average, $3,384 per year on each citizen. The UK, by comparison has about 66.65 million people, which means they'll spend $3,450 per year on each citizen, again on average. Are these dollars per person all that different? No, they're not. Could the US afford universal healthcare? Almost certainly. Should they? Totally different question and not one I'm going into on here.

c84bp

How real-world corruption works.

This is a throwaway account (I'm a longtime redditor under another login). /r/economics might not be the correct place to put this, but it was the best I could think of. I'm a mid-career guy in a business that does a lot of work with governmental and quasi-governmental agencies. I've never ripped anyone off personally, but I have seen and occasionally been an incidental beneficiary of quite a bit of patronage, insider dealing, nepotism, misuse of taxpayer money, and outright corruption. While I have always been honest in my own dealings on a case-by-case basis, I have refrained from many opportunities to be a "whistleblower". A lot of stuff on reddit misunderstands the relationships between wealth, power, and influence. For starters, all the above three are always and have always been inter-related, and probably always will be. And that might not always be a bad thing: those who have risen to high levels of wealth are often pretty smart, and surprisingly often exceptionally honest. Those who rise to high levels of influence usually have some pretty good insight and talent in their area of expertise. Those who have acquired a lot of power tend to be good at accomplishing things that lots of people want to see happen. None of which is purely democratic, nor even purely meritocratic, but there is a certain dose of both kind of baked into the cake: stuff like wealth or family connections only gets you so far in modern, developed, and relatively open and transparent societies such as the US. And while that can be pretty far by normal standards, at some point sunlight does shine through any crack, and outright robbery or complete incompetence is difficult to sustain indefinitely. But there is an awful lot of low-level waste, patronage, and corruption that happens both in the private and in the public sector. Without going ideological, the private sector in a free-ish market has a more immediate system of checks and balances if only because you have to actually persuade the end users to keep buying your stuff for the price you're charging: if it's no good, or if you are grossly over-charging, your customers will tend to catch on sooner or later. But in the public sector, the "consumer" often has little choice... so-called "market discipline" is a lot more diffuse when you have a former-schoolteacher-or-real-estate-broker-turned city councilman whose job it is to disburse a multi-million-dollar street-paving contract or whatever. And neither the schoolteacher nor the real-estate broker has any clue how to write or evaluate a road-paving contract... Let's say that there are three credible bidders for that street-paving contract: * Bidder 1 is "Paver Joe", a local guy with a driveway-paving company and three trucks who sees this as a big opportunity to expand his business and get the city to pay for five new trucks. He puts in a dirt-cheap bid that he wrote up himself with the help of his estate attorney. The cost to taxpayers is very low, but the certainty that he will complete it on schedule and as specified is a little iffy. Paver Joe plans to work overtime and bust his tail on the job, not for profits, but to grow his business. He's offering the taxpayers a great deal, but a slightly risky one. * Bidder 2 is "Muni Paver Inc", a company who has the experience and expertise to do the job, who knows what's involved and who has done this work before. They already have the trucks, their workers are all unionized and paid "prevailing wage", everything will be done by the book, all their EPA certifications are in place, etc... The bid is a lot more expensive than Paver Joe, but it's credible and reliable. They are offering the taxpayers a degree of certainty and confidence that Paver Joe cannot match. * Bidder 3 is me, "Corruptocorp". Instead of Paver Joe's 2-page contract with typos, or Muni-Paving's 20-page contract, I'm offering the city council a full package of videos, brochures, and a 40-page contract with a price just a tad higher than Paver Joe (my quoted price is meaningless, as we will see). Moreover, I'm inviting the city council to Corruptocorp-owned suites in a golf resort near my headquarters to give my presentation (all expenses paid, of course, and of course, bring your spouses). There the city council members will, after the first day of golf, dinner, dancing, and cocktails, see a slideshow and chorus-line of smiling multi-ethnic faces and working mothers talking about how much Corruptocorp's paving improved their town and their lives. I'll then stand up and tell a self-effacing joke about being one of those corporate guys trying to get their money, and then I'll wax a bit emotional about my small-town roots and how Corruptocorp was started by a man with a simple dream to make life better for everyone, and to do well by doing good in local communities, and that we actually plan to hire local contractors such as Joe's Paving to do the work, backed our economies of scale and reliability. I'll mention that paragraph 32 subsection B of our proposal mandates twice-yearly performance reviews by the city council, to of course be held at the golf resort, at Corruptocorp's expense, ("so I hope to see you all back here every February and August!"), and of course I make sure that each of them has my "personal" cell phone and home numbers in case they have any questions.... So needless to say I get the bid, and six months later it's time for our review at the golf resort. After dinner and cocktails I step up to the podium and announce that there is both good news and bad news: *"The bad news is that our subcontractor has found over 1,000 rocks in the road. And as I'm sure you know, paragraph 339 subsection D.12 specifies that any necessary rock removal will be done at prevailing wages, currently $1,500 per rock, for a total cost overrun of $1.5 million. But the good news is (and believe me, I had to fight long and hard for this with the board of directors), Corruptocorp has agreed to remove those rocks for only $1,000 apiece! So even though there have been some cost overruns, your smart decisions have saved your taxpayers **half a million dollars**! Give yourselves a round of applause!"* *"Now, the other situation is that there has been some 'difficult terrain' as described in subsection 238b, which I'm sure you're all familiar with. And as you know, 'difficult terrain' is not covered by the contract, which is for paving, not for turning mountains into flat roads... (wistful chuckle). Now, technically, according to the contract, we should be charging your town prevailing rates for these sections, but I've worked it so that you will be allowed to re-bid them, if you wish, since our contract doesn't specifically include terrain as described in subsection 238b."* Now the contract price has doubled, and Corruptocorp has completely sidestepped all of the difficult and costly work, taking profits only on the easy stuff. The city council members can either admit that they were duped and bought (political suicide), or can simply feed corruptocorp's line to the voters. Which do you think will happen? And it gets even worse on smaller scales: look up your local building or electrical inspector. Ten-to-one he is a relative, friend, or campaign donor to the mayor or city council. What's in it for him? Every single construction or home improvement project not only has to pay him a fee, it also has to pass his inspection. Guess which contractors are most likely to pass his inspection? His brothers, friends, family... or the cheapest guy who for some reason has a hard time finding work in this town? Guess how the local inspector feels about homeowner self-improvements: does he think they are a great way for regular people to improve their wealth with a little elbow grease, or does he see them as stealing work from his friends and family? The US military is by far the most wasteful customer I've ever had. I'll talk about that if this topic gets any interest. edit: as promised, here's the post about military spending: http://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/c84bp/how_realworld_corruption_works/c0qrt6i

Economics

Wonderful post! This is what reddit is all about! I hope you will continue this series, corruption101, and educate everyone how the real world works. I have to take some minor issues with what you're saying though: >if it's no good, or if you are grossly over-charging, your customers will tend to catch on sooner or later This "sooner or later" tends to be later, rather than sooner, especially if there is not much competition in the market. Often things have to get very very bad before the customer will ditch the familiar technology for the unfamiliar. Familiarity itself has a price. This provides room for corruption. As you say, you can't get too greedy here, but at the same time, there is ample room for steady corruption here, and over time this steady corruption does result in huge profits, which can then be used to fight competitors in dirty ways, such as by serving the little guys cease and desist letters. It's not "gun to your head" level of corruption, but it really really hurts the country on a big scale. It's like having sand in the gears. Sure the gears can still turn, but the wear and tear, the heat and the friction are really crippling overall. Finally, you overlook one important thing. **You focus your corruption missive on the government, but really you should focus it impartially on *any bureaucracy* involving significant *delegation* of power/authority.** One example is big corp bureaucracy. Big corps often behave exactly like the government. Why? Because the principals, the owners, are often far removed, due to public ownership. Often the biggest owners are fragmented through the mutual funds, so essentially you get companies that are ownerless, where no one is responsible. This means that CxO level executives and the boards of directors are playing with no-one's money, because there is no single *ONE* owner out there who will tell them "STOP THIS SHIT NOW." Instead, the ownership is dispersed, and for the owners to raise a stink, they have to organize first, and as you know, organizing is hard. Power works best when it's focused and consolidated in one or few men's hands. Power is brittle and uncertain if it's spread across a large number of people. Corruption happens in Big Corp Inc. because the people who are in charge of purchasing decisions are *not* the end users of the products they purchase, and in addition, there is no one owner who will spank them for a bad decision. So as long as the product they purchase is not *catastrophically* bad, executives of the Big Corp Inc. *will* get away with it. As a normal consumer, if you purchase a phone, you are also the one who uses it. If you don't like it, you demand a refund. In a Big Corp Inc. you purchase a set of tools which then low level employees use. Low level employees can complain, at which point the executives have a choice to admit they were duped, or to blame the employees for incompetence and charge them with insubordination. And guess which will happen more often? Corruption happens when there is delegation of power. When you purchase on behalf of someone else. When you execute on behalf of someone else. Any kind of delegation involves corruption. When you run the company for the benefit of distant and dispersed owners, you are going to fleece them in every way you can, and try to give yourself the biggest bonus you can. If you are buying a product you don't have to use yourself, you'll buy from a company that promises you the biggest kickback instead of buying what your employees actually want to use.

t5e9uy

Why isn't Russia going bankrupt?

Apparently the war costs Russia [$20 Billion a day](https://www.consultancy.eu/news/7433/research-ukraine-war-costs-russian-military-20-billion-per-day), and assuming that half of Russias $630 Billion foreign reserve remains frozen - russia only has reserves for two weeks of war. One of which is already over. Obviously, Russia also has a acces to rubel reserves. But you also have to consider that the aftermath will also cost Russia a lot if they want to achive their goal (an independant Ukraine). If Ukraine ties itself to the EU to finance rebuilding, that would kinda miss the point of the whole invasion.(Comparison: Rebuilding [Donbas alone was estimated to cost $20 billion](https://wiiw.ac.at/ukraine-reconstruction-of-donbas-will-cost-at-least-usd-21-7-billion-or-16-of-ukraine-s-gdp-n-448.html) \- even without the additional damage of the invasion). So I'm just ignoring that and say thats the money is allocated elsewhere. I guess Russia is largely self-sustaining regarding the most basic needs (food, water, energy), but rebuilding the army after the war seems like it would eat all of russias reserves. All that wouln't really be a problem if Russia would amass debts like any other country - but I can hardly see anyone willing to lend them money to rebuild their army? TLDR: The numbers above seem to align with articels like [this](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10554269/Ukraine-DESTROYS-Russian-convoy-Zelenskys-troops-derail-Kremlin-push-Kyiv.html), claiming the war is over after 10 days. But the majority of news claim the sanctions don't hurt Russia (shortterm) and the war might go on for a long time still. How is that possible?

AskEconomics

>Apparently the war costs Russia [$20 Billion a day](https://www.consultancy.eu/news/7433/research-ukraine-war-costs-russian-military-20-billion-per-day), and assuming that half of Russias $630 Billion foreign reserve remains frozen - russia only has reserves for two weeks of war. One of which is already over. I don't see much of a reason to assume that Russia is spending significant amounts of reserves on the war, at least not right now. I would consider reading that article, too. It's not just about explicit costs they have to pay for now, it's about the cost incurred by the loss of equipment and men, which actually make up the bulk of this cost. >All that wouln't really be a problem if Russia would amass debts like any other country - but I can hardly see anyone willing to lend them money to rebuild their army? They can borrow, just not from the western world. China is big and has no issues lending them. >The numbers above seem to align with articels like [this](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10554269/Ukraine-DESTROYS-Russian-convoy-Zelenskys-troops-derail-Kremlin-push-Kyiv.html) Mate just don't read the daily mail. >But the majority of news claim the sanctions don't hurt Russia (shortterm) and the war might go on for a long time still. How is that possible? Surprise surprise, war is expensive. But the upfront cost is not the full 20 billion, that's loss of equipment and men for the most part. The question is more about the Russian economy as a whole really, how expensive the economic losses from diverting resources will be as well as stuff like sanctions. You can only speculate on those costs, they ultimately heavily depend on how long the war lasts as well.

92viou

4NEW

4New is the first blockchain solution in the world for waste to energy conversion. It's a tangible and eco-friendly solution that is taking the world by storm. 4New is currently offering coins for investors who are interested in getting involved with the first-ever waste to energy conversion and treatment facility. It will be based entirely on the blockchain network. What Is 4NEW? 4New is based on the idea that waste to energy conversion is a new necessity. They claim 4New will solve several problems that the whole world is facing: waste is in surplus and energy is running out. By using 4New, these social and global issues will be remedied and the environment, and people, will benefit. The supply chain will go from the collection of waste to the conversion and generation process. This electricity will be sold in units to the national grid. Why 4NEW Is Lucrative On top of the concept behind 4New being a ground-breaking way to reduce waste and produce energy, 4New is also utilitarian in nature. It's lucrative because everyone uses electricity on a regular basis. 4New sees it like this: rather than trying to reduce the amount of energy we consume-since both are inevitable to some degree-why not? That's what drives 4New forward. 4New says they will successfully integrate the real-world waste disposal process with blockchain technology to take that waste, convert it to energy, and sell those energy units. 4NEW Coin Offerings 4New is offering coins throughout October, November, and December 2017. The decentralized blockchain network 4New runs on uses the 4New Coins as a currency. These coins will be used in all transactions for acquiring and selling waste and energy. The ledger of 4New will contain all transactions and will display an auditable journal of every purchase and sale. All parties involved or associated with each transaction will be able to see the ledger entry-including potential disputes, reconciliation, and revenue leakage, which will be controlled as much as possible. 4NEW Conclusion 4New claims they will standardize the waste and energy industries, which they describe as two industries in need of innovation and technological integration. They also foresee the 4New Coin becoming the global currency of peers and consumers for any waste or energy related services they seek. In addition to this information, 4New provides a wealth of other insight into their company and development plans. Altogether, they claim their management team has over 300 years of combined experience and their research claims they will be able to provide a 15% to 20% savings to consumers. They also promise zero impact on the environment and compliance with all government regulations and standardized best practices. [https://4new.io/](https://4new.io/)

crypto_currency

Describing themselves as ‘world's first eco-friendly, tangible, waste to energy Blockchain solution,’ 4NEW’s premise is to take waste products and transform them into a usable energy source. This technology has been in adoption for over 70 years with approximately 83 independent waste to energy plants already in use within the US and many more in other countries. This energy can be sold to the national grid, or used to power 4NEW’s own mining farm. Their white paper explains that it will be cost-effective.

92viou

4NEW

4New is the first blockchain solution in the world for waste to energy conversion. It's a tangible and eco-friendly solution that is taking the world by storm. 4New is currently offering coins for investors who are interested in getting involved with the first-ever waste to energy conversion and treatment facility. It will be based entirely on the blockchain network. What Is 4NEW? 4New is based on the idea that waste to energy conversion is a new necessity. They claim 4New will solve several problems that the whole world is facing: waste is in surplus and energy is running out. By using 4New, these social and global issues will be remedied and the environment, and people, will benefit. The supply chain will go from the collection of waste to the conversion and generation process. This electricity will be sold in units to the national grid. Why 4NEW Is Lucrative On top of the concept behind 4New being a ground-breaking way to reduce waste and produce energy, 4New is also utilitarian in nature. It's lucrative because everyone uses electricity on a regular basis. 4New sees it like this: rather than trying to reduce the amount of energy we consume-since both are inevitable to some degree-why not? That's what drives 4New forward. 4New says they will successfully integrate the real-world waste disposal process with blockchain technology to take that waste, convert it to energy, and sell those energy units. 4NEW Coin Offerings 4New is offering coins throughout October, November, and December 2017. The decentralized blockchain network 4New runs on uses the 4New Coins as a currency. These coins will be used in all transactions for acquiring and selling waste and energy. The ledger of 4New will contain all transactions and will display an auditable journal of every purchase and sale. All parties involved or associated with each transaction will be able to see the ledger entry-including potential disputes, reconciliation, and revenue leakage, which will be controlled as much as possible. 4NEW Conclusion 4New claims they will standardize the waste and energy industries, which they describe as two industries in need of innovation and technological integration. They also foresee the 4New Coin becoming the global currency of peers and consumers for any waste or energy related services they seek. In addition to this information, 4New provides a wealth of other insight into their company and development plans. Altogether, they claim their management team has over 300 years of combined experience and their research claims they will be able to provide a 15% to 20% savings to consumers. They also promise zero impact on the environment and compliance with all government regulations and standardized best practices. [https://4new.io/](https://4new.io/)

crypto_currency

At the start of each year, KWATT Coin holders will be able to choose a desired application of their energy the coin holder owns as represented by the total amount of KWATT Coins in their control at the time of this election.

92viou

4NEW

4New is the first blockchain solution in the world for waste to energy conversion. It's a tangible and eco-friendly solution that is taking the world by storm. 4New is currently offering coins for investors who are interested in getting involved with the first-ever waste to energy conversion and treatment facility. It will be based entirely on the blockchain network. What Is 4NEW? 4New is based on the idea that waste to energy conversion is a new necessity. They claim 4New will solve several problems that the whole world is facing: waste is in surplus and energy is running out. By using 4New, these social and global issues will be remedied and the environment, and people, will benefit. The supply chain will go from the collection of waste to the conversion and generation process. This electricity will be sold in units to the national grid. Why 4NEW Is Lucrative On top of the concept behind 4New being a ground-breaking way to reduce waste and produce energy, 4New is also utilitarian in nature. It's lucrative because everyone uses electricity on a regular basis. 4New sees it like this: rather than trying to reduce the amount of energy we consume-since both are inevitable to some degree-why not? That's what drives 4New forward. 4New says they will successfully integrate the real-world waste disposal process with blockchain technology to take that waste, convert it to energy, and sell those energy units. 4NEW Coin Offerings 4New is offering coins throughout October, November, and December 2017. The decentralized blockchain network 4New runs on uses the 4New Coins as a currency. These coins will be used in all transactions for acquiring and selling waste and energy. The ledger of 4New will contain all transactions and will display an auditable journal of every purchase and sale. All parties involved or associated with each transaction will be able to see the ledger entry-including potential disputes, reconciliation, and revenue leakage, which will be controlled as much as possible. 4NEW Conclusion 4New claims they will standardize the waste and energy industries, which they describe as two industries in need of innovation and technological integration. They also foresee the 4New Coin becoming the global currency of peers and consumers for any waste or energy related services they seek. In addition to this information, 4New provides a wealth of other insight into their company and development plans. Altogether, they claim their management team has over 300 years of combined experience and their research claims they will be able to provide a 15% to 20% savings to consumers. They also promise zero impact on the environment and compliance with all government regulations and standardized best practices. [https://4new.io/](https://4new.io/)

crypto_currency

A blockchain based ecosystem whereby energy produced by power plants, renewable or non-renewable or Waste to Energy technologies, is applied to a digital asset, digital protocol or a smart contract for delivery to cryptocurrency mining farms.

jkar04

My boss wants me to start an algo hedge fund and I've no experience

A little background: I'm a ML intern at a non tech/finance startup and recently my boss wants to start an algo hedge fund. The previous intern managed to produce supernormal returns, so much so that my boss compares it to RenTec. Clearly its over fitted and flawed and my boss knows but he is convinced that it's true as 'the backtest has shown'. Now I'm tasked to build a fund that fixes the flaw and I'm the only one working on it. I've fair knowledge in finance and some knowledge in ML. So far I've been able to produce solely technical analysis-based models. I find myself going in circles as I've huge knowledge gap to build real quantitative models. I'm exasperated and am looking for advice on moving forward.

algotrading

So obviously your goal shouldn’t be to build a quant fund. That’s just dumb. Your goal should be to turn this into some really great resume material. So do whatever works best for that. It’s not like your boss has any idea what’s going on anyways.

r1qtn1

Portfolio down 20% since i started value investing

I’m just venting…. So i used to setup iron condors, buy shares to write calls on, and speculate on stocks. I made over 7k net profit (58%) plus more on crypto and other crap. After listening to a bunch of value investors talking about Walmart, apple, Berkshire Hathaway and other companies and how many baggers you would have made if u invested a while ago and didn’t touch it and reinvested dividends and…. i realized i want to be a value guy. With times being hard for value investors i ended up buying 17k+ of baba and kept buying more with extra money from paychecks as the price kept plummeting. Now i am down a helllllll lotta money. More importantly, i feel so stupid and insecure now. I got a bunch of people in stocks and told them to buy SPY for rest of their working careers and they are up 20%+ and happy, while i (with all my knowledge) have lost not just all my gains but my entire portfolio is in the red. U guys ever get the urge to just yolo ur money into some meme stock otm calls or is it just me atm?

ValueInvesting

Value investing is about patience, and confidence. If you can’t be patient, then you can’t make the most of value and if you aren’t confident then you can’t be patient. If you’re uncomfortable about a position then you’ve sized it to big. Position sizing should be based on your conviction in the position and if you’re able to handle its moves. If I was in your situation and wanted to exit, I’d sell covered calls to gradually decrease cost basis, and then gradually trim position until it was a more comfortable size - Baba will likely head back to 170 once the Tencent situation/Bad earnings gradually fade. You need to be patient - you’ve bought a position beloved by famous value investors who have sometimes waited 10 years for a position to do what they want. You can’t then complain after a few months, its not going how you want.

dhuq60

Bernie Sanders unveils plan to raise corporate tax rate to 35% and ban stock buybacks

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders introduced a plan on Monday that would reverse President Donald Trump's tax cuts for businesses and return the corporate tax rate to 35% from its current 21%. The Corporate Accountability and Democracy Plan would also eliminate many of the tax breaks and loopholes in the tax code and do away with off-shore tax havens. The senator is also calling to democratize corporate boards, ban stock buybacks and diversify corporations. The detailed plan includes these highlights, according to the campaign website: - Nearly half of the board of directors in any large corporation with at least $100 million in annual revenue, corporations with at least $100 million in balance sheet total, and all publicly traded companies would be directly elected by the firm's workers. - They would be required to consider the interests of all of the stakeholders in a company – including workers, customers, shareholders and the communities in which the corporation operates. - Large-scale stock buybacks would be "treated like stock manipulation" via repeal of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Rule 10b-18. - Rules would be developed to diversify corporate boards "ensuring a significant portion of every board be comprised of people from historically underrepresented groups." And they would require every corporation to "complete an annual report that gives the compensation, gender, and racial composition of board and employees." [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/10/14/bernie-sanders-would-raise-corporate-tax-rate-to-35percent-ban-stock-buybacks.html)

investing

That would make us have the highest corporate tax rate of any major developed country. Also banning stock buybacks would be a huge hit to BKB and most growth stocks. This plan sounds like it would come at a huge opportunity cost to future generations.

zxunz0

How do people become so rich, by renting properties?

If you buy a house for $30,000 and rent for $1,500 it would take you almost 2 years just to break even. So how do people become so rich by renting by properties? And how do they rent multiple properties at once when they’re not even breaking even on the first one?

realestateinvesting

It's a combination of a lot of things: 1. Cash flow: after all expenses (including maintenance, operations, and debt servicing) the extra money accumulated each month. 2. Loan pay down: Each month, they own more and more of the property. 3. Appreciation: assuming 30,000 is the 20% down payment, the property purchased was $150,000. Gradually, the hope is for this to appreciate over time. This also works with rents. They may break even now or minimally cash flow, but over time rents generally increase. 4. Leverage: going off the above point, they only paid $30,000, but are able to gain appreciation on an asset worth 150,000 5. Scale: using legal tax loopholes you can trade up your property over time for larger and larger properties that can yield more of the above revenue streams at a larger scale. Trading your 150,000 building for a 300,000 building, then a 600,000 building, etc. 6. Depreciation: using tax laws, property owners are able to depreciate their investment and reduce their tax burden, sometimes even more than the income the property produces. I probably missed a few, but that is the few ways why some invest and how people make money in Real estate.

l9f2m3

I guess Thetagang is my new home now

Long time WSB member. Been dabbling in Thetagang for years even when it was all one in WSB. Really sucks to see WSB blow up so quickly and lose the culture. There used to be some really solid DD and some really smart people just acting like a bunch of idiots. Now, it’s just a bunch of idiots. So with that. I guess Theta gang is the new home, where I can intelligently discuss stock plays and not just see retards spam emojis and try to “bring down hedge funds” Please don’t let the noobs find this sub.

thetagang

Same here. I was a WSB member from the starting days. In between all the BS, WSB still had a few gold nuggets. Now it is all fresh shit nuggets, and if you look closely you can find a few dried shit nuggets. So, borrowing Barbara Corcoran's response to everything - 'I am out'. Thetagang is now one of the few 'investing' subreddits where I plan to engage, learn and work on gains. Hopefully we see more sane WSBers move here and not the anarchists.

x9oox1

How Many People You Know Got Rich Through Stock Investing?

How many people, getting rich through stock investing, do you actually know? In real life I mean. Not celebrities or social media pretenders. Real people, in your life. How many of them became rich? By rich I mean millionaires or billionaires. How many?

ValueInvesting

As a small retail investor you generally can't get rich by investing alone. You can get rich by earning a higher income and then investing that for a longer than average time so you gradually beat inflation and let compounding interest do it's magic. I also don't know anyone who got rich trading.

l70vrq

Robinhood just blocked several stocks from being bought. They locked the buy button when it suited them. Don't buy Bitcoin on Robinhood. Ever.

Anyone following the WSB drama this morning will see that several brokers have blocked only the 'Buy' button to prevent GME, AMC etc being purchased. People can still sell. Don't let this happen to your bitcoin. Don't buy bitcoin on Robinhood.

Bitcoin

You can sue Robinhood. Already some cases being filed now 😁 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-28/robinhood-customers-sue-over-removal-of-gamestop?utm_content=business&utm_medium=social&cmpid=socialflow-facebook-business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3iTgCJOjIDPaTtBdCGJxNxShtSICG72I_4_ltZ-KuTRKqVCMJIm8PCvIo

l7mym2

The criminals that took GME down 371 points (77%) with only 8 million shares should rot in jail

Who was pulling the strings on multiple brokers to ban clients from buying $GME and causing panic selling as well as margin liquidations? By locking out investors, brokers took away the bid for the stock. The market makers then orchestrated a drop of 371 points, 77% with ONLY 8 million shares traded triggering multiple trading halts. It was brutal, especially, when GME only moved 10-20 points on similar volume on previous trading days. A full comprehensive investigation is necessary. Also investigators must take a close look at what happened to the options during that time. These criminals should rot in jail. Edit: This video shows how they brought $GME down 371 points (77%) and also how they brought down the $GME options. It’s a must see. https://youtu.be/YKNIf2PHvf4

options

Like ethical hackers, there need to be ethical shorts. There are two sides to a market and these overloaded shorts to kill companies is disgusting. If I short something and I am wrong - ok, my fault - but to then close the market because you're about to blow up while simultaneously closing out retail traders at prices they didn't ask is unforgiveable.

w8l7pf

$26 Should Be The Minimum Wage According to MIT (read)

Feel free to check your area's Living wage; this is the same [calculator](https://livingwage.mit.edu/) used in "The Fight for $15", which started in 2012. [CHECK RENTS HERE](https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmrs/FY2022_code/select_Geography.odn) \*\* Adjusting for [inflation](https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm) in 2012, $15 is about $19.40 today. However, the cost of housing and other expenses has outpaced inflation and wage growth. [Productivity](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OPHNFB) has tripled since 1970, yet we have lower living standards, and the [birth rate is plummeting as a result](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States). [Living Wage Calculation for New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY](https://livingwage.mit.edu/metros/35620) \- I live in Manhattan, so the $26 is the minimum for me, but in an area with over 15 million people, it is still well above $20/hr [Living Wage Calculation for Bronx County, New York](https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/36005) \- I grew up here, In one of the poorest areas in the united states; a one-bedroom now costs $2,000/mo. Without social safety nets, an individual can't support oneself or live within a two-hour commute of the city center. How is this economic model sustainable? If you use the inflation [calculator](https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm) and this [data](https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmrs/histsummary.odb?inputname=5600.0*New+York%2C+NY+PMSA) and compare it with [this](https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmrs/FY2022_code/select_Geography.odn), you can see rent has outpaced inflation. MIT Research states explicitly: >[The living wage model does not allow for what many consider the basic necessities enjoyed by many Americans. It does not budget funds for pre-prepared meals or those eaten in restaurants. It does not include money for unpaid vacations or holidays. Nor does it provide money income to cover unexpected expenses such as a sudden illness, a major car repair, or the purchase of a household appliance such as a refrigerator. Lastly, it does not provide a financial means for planning for the future through savings and investment or for the purchase of capital assets (e.g. provisions for retirement or home purchases).](https://livingwage.mit.edu/resources/Living-Wage-Users-Guide-Technical-Documentation-2022-05-10.pdf) This is literally only enough money to not be homeless, starve or die from preventable disease. The barest of the bare minimums.

economy

Title is very misleading. So the minimum wage should be $26/hour in *New York City?* That does **NOT** mean that the national minimum wage should be $26/hr. Cost of living varies wildly from urban to suburban to rural areas, and even from urban areas from state to state. I've been saying for years that minimum wage needs to be tied to a variable cost of living index and work more like sales tax where there may be a national minimum wage and then a supplement for state, county, or city based on the cost of living in that area. Could also be done by zip code or even county like the cost of living calculator breaks it down. I live in a pretty LCOL area $26/hr is a lot of money here. One bedroom apartment prices are nowhere near $2,000 a month (I checked, they are $630/mo according to the source linked in the OP), and the "living wage calculator" says that a living wage in my area would be about $15/hr. Which is pretty close to our starting pay at my company, even though "minimum wage" is $7.25/hr. This problem can also be attacked from a different angle, too. We desperately need to address the affordable housing crisis in this country, especially in metro areas. I don't know what the solution is but paying people more will not solve the problem, because all wages will rise and then rents will just go up as well. That said, I do think minimum wage needs to be updated and tied to cost of living index instead of just staying the same for another 30 years.

l9f2m3

I guess Thetagang is my new home now

Long time WSB member. Been dabbling in Thetagang for years even when it was all one in WSB. Really sucks to see WSB blow up so quickly and lose the culture. There used to be some really solid DD and some really smart people just acting like a bunch of idiots. Now, it’s just a bunch of idiots. So with that. I guess Theta gang is the new home, where I can intelligently discuss stock plays and not just see retards spam emojis and try to “bring down hedge funds” Please don’t let the noobs find this sub.

thetagang

There is definitely good stuff in the big three Reddit fin subs. You won’t hit any grand slams making money off theta decay. But it can provided consistent returns. Selling does take on more risk, and you are getting paid to do so. Just be careful and don’t step out in front of a semi.

dhuq60

Bernie Sanders unveils plan to raise corporate tax rate to 35% and ban stock buybacks

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders introduced a plan on Monday that would reverse President Donald Trump's tax cuts for businesses and return the corporate tax rate to 35% from its current 21%. The Corporate Accountability and Democracy Plan would also eliminate many of the tax breaks and loopholes in the tax code and do away with off-shore tax havens. The senator is also calling to democratize corporate boards, ban stock buybacks and diversify corporations. The detailed plan includes these highlights, according to the campaign website: - Nearly half of the board of directors in any large corporation with at least $100 million in annual revenue, corporations with at least $100 million in balance sheet total, and all publicly traded companies would be directly elected by the firm's workers. - They would be required to consider the interests of all of the stakeholders in a company – including workers, customers, shareholders and the communities in which the corporation operates. - Large-scale stock buybacks would be "treated like stock manipulation" via repeal of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Rule 10b-18. - Rules would be developed to diversify corporate boards "ensuring a significant portion of every board be comprised of people from historically underrepresented groups." And they would require every corporation to "complete an annual report that gives the compensation, gender, and racial composition of board and employees." [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/10/14/bernie-sanders-would-raise-corporate-tax-rate-to-35percent-ban-stock-buybacks.html)

investing

as we've learned with Donald Trump as President, we have a system of checks and balances that make proposals like this little more than headlines. this would never actually get passed, just like Elizabeth Warren's plans to break up big tech. POTUS is not a dictator. he wouldn't have the power to do this himself, nor the support to make it a reality.

s098pv

How are covered calls not free money

So unlike some of the guys on WSB I'm not stupid enough to think that there's a free money glitch in the market somewhere, hence my question is where I'm missing something: from my understanding, selling OTM covered calls on stocks you'd golf anyway can't result in an actual loss, ignoring missed capital gains of course. Is that true? You'd always get the premium and the worst that could happen is selling shares at an unexpected high price, sounds like too good to be true to me but I can't see any obvious error in my thinking. Am I right or do I belong to WSB

thetagang

1. You discover CC as "free money" (**YOU ARE HERE**) 2. You have success for X months writing CC against your ABC shares and collecting said "free money" 3. After X months, ABC gets great news and ABC proceeds to rocket past your CC strike 4. Knowing ABC is on a path towards the moon, you buy back your CC for a massive loss 5. ABC proceeds to plummet the next several weeks as people take profits and ends up below your previously held CC strike that would have expired worthless 6. You've learned your lesson and start writing CC again 7. After X more months, ABC tanks on bad news 8. You've studied up though and you know not to write CC below your cost basis so you baghold for X more months 9. Finally, you write deep OTM CC to collect some pennies while waiting to drop off your bag 10. ABC slowly climbs above your strike but you've studied more and know you can roll out for a credit to buy yourself time 11. ABC has caught fire and proceeds to climb higher and higher 12. You continue to roll horizontally without realizing slippage is costing you money 13. Eventually, you are so deep ITM that your extrinsic value is near 0 and you can only roll out to 2029 to even move up one strike for a credit 14. Your shares get early assigned for a total profit of 7 Big Macs 15. You realize you would have made more money (and saved more time/stress) if you just bought and held ABC 16. The End

1xewcs

Starting Stock

Hi, I'm a teenager looking to get into stocks to make some money and I'm unsure if I should invest in typical blue chips or go with penny stocks? I start with about $500 and trade with either ETrade or Scott trade. Any tips from anyone?

finance

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Unfortunately for smart blokes like you or me, you cannot simply jump into stocks and make money. That is called day trading, and for most people, you're going to have about the same outcome as betting blindfolded in a casino. First, here's what you **don't** do: * Penny stocks. This is the game of suckers, and is a great place to lose every single cent. Nobody has a method for making tons of money from penny stocks, and if they do, they sure as shit aren't sharing it with you in a newsletter. Might as well play roulette. * If you invest with $500, commissions are going to eat you ALIVE. You pay $4-7 per stock trade. Trading with $50,000? That's only about 0.2% that you need to make up. Trading with $500? You're going to be down 1-2% IMMEDIATELY after buying. The market hasn't moved, and you're already at a loss! So, here's what you **should** do: 1. Leave this subreddit and head over to /r/personalfinance. They sound the same, they're miles apart. 2. Read the links on the sidebar and in the wiki. 3. Given as you're a teenager, you probably don't need to worry about things like paying rent, right? Or car payments? Your parents are helping out? If so, you can probably gloss over the emergency fund. 4. If you do have some sort of payments you make, you will first want to put aside a couple months' expenses. What if you get fired? You don't want your car repossessed! So have a backup fund like this. Maybe you do already. Now, for investing! You've got a couple options here. 1. Retirement - if you made this money at a job, you can report it as earnings and open up a Roth IRA. The downside? The money won't be available for, like, 45 years. The upside? It will have tremendous compounding power if you start early, and is tax-sheltered: no tax penalties when you take it out. Vanguard is most likely the best choice for a company with which to start an IRA. However, there's a $3k minimum, so you'll need to save a bit more. EDIT: If you pick a target retirement date fund, the minimum is only $1k - thanks to /u/doomtop for catching this. 2. Maybe you want this money back in under 45 years. That's understandable. In that case, open a brokerage account. Again, Vanguard is great because you can trade all of their mutual funds for free - no commission! See the bullet point above. However, you'll still need a minimum of $1k to buy into their STAR funds. 3. If you're interested in individual stocks, well, see the point above with penny stocks. Individual stocks aren't quite like flushing your money down the drain, but they are much riskier than mutual funds, and in most cases you're wagering a limited upside against a massive potential downside. If you're going to go this route, get it in your head right now that this money is gone. Kaput. Flushed. Down the drain. I sound like a pretty pessimistic ass, don't I? Well, I started an individual account for buying stocks back when I was a teenager. I still have it now, half a decade later. I put around $10k in. It is worth $15k right now. And unless you get incredibly lucky, you won't be generating 50% gains per year. And if you are that lucky, you'd still be better off buying lotto tickets. Now, I've mentioned mutual funds and Vanguard a couple times. Before you get into the market, educate yourself! (And it's not a big leap for me to assume that you aren't, by the way - no stock pro ever trades penny stocks.) Here are some recommendations: * Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin, especially if you want to change your emotional relationship with money. * The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley, especially if you have high expenses. * The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman. * I Will Teach You to be Rich by Ramit Sethi. * The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing and/or The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning, both by Larimore et al, which covers the investing philosophy espoused by most of r/personalfinance. * A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel, especially if you aren't convinced that index-investing is right for you. * The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein * Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, especially if you are in more debt than you want to be. * The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason, for timeless advice. If you only read one from that list, by the way, make it "A Random Walk Down Wall Street." Trust me, it's worth your while. **TL;DR - Don't go into stock investing chasing ridiculous gains. Consider setting up a retirement account. Put money into indexed mutual funds, not single stocks. If you buy single stocks, consider that money written off. And, for the love of god, NO PENNY STOCKS.** ^my ^fingers ^hurt ^now EDIT: Changed "interest" to "tax penalties" under the IRA, thank you very much to /u/ajfirecracker for catching my mistake.

y4tasl

I have lost 40% of investment in stock market, how is it possible to recover?

I’m 26 years old, I’m currently unemployed, I have a debt of 14k and I had saved 100k, in January I invested in dividend stocks: swk, intc, vfc, cmcsa, ally and para, but since January my portfolio lost 40% so now I need to earn 66.70%, yesterday I closed all my positions, so now I only have 60k. should I invest in sso, tqqq and udow to quickly recover the lost money? sorry for my english, it's my second language.

dividends

Ah yes, the buy high panic sell low strategy, never disappoints. Do not invest money you'll need in less than 10 years time and this is exactly why. I'm down 40% on many positions as well but I'm chilling and doing what you should've been doing too - the opposite - buying more. Do you realise you made the biggest mistake possible?!

rf243x

Hyperinflation

Ok, I buy crypto and spend A lot of time on crypto Twitter and I notice they always talk about hyperinflation is coming and it's the end of the world, and compare it to the weimer republic. I want to ask someone that actually knows economics works because I see hyperinflation thrown around since January and I haven't seen anything crazy yet, I've seen prices increase but it's not like I'm spending $100 for a sack of potatoes. So is this hyperinflation a reality or do we not know?

AskEconomics

Unbeknownst to many, there is in fact an actual definition of the word ['hyperinflation'](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hyperinflation.asp). Which is a 50% increase in the price level per month. While what the US is seeing remains under 7% for the year, while the multi year trend has been barely any inflation at all. Moreover, pretty much everyone in economics is seeing the current inflation as mainly supply disruptions. And not a lasting trend. [The bond markets](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-10/citi-s-bailin-says-bond-market-shows-inflation-is-transitory), which is the private sector entity with the most skin in the game concerning long term or spiking inflation, is not pricing in any significant inflation expectations. Basically, people in the crypto markets don't understand economic fundamentals. And what they say is not a good indication of what is expected.

k9ahz7

A Gentle Reminder about Life

I certainly don't want to deter people from saving and thinking about their future. Just remember that there is life now too. I just got done diagnosing Alzheimer's in a woman in her early 60's. Her and her husband were looking forward to travel and leisure and life, all these things they forbade themselves in the prospect of "enjoying it later." Now they are likely looking at assisted living if not a nursing home. Balance. Be wise about your future, but don't get caught up in the rat race. Enjoy your life now, but don't forget about rainy days. Thank you guys for the wonderful advice on this subreddit. Edit: IDK how many of these awards cost real money. But if they do, give it to a charity and post a link on here instead! Thanks y'all!

FinancialPlanning

Also reminder that it’s never too early to invest in your health (physical, mental, spiritual). While it can’t prevent everything, being smart about how you treat your body will payoff in more ways than one in the future

lowvnw

I've been successfully trading since the late 90s. All I have is a single cheap 27" HP monitor. What gains did I miss out on by not having 6 monitors?

I was also a professional derivatives trader. Even at work, all we needed were two monitors. A lot of us old guys (mid 40s) are still very actively trading and for the life of us, we dont understand why folks need that many monitors. What are we missing out on? I'm not being snarky or sarcastic. Why do you need that much information for a job you do for an hour after open and an hour before close? Most lifers only work the opening gaps and make a very comfortable living. Even if you're scanning setups to scalp throughout the day, how many setups are you scanning that requires that many screens? Again, not being sarcastic. Just sincerely curious.

Daytrading

Haha love it, going to upvote you...I have traded since 1995.. I have 1 monitor but it is 32 inches but I find it hilarious when I see 3-10 monitors...the only thing I'd say with that is you can have the monitors focused for chart's, news or specific stocks.... Occasionally I'll take out a laptop and use my phone also... actually I use the phone alot

mvk9na

If trading is such a potential “gold mine”, why doesn’t everyone do it?

I know that “being rich” might not be the philosophy of successful and consistent traders, but the ones that are successful seem to get great financial reward. So my question is, why doesn’t everyone do it?

Trading

The sunk cost requirements in time, knowledge and startup capital. If you want to be a serious investor and see enough returns from trading to turn it into successful career you're gonna have to put in at the dozens to hundreds of hour studying, reading, watching tutorial guides and lessons. Navigating the minefield of which trading courses are real and which are scams. Then trading with a demo account for at least 6 months to a year before even getting started with real money. Then when you start putting money you're going to have to accept losses as you go forward and gain experience, managing the anxiety and stress that comes with trading. Not to mention balancing real life and everything with this. And not everyone has the money to put significant capital in this to see a return. Even a crazy 50% return doesn't really mean much in the long run when all you've put in is £5

6h5oqz

[ETH Daily Discussion] - 14/Jun/2017

Welcome to the ETH Daily Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. *** The thread guidelines are as follows: - All sub rules apply here. Please review our **[rules page](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/)** to become familiar with them. The rules page is also linked in the announcement bar above. - General discussion topics include, but are not limited to, events of the day, technical analysis, alternative Ethereum projects, or support issues. - Breaking news or other important content should be submitted as a separate post. - In-depth altcoin discussions should be referred to the /r/CryptoCurrency discussion thread. To view the thread, [follow this link](https://np.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/search?q=%5BMonthly+General+Discussion%5D&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and choose the latest entry on the search page. - Pumping, venting, trolling, or any other similar behavior **should be reported** and redirected to the /r/CryptoMarkets trollbox thread. To visit this thread, [follow this link](https://np.reddit.com/r/CryptoMarkets/search?q=Trollbox+Thread&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all) and choose the latest entry on the search page. *** Resources and other information: * For newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum, you can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our [Ethereum Education wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). * To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. * **The daily thread will no longer be stickied so please remember to upvote it for visibility.** *** Thank you in advance for your participation. Enjoy!

ethtrader

I'm baffled right now. This doesn't feel like real life. I'm seeing people complaining about a dip, and looking for answers to why the price is going down. Some idiot who will not be named is saying below that while portfolios drop "10%, 20%, 50%" that the "hodl" advice is only to protect our own interest....nigga what?!   Has everyone gone nuts? Or is everyone commenting new people/trolls? Because if I recall correctly, **we hit $300 just 4 DAYS ago** Even this "dip" at its lowest is +45% from last week. Non-crypto investments are lucky if they see that much increase in a YEAR. I remember people discussing price in terms of "I wonder if we'll hit $200 by the end of the year"...that was a month ago. A month ago, we were at around $80, and now people are complaining about being at $360. I think ETH gains just have everyone spoiled a this point.

9hnw8z

Pigzbe Features and Benefits

Safe Fully borderless (available in more than 180 countries) Accessible to all Fun and engaging trainer Fast transfer between 3 and 6 seconds Cheap transaction costs less than $ 0.01

crypto_currency

Transactions within Pigzbe are made using Wollo, the platform’s native token. Wollo is a token that will be purchased on the open market via a number of exchanges, and it enables access to a fun and exciting family environment that helps children learn about saving through play. It serves the dual purpose of boosting children's financial literacy, while providing an easy and effective way for parents and family members to reward children and help them practise good financial habits.

9hnw8z

Pigzbe Features and Benefits

Safe Fully borderless (available in more than 180 countries) Accessible to all Fun and engaging trainer Fast transfer between 3 and 6 seconds Cheap transaction costs less than $ 0.01

crypto_currency

Pigzbe uses a child-friendly crypto-currency hardware wallet that runs throughout an interactive application in the hope of attracting children's attention on crypto currencies and related technologies.

9hnw8z

Pigzbe Features and Benefits

Safe Fully borderless (available in more than 180 countries) Accessible to all Fun and engaging trainer Fast transfer between 3 and 6 seconds Cheap transaction costs less than $ 0.01

crypto_currency

Pigzbe It is estimated that by 2020 it will exceed $3 trillion, and that it will represent 10% of the world’s GDP by 2025. By the end of 2017, there were 6 an estimated 21 million cryptocurrency users, and cryptocurrency use has been growing at 102% CAGR. 7 A key benefit of blockchain solutions is that they support the increasingly global nature of people and families. An estimated $575 billion was remitted by migrants back to their home countries in 2016. However, this process is currently slow and very 8 expensive, costing on average 7.2% of the transaction amount.

l807am

"Wealthsimple Inc., a commission-free Canadian online brokerage with more than 350,000 clients, is warning traders about the risks of investing in certain highly speculative stocks, but isn’t planning to halt trading in those shares."

(Bloomberg) -- Wealthsimple Inc., a commission-free Canadian online brokerage with more than 350,000 clients, is warning traders about the risks of investing in certain highly speculative stocks, but isn’t planning to halt trading in those shares. Wealthsimple, whose motto is “get rich slow,” doesn’t offer riskier investment choices such as options trading or margin accounts, and has sent clients emails reminding them about the dangers of speculation, Chief Executive Officer Mike Katchen said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg Television Friday. It also embedded in-app notifications for users looking at certain stocks. The firm doesn’t plan to restrict trading on those shares the way Robinhood Markets Inc. and other brokerages have done in recent days, Katchen said. “If people are taking calculated risks and want to join in on the fun, but are doing it in a responsible way with an amount of their portfolio that they can effectively lose if and when these stock prices do come down, that’s OK,” Katchen said. “But we want to make sure that people are being responsible, and we’re trying to be as proactive as we can about that messaging.” The recent frenzy of retail trading has spurred a surge in interest even in the tamer platform of Wealthsimple, which touts passive investing in ETFs and is building out cash, checking, insurance and mortgage products. The company, owned by Power Corp. of Canada financial conglomerate, saw sign-ups increase more than 50% from a week earlier and daily volume more than double, Katchen said. That surge in interest could be a good thing if handled properly, he said. ‘Fine Line’ “We have to walk that fine line of using this opportunity to bring more and more people into the capital markets and into the opportunity of investing,” he said. “But let’s also remember that investment carries risks, and it does require thoughtfulness and long-term thinking.” Katchen would like to see investors use individual stock-picking and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which his firm does allow trading in, as part of a “play money” account on the margins of their larger, core, long-term investing strategy. He also doesn’t see options and margin accounts as inherently wrong, but said they can be dangerous when used by new investors who don’t understand them. “The gamification of these highly risky tools is problematic and could result in some very bad outcomes for people, and we don’t want to be a part of that,” Katchen said. https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/canada-s-answer-to-robinhood-warns-traders-but-won-t-halt-stocks-1.1556216

CanadianInvestor

Is anyone else getting an error when you are trying to set a limit price sell? I have some GME that I want to set and cannot even get the order placed without an error. Tried a dozen times. EDIT: They've emailed me back saying anything greater than 30% of the delayed quote price will get rejected. This is of course a load of shit because I had my limit sell price set to 1k all day yesterday without issue. The sell was open all day.

t90lns

I have capitulated

Ok guys, I've officially capitulated. Apparently I misread my /CL trade I was putting on as only requiring $11,000 to be cash-secured, but that was not the case, it needs $110,000 to be cash-secured. I sold a put at the $115 strike that has exploded in BP. Coupled with some NET cash-secured puts sitting at the $110 strike, I have officially lost 58% of my account today and have bought to close everything and am never trading again, finding this subreddit was one of the worst things that has happened to me, financially.

thetagang

I just took a quick browse through your post history. It's a tough break. In fairness to the sub, though, pretty much every comment was screaming at you trying to get you to understand your risks. You might be done trading, but listening is a lifelong skill. A little humility would have saved you from a lot of your poor choices. Best of luck, friend.

wn0266

What’s a financial decision you’ve watched someone make that made you scream inside?

I’ll preface this with - I didn’t say anything negative to her, I just screamed internally. One of my friends and her husband (both 33) rent a nice 3 bedroom place. They’ve said many times that they’re struggling to save enough money for a deposit on a house and have said that their combined income is roughly $90k. I had lunch with my friend recently and she was saying they were going to buy a Spa. We started talking about what they were getting, features, it’s top of the line and all that jazz. Then, she says that they’ve decided to use their savings to buy it. I tried to clarify that she still has an emergency fund, still has their house deposit savings etc.. She said no. They don’t have an emergency fund, they don’t have an account for house deposit savings. They have one savings account and they’re using it all on a Spa. I asked what they were planning to do RE buying a house and she said that they’re still saving. So I thought phew! They’re not literally using all of it. But, then she says “we’re just starting again is all”. It’s okay because “we’ll still have about $400 left”.

AusFinance

Calling out myself to be fair: picking the homebrand of something over the name brand because "50c here and there adds up" but then happily dropping $50 on some new hobby I'll probably only do once because "it's only 50 bucks".

cdu8k5

32, Black Woman, Single Mom, Raised in Hood, Drug Addicted & Absentee Parents, Once Was Homeless & Preggo Just Crossed 100K Net Worth Living in NY

As the title states.... ​ I've been a long time lurker and just crunched the numbers tonight and wanted to share. I am so happy. I did it. Brings tears to my eyes. ​ I'm 32, African American and a single mom of 1 teenager. I was born and raised in a true "hood", long ago, before gentrification came along. My parents were a part of the 80s crack epidemic that wiped out many families, especially African American families. I ended up in foster care and remained there my entire childhood until being emancipated and left to fend for myself in the streets of NYC at 15 years old in the early 2000s. I was a homeless and pregnant teen and immediately became a single mom. ​ Through this turmoil and the crippling depression and feeling of hopelessness that came along with the "humble beginnings" of my life, I was able to graduate school early, find a job, saved just enough money to go to a trade school (it was $700 back then and every single dime that I had.) Through HARD work and insane grit and perseverance, I obtained all of my certifications and began my career at age 19. I've never looked back. ​ I discovered the FIRE and personal finance community nearly 3 years ago and its been a God send. I am rewriting my families wealth tree and I couldn't be prouder. ​ I am navigating the world solo (no biological family besides my son) yet I've found the will to succeed, despite all of the trials, tribulations and abandonments. ​ At 12:15am on 7/16/19, 32 years of age, 13 years into my career, 1 teen son, and a LOT OF PRAYERS along the way....later.. my NET WORTH is $103,408! ​ A MIXTURE of 457, 457 Roth, 401K, 529, smaller investment portfolio and pension. I will be retiring at age 45 with a full pension and God willing a MILLION DOLLAR portfolio. ​ This is the most I'm willing to share. Please don't nit-pick, pry more or be passive aggressive. Just wanted to inspire someone somewhere who may not have as many or ANY resources to succeed. ​ Long Story Short: No one thought I'd make it out from under the shitty hand I was dealt. I did and just surpassed a $100K Net Worth! ​ EDIT #1: Some of you are super triggered. LOL. I don't see this type of responses on other more "traditional" postings. Y'all do know I have thick skin and come from a place where nightmares are made of...right?! I also have worked in a very AGGRESSIVE fast pace career interacting with strangers during their absolute worst moments for 13 yrs +.... read: they are with the shxts and so am I.... LOL....you do know your typed "insults" don't hurt...right?! ​ EDIT #2: If I did not a THING else I would STILL be retiring with a FULL PENSION of nearly 50K + health insurance. Yes, at age 45. 25 years of service and that's it. Not 25 years of service + age requirement. ​ EDIT #3: Yes, a 1 million dollar portfolio is lofty for some and not lofty for others. For me, it's just an idealistic number...really... ​ EDIT #4: 20-30K + investments I'll continue to have yearly for the next 14 years. I am currently at 26K invested this year and we are only in July. I am nearly 3 years in to saving this aggressively at 50%+ (had it at nearly 70% for months and just lowered my percentages. It's not a race.) ​ EDIT #4: I am a Paramedic. I also clean apartments as a side gig. My current career has no overtime cap. I have coworkers making 100% OVER their salary. EDIT #5: I live on 30K in NYC (by choice: frugal minimalist). I invest ALL OF THE REST. I do NOT have to invest this aggressively. God covered me and I made a great choice in trade/career and the medical field knows no recession especially in NYC. I am BLACK AND PROUD of what I am doing, no plans to stop. Thank you for ALL the comments. Positive, neutral and negative. I learned a long time ago that SUCCESS can't be denied. I will surely be back with updates. EDIT #6: WAKANDA FOREVER‼️ EDIT #7: I can’t give clues on this post about my social media (sorry for the rule violation!) Im replying to everyone who’s inboxed me. Im STILL doing my best to reply back to those who were kind enough to write me. Wow so many of you! I’m so appreciative. You all are awesome! Thank you so much!

financialindependence

Now *this* is a story I love to see more on this subreddit.   One of the beauties of this story is that it is relatable to me. As a Hispanic male born into homelessness in East LA in the 80s, the odds of success is incredibly steep. Social, economical, and educational struggles can easily derail the success of upcoming potentials. Us folks start in a position that is beyond the "last place of the race" expecting to become a statistic, a blip story in the morning news, a faceless number in a sea of struggle, poverty, and depression.   The journey to get out of that evil bubble of poverty is fucking hard. I can't stress how difficult it is to folks who never experience it. Everything that is around you eventually becomes a challenge in one form or another even if intentions are not malice. Parents struggle from financial and health decisions (sometimes they are not given a choice). Friends veer off due to drugs, teenage pregnancy, blowing off education. Education takes a backseat.   And even if one manages to get be successful, it can be very, *very* lonely. There's not many people out there that we can relate to. Yes, there are stories of success from underrepresented minorities who grew up in a drug-ridden, poverty stricken, dangerous environment. But for folks who pursue FIRE on top of that? That is almost unheard of.   Until today. You have my uttermost respect. I got about 7-8 years left for leanFIRE myself.

vyr2qx

I'm gonna be sick...

I tried to buy a house. I met with a broker and we crunched all the numbers: income, expenses, savings, assets, etc. He gave me a figure to work with. I purchased a house in Sydney for 100k less than what he said I could borrow. Signed the contract and everything. It's a week before settlement and the broker has just called me. The loan application came back **300k** short. Apparently the bank won't accept the percentage of my salary that's commission (even though I can prove to them that I've received 100% of it for the past 3 years). The broker knew that part was commission. I was very upfront about my entire financial situation. How does someone miscalculate to that degree? Now I have one week to come up with 300k before I can "just switch to another bank that accepts commission as salary." And my broker's solution? Personal loans from people I know... I think I might pass out. ​ EDIT: I'm very aware that this is a bad situation. Venting anonymously online is a coping mechanism. Yes I was misinformed. In my defence, if you saw my salary and the price of what I'm buying, it really doesn't look daunting. I also live at home and have near-zero expenses. At the time, it did not look like a longshot. Internet strangers, I invite you to cringe alongside me. It's weirdly helping ​ UPDATE: [https://www.reddit.com/r/AusFinance/comments/w5ry40/update\_im\_gonna\_be\_okayhopefully/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/AusFinance/comments/w5ry40/update_im_gonna_be_okayhopefully/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)

AusFinance

I’m really sorry you’re in this position, I know it is incredibly stressful. I am a lender at one of the Big 4, feel free to PM me if you’d like me to help - I’d be happy to run the calculations and see what your position is to make sure that the broker/the bank has calculated your income correctly before you take the next steps speaking to your conveyancer.

l5ptjl

Official Statement Regarding the WSB $GME plays

Good afternoon r/dividends, This post is to let the record show that the moderators of r/dividends support our fellow investors at r/wallstreetbets in their quest to make as much money from the Gamestop short squeeze as possible. This community believes wholeheartedly in all retail investors making money. We do not judge how others choose to earn their fortunes. We wish you all the best of luck in teaching the mainstream investing world some humility. Many of our community members live outside the US and do not have access to American markets. As a result, many of the r/dividends community can only look on and wish the community the best of luck. Thank you for your time. u/Firstclass30

dividends

Funny story: I made a post on r/wallstreetbets about this: [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l5quxa/i_am_the_lead_moderator_of_rdividends_just/). It was removed in seven minutes. Currently reaching out to the mods for assistance.

7q7imt

Why need to stand up to Bittrex. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE UPVOTE. Help 1000s of people. Missing 1000s of dollars. With support MIA for months.

I just finished a scan of reddit and twitter, searching for Bittrex support issues. It's ridiculous to read about some clients of theirs who have been waiting 4+ months for a response, let alone a resolution. This just isn't right. They happily accepted our deposits to trade. That's an agreement that our issues should be dealt with in good faith, in a timely manner and with open communication. The backlog excuse, I've heard it many, many, many times before. That's not our problem. It's theirs. And whatever they have to do to resolve and lessen the backlog, do it. No more excuses. Hire more staff. Change the resolution process. Increase shifts. Overtime. So many options. God doesn't need to tell us you're rolling in crypto right now. I'm sure the funds are there to implement whatever possible improvements are necessary and give people back their money. Do you think support is this tough with the largest traditional stock brokerage sites? Or banks? Not even a chance. After a 10 minute call, issues are rectified. And that includes waiting on hold for five minutes. This is from their twitter account on December 14, 2017... "We have turned off user registration for a DB upgrade due to a large spike in new user sign ups." What about support upgrades? That's great about your new DB but seems like your tickets are only going to increase now by being able to handle more sign-ups. More congestion. More waiting. I currently have over $15,000 in support tickets with them. I know I'm not the only one. But if there is no fire under their ass, nothing will get done in a timely manner. POST YOUR ISSUES HERE AT REDDIT.COM/R/BITTREXSUPPORTLOGS. They are not listening on twitter anymore so here's another way for us to voice and let them know we won't tolerate the way they're handling OUR money. Subscribe. Post. Upvote other posts. Comment. That's the only way we'll get this rolling. And if you haven't had to file a support ticket, lucky you. I hope you'll never have to. But help us out anyway.

CryptoMarkets

I imagine they are a young company that did not build their platform and business for scalability. If they have 100,000’s of users hitting their site consistently then they might be finding themselves in a place where their cost to manage the system could have been outpacing the amount of money they collect in fees (which I assume is their primary source of income). A few companies I have worked for have faced similar hurdles and frankly with the explosion of people exploring crypto I am not surprised. Once and if they figure out a route to scale and get some partnerships in place to help their flow of money then you will be able to start talking about support. I will make a shot in the dark and say that they might be tech heavy on their internal team and not as many people helping with support and operations. It is what haunted my current company (a startup tech company) for two years and the same thing that kills many startup companies. You want to get them moving? Posting and up voting on Reddit is a good start but start reaching out to reporters that cover Silicon Valley and Tech. Start aggregating your stories and get their attention. Guaranteed when they start getting bad press from publications people like this value they will find a way if they haven’t started already.

l92fz7

Jim Cramer Gave an Interview in 2006 on how the Hedge Funds Manipulate the Markets

[https://www.reuters.com/article/cramer-interview-idUKN2036292620070320](https://www.reuters.com/article/cramer-interview-idUKN2036292620070320) [Direct link to Interview Video since the old in-article links aren't working](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpMEFtPZJLc) "What's important when you're in that hedge fund mode, is to not do anything remotely truthful. Because the truth is so against your view, that it's important to create a new view, to create a fiction." "Then you call the (Wall Street) Journal and get the bozo reporter in Research in Motion and you would feed that (rival) Palm's got a killer it's going to give away. These are all the things you must do on a day like today, and if you're not doing it, maybe you shouldn't be in the game." “It might cost me $15 million or $20 million to knock RIM down but it would be fabulous because it would beleaguer all the moron longs who are also keying on Research in Motion." "A lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund ... meaning I needed (a stock) down, I would create a level of activity beforehand that could drive the futures. It’s a fun game and it’s a lucrative game." "Who cares about the fundamentals? The great thing about the market is that it has nothing to do with the actual stocks." \- Jim Cramer, hedge fund manager from 1987-2001, Dec 2006 [Dealbook NY Times Article on Cramer's Interview](https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/cramer-market-manipulator/) [Investopedia Article: Short and Distort Bear Market Stock Manipulation](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/analyst/030102.asp#:~:text=Short%20and%20distort%20(S%26D)) [Anatomy of a Short Attack](https://seekingalpha-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/seekingalpha.com/amp/instablog/11442671-gerald-klein/3096735-anatomy-of-a-short-attack?amp_js_v=a6&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQHKAFQArABIA%3D%3D#aoh=16119453107704&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fseekingalpha.com%2Finstablog%2F11442671-gerald-klein%2F3096735-anatomy-of-a-short-attack)

investing

I'm watching this and can't believe how it's so blatant. This guy has a show that millions of people watch where he literally pumps and dumps stocks on a daily basis for his hedge fund buddies and they have the audacity to say WSB/Retail investors are the problem?

6w8q7c

Hacked on bittrex for 100k. Need to know what happened

So today I went on www.bittrex.com to create an account and deposited roughly 26 BTC and traded them for other coins. Of course before doing this I did the basic verification, phone verification and enhanced verification and the 2FA authentication. I tested everything out and everything seemed fine... Then I logged out at 18:54:27 2 Hours later I come home and try to log in and it says that Bittrex is checking for my browser and that this might take up to 5 minutes. Few minutes later it goes through and asks me for my 2FA which I provide. Again it takes a long time and ends up failing. So I wait a bit and do the whole process again and when I finally log in I notice that everythings gone... All my coins were sold for btc and gone. So I check the history and this is what I see... NEW IP LOGIN UNKNOWN_IP_WITHDRAWAL_APIV1_SUCCESS NEW_IP WITHDRAWAL_APIV1_SUCCESS and then a few mins later I log in... so what happend?

CryptoMarkets

these are API calls. Most likely you logged onto a spoofed phishing site, and it sent api calls to the real site to get valid account balance info/etc so it would look normal to you. As soon as you logged off, it sold your shit and sent it to that great wallet in the sky. The momentary delay during your initial login was them creating the API keys that would later be used to transfer their loot out of the system. NEW IP LOGIN UNKNOWN_IP_WITHDRAWAL_APIV1_SUCCESS NEW_IP WITHDRAWAL_APIV1_SUCCESS so now, you need to figure out what link you clicked on to be directed to the fake site. Was it a link in an email? If you went to the "real site" (via a bookmark or by typing the address in the address bar) but were phished anyway then most likely your computer is owned and you have an entry in your hosts file that redirects bittrex.com to a fake IP address that hosts an identical site. Start a command prompt as administrator and issue the following command "notepad.exe C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts" on a normal system, it should look like this: http://imgur.com/a/VYsXQ If it has an entry for bittrex, you are hacked. It will look like this http://imgur.com/a/bcRa6 this is what it would look like if they redirected bittrex to another IP address on your computer, since windows checks this file first before querying DNS (Domain Name System) for the IP Address of bittrex.com. If it has some random IP address in there, this is the place that stole your money. You can trace the IP Address owner and submit a report to police/interpol/justice league/the guy who owns the ip address. Most likely it will be some internet cafe in Shanghai or India and that's where the trail will go cold. if the hosts file looks normal, open regedit.exe and check the registry key at: \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\DataBasePath ^^^ this is where windows host file location is specified and this is where windows will look for the host file it uses to resolve names (www.bittrex.com) to addresses (104.17.156.108 <- their actual ip) for your browser to actually connect to. it should look like this http://imgur.com/a/Ius1v if it isnt identical to the example I provided, you are hacked if it doesn't point to "%SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\etc" then they have created a fake hosts file somewhere else on your system (the new path specified in the registry key), and this is truly some next level hacking shit, because your adversary is employing stealth to mask their activities. Another easy way to tell is to compare the results of a ping command (which uses hosts + dns) to the results from nslookup (which uses only DNS). If there is a mismatch (ping is hitting a server not listed in the results of nslookup) then this is a huge red flag. Example: http://i.imgur.com/FRZ1dOt.png here is an example of what it would look like if bittrex.com is redirected to 123.123.123.123 in the hosts file: http://imgur.com/a/ZPAtc hosts file: http://imgur.com/a/uFJiA If this is the case you will want to take the system down to bare metal, blow away the OS, flash the motherboard, flash any firmware you can with known good copies, etc *before you use it for anything else.* Also if your computer is owned, **don't forget to change every single password in every website (from a known good computer) starting with your bank, and then credit cards, lastpass (if you use it), or any other sites where you feel that they might liberate your hard earned cash from you all the way down to facebook and twitter etc. Matter of fact, do that anyways, like now.** you might ask for help in /r/netsec or /r/computerforensics (hint they will be more inclined to help if there is a small fee). even if your coin is not recovered at least you will have some idea who to shake your fist at. when you logged in and there was a long delay, did you get a 2fa prompt? or did you submit your 2fa with the login that took a long time? Hope this helps & sorry this shit happened to you, if I just got janked out of a hundred grand I would already be blackout drunk, so if this is the case, just shut down all your computer stuff and deal with it tomorrow.

k9ahz7

A Gentle Reminder about Life

I certainly don't want to deter people from saving and thinking about their future. Just remember that there is life now too. I just got done diagnosing Alzheimer's in a woman in her early 60's. Her and her husband were looking forward to travel and leisure and life, all these things they forbade themselves in the prospect of "enjoying it later." Now they are likely looking at assisted living if not a nursing home. Balance. Be wise about your future, but don't get caught up in the rat race. Enjoy your life now, but don't forget about rainy days. Thank you guys for the wonderful advice on this subreddit. Edit: IDK how many of these awards cost real money. But if they do, give it to a charity and post a link on here instead! Thanks y'all!

FinancialPlanning

For sure- I found out 2 weeks ago my neighbor pal has early onset dementia at 58, just tragic. I had just talked to her earlier this year, as we regularly did, about her plans to retire early- she had "just made the last payment on her house and looking forward to having less stress!" Sigh. And now her one daughter, of four, is taking on her care since. It has bummed me out so much. She'd been getting spacier this year, but I chalked that up to quarantine and the pandemic- sadly, worse than that. : / She never got a break.

oi0ae0

What was your biggest investment mistake?

Let me start by saying that I think we can learn a lot from other people’s mistakes and our own. In the hopes of avoiding them in the future. This should be an interesting discussion.

ValueInvesting

I sold about 1/3 of my portfolio before covid hit globally anticipating a crash. Temporarily thought I made the right move when the crash came. Realized I totally shit the bed when it rebounded and I bought back in around what I sold it for. Paid dearly in taxes last year. I always believed that you can’t time the market … but thought I could time the market.

ht5mme

Why is the financial sector able to maintain such high wages and profits compared to other professional services sectors? Why doesn’t this attract more competition that results in wages and profit margins being forced down?

Wall Street has essentially no artificial restriction on the amount of people who can achieve the credentials required to enter the industry, unlike, say, medicine, which is restricted by the amount of medical school graduates, which is turn restricted by the number of medical schools. Also, it is not a winner take all industry, the way, say, social media or entertainment is. To that end, why are investment banks and hedge funds able to maintain such high margins and salaries that aren’t present in other fields? Oddly, in spite of there being orders of magnitudes more hedge funds now than in 1980, there is very little in the way of price competition. The 2 and 20 compensation model has remained the standard in spite of middling performance from most funds. How is the sector able to get away with this when other sectors are not? For example, structural engineers aren’t able able to charge 2% of a buildings construction cost annually in perpetuity as long as it doesn’t fall down because there are other firms that will work for $150/man hour with no residuals. Why hasn’t this happened in finance? However, on the other hand, unlike hedge funds, there seem to be essentially no startup investment banks. If you look at the top investment banks, basically none were founded recently (mergers excluded). One would think that the profitability of the sector would drive lots of startups, but it doesn’t happen. What economic factors make the financial sector unique in being able to prevent competition from destroying their huge profits and commensurate wages?

AskEconomics

For the investing industry, there is actually a fair amount of competition. The average hedge fund [only lasts for five years](https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2014/07/31/1913792/most-hedge-funds-fail/), while [the average mutual fund fares marginally better at 8.6.](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/can-mutual-fund-get-better-age/) The comparison of compensation scheme to structural engineers is rather unfair: a construction company is done once the building is complete, while a hedge fund continues to actively manage your money the entire time you keep it with them, so charging a percentage of the total assets every year is much more warranted. However, you're right that the infamous 2 and 20 is exorbitant. The good news is that competition is working! [Fees are declining, with only 30% insisting on the traditional 2 and 20.](https://www.barrons.com/articles/only-a-third-of-hedge-funds-charge-2-and-20-fees-says-expert-1541851200) More generally, thanks to competition from low cost index funds, [money is drastically flowing away from actively managed funds](https://www.barrons.com/articles/outflows-inflows-active-passive-stock-funds-51571439212), and some of their largest clients like the [California pension system](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pensions-calpers-hedgefunds/calpers-dumps-hedge-funds-citing-cost-to-pull-4-billion-stake-idUSKBN0HA2D120140916) have sworn off hedge funds. It took a while, but over time, the sheen of active management and their (usually unfulfilled) promises of outperforming the market has worn off, and they're being competed away by lower cost alternatives. As for investment banking, the relevant competitive angle is relationships with the CFOs and CEOs at potential client companies. Large firms like Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley provide enough continuity that new entrants into the investment banking industry can develop those relationships as they rise up the ranks, so that by the time they become managing directors they are already chummy with their decision making counterparts. And indeed, most of a managing director's time is spent not doing market research or detailed quantitative analysis but instead [cultivating their relationships with clients](https://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/investment-banking-career-path/) so that when a CFO is contemplating a capital raise or M&A transaction, the name they know and trust is yours. The idea that competition is based not around price or competence but rather networking may be gauche, but for better or worse it's how the industry works. And because those relationships are very scarce, the people who have them are able to extract large rents. All that said, there *is* competition in the investment banking industry, and even new entrants! Most new entrants are what's called ["boutique investment banks."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boutique_investment_bank) Such banks are usually founded by a former managing director at a large who has decided that he can leverage his relationships without the corporate name to help him; for example, [Qatalyst, one of the most prominent investment banks for the tech industry, was founded by Frank Quattrone, who was a former star managing director at Morgan Stanley's tech investment banking group in Menlo Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Quattrone). However, you'll still see the established names like Goldman or Morgan on any deals that a boutique bank facilitates. That's because investment banking often requires a large balance sheet to help finance transactions. While a top managing director can take his relationships with him when he starts his boutique firm, he can't take the balance sheet as well. So rather than try to accumulate enough capital to run an entire deal in house, most boutiques will instead partner with the larger and older firms, where the boutique is providing most of the strategic direction and advice but the older firm is making their balance sheet available for a smaller cut of the fees. **TLDR: Hedge funds actually *are* being competed away. For investment banks, the relevant dimension is their relationships with CFOs and CEOs, which cannot be competed away except by new firms founded by industry veterans.**

mkzt1f

I have a secret to share - shhhhh

After first 2-3 millions, a paid off home and a good car, there is no difference In qualify of life between you and Jeff Bezos. Both of you have limited amount of time on earth - you have twice if not more than Jeff, so you are richer than him. A cheese burger is a cheese burger whether a billionaire eats or you do. Money is nothing but a piece of paper or a number in your app. Real life is outdoors. Become financially independent that’s usually 2-3 M. Have good food. Enjoy the relations. Workout and enjoy sex. Sleep well. Call your parents. That’s all there is to life. Greed has no end. Repeat after me. Time is the currency of life. Money is not. Sooner you figure this out, happier you will be. Agree/Disagree ? Edit - CEO of Twitch confirming this mindset. https://youtu.be/yzSeZFa2NF0

fatFIRE

I'll agree with you that $2-3 million is plenty; I'll disagree that it's just as good as Bezos money. I'm FIREd and still have to pay attention to what stuff costs. Bezos doesn't. I made a decision that spending more time in a corporate job in exchange for more freedom to spend lavishly when I was done wasn't worth the trade; others clearly feel differently.

vtlw5c

The U.S. is not a democracy anymore, it is an oligarchy

3 people have more money than the bottom 50% of Americans. 3 investment firms control virtually everything: Blackstone, Vanguard, State Street. Most Congress, House, Senators, and even the president are bribed and paid off by big corporations to do their bidding, which usually means fucking over the middle/lower classes in every way including gaming the system so they don’t have to pay any taxes while the middle class carries most of the tax burden. Student loan companies are spending hundreds of millions bribing politicians, hiring lobbyists, flooding mass media with anti-loan forgiveness leaning news articles, to keep student loans high and extremely difficult to pay off so we stay debt slaves for the rest of our life while they live a decadent life of luxury The only way things will change is when all the working poor unite, take over the military from within, and guillotine the top 0.01% multi-billionaires pulling the strings of politicians in their pockets just like the French Revolution in the 1700s

economy

Exactly. There’s no free market. There’s no free media. There’s no free election (all the candidates are carefully vetted and the winner is pretty much pre-determined). Just illusions of freedom and choices.

7og50a

WARNING: Brutal scam. Guy buys a Ledger Nano wallet on Ebay, and it steals all his cryptocurrency ($34,000, which is his life's savings).

Cross-posted from /r/BTC. As many as possible in the crypto space should be educated. Here is his post: https://np.reddit.com/r/ledgerwallet/comments/7obot7/all_my_cryptocurrency_stolen/ Here's where we find out how he was scammed. The scam Ledger Nano (bought on Ebay) came with a "scratch off" paper, to reveal the seed words. With a real Ledger Nano, the seed words are generated by the device. https://np.reddit.com/r/ledgerwallet/comments/7obot7/all_my_cryptocurrency_stolen/ds8khhw/ Some other people have come across the same scam: https://np.reddit.com/r/ledgerwallet/comments/7i12x5/latest_ledger_nano_s/ https://np.reddit.com/r/ledgerwallet/comments/7i12x5/latest_ledger_nano_s/dqvdulw/ Picture of the fake "scratch off" paper with seed words. https://imgur.com/DsICkge Pictures of the scam instructions: https://imgur.com/a/pw9L0 Brutal scam.

ethtrader

That's ingenious. Relevant to the other discussion regarding ledgers, there's little need to make intensely complex hardware or firmware hacks when people will always be the weak link in the securiy chain.

p3c6us

What do you do that you earn six figures?

It seems like a lot of people make a lot of money and it seems like I’m missing out on something. So those of you that do, whats your occupation that pays so well?

financialindependence

I drive a tow truck in metro Atlanta and clean up wrecks on I-285 & I-75. It's a lot of hours and being on call sucks especially working nights. But I'm at $100k so far this year. It'll be my best year yet. Hope to finish the year around $160k

m3g13g

Is there a better sub where comments aren’t hidden 99.9% of the time?

So often someone will ask an amazing question, something I’m really interested in getting a good answer to, or even someone’s opinion, but I always just see that message explaining that comments need to be approved. 99.9% is an exaggeration, but not many people are going to come back to look at a post to see if any comments have been approved.

AskEconomics

I think there is a trade-off on Reddit between high quality content and ease of posting. This sub has some of the highest quality responses that I have seen on Reddit, but it comes at the cost of heavy moderation and a long approval process to get comments visible. Generally I save posts from this sub that I am interested in and come back to them later once comments have been approved, but I can see how not everyone will go this far. If this is not done already, it might be beneficial to flair individuals who have made *at least one* quality contribution in the past and allow their submissions to be automatically approved. This lowers the threshold for post approval, but also gives a mechanism of removing the flair and auto-approval for posters who give subsequent low quality answers.

ldzd8u

WSB ruined investment based subs on Reddit.

You cant even post about moderate gains without some fanatic or social justice warrior trying to tell you that you are a "paper handed bitch" or that you "turned your back on the movement". What fucking movement?! Stocks are not a movement. What happened with the meme stocks is not a movement. It's a bunch of idiots who got too greedy and in turn attracted a larger group of idiots who think putting $100 into a fractional share is going to bankrupt all the large players and change the way capital is dispersed to the people. Get your head out of your ass. You didn't even bankrupt 1 hedge fund. You just forced them to close their position and borrow from their friends. I hope these people go back to r/charity or r/socialjustice or where ever they usually bitch and moan about not knowing how to make money. r/investing r/stocks r/stockmarket are for investing and trading not for furthering your cause or political beliefs. That's it. GL making that paper guys. Edit: For those who are upset about my inclusion of r/socialjustice and r/charity I will admit It was an uncalled for jab at them and I do appreciate the work they do. I am actually upset about those false, fake, or wannabee, sjw's acting like this is a movement we are all a part of or even wanted to be involved in when they really just wanted to see meme stocks get them rich quick. Edit 2: For anyone who is new to trading and looking to learn more I would like to direct you to the following educational sources:-Most Brokers have excellent educational resources on their platforms when it comes to the basics.-Investopedia has articles and educational resources on most charts, technical analysis, trading strategies, and techniques. [https://www.investopedia.com/](https://www.investopedia.com/)The subs bot also provided me with these: [https://github.com/ckz8780/market-toolkit#getting-started](https://github.com/ckz8780/market-toolkit#getting-started) Edit 3: Hey all, This was really fun chatting and arguing with you all. I tried to answer every comment and now I'm gonna call it because at this point most of the comments are just angry kids yelling at me for being paper handed or a whiney bitch. So have a great day & good luck on your future trades! Disclaimer: None of my comments should be considered financial advice.

StockMarket

We welcome all those who are looking for a legitimate, focused investment/trading sub. All our mods are or have been heavily active traders and/or wall street professionals and while the sub isn't perfect right now due to the massive amount of new subscribers and only a small number of moderators, we are working very hard to make it everything that other communities are not. **You can help by sorting by new and upvoting/commenting on quality posts to get them started and prevent them from getting buried by memes and shitposts, and also by reporting posts that violate the rules or don't add any value to the community.** Please stick around and stay patient with us, and make suggestions on how to improve the community. We actively implement community ideas and participate in the sub ourselves in order to make it great. We're also actively seeking new moderators, so if you want a hand in making the sub better and have the post history to prove you would be an asset to our moderator team, message me or one of the other mods directly and let us know. Right now, messages sent to modmail are a lot more likely to be missed since we have so many messages, so if you're interested in helping us out, it's best to drop us a line directly via PM or chat. Thanks for bearing w/ us!

nrc7cg

Stop feeling sympathetic for those that lost their $ on naked AMC/GME Calls

I understand it sucks to see people losing their life savings, but we have been telling you not to sell naked calls on meme stocks FOR 6 FUCKING MONTHS. That’s more than enough time to grasp the fact that the premium on meme stock options are high for a reason. I have absolutely no sympathy for any of you. To the ones who sold covered calls, I also have no sympathy. You made max profit. Stop bitching about missed gains because it could have just as easily gone the opposite way. Be grateful and move your capital to another stock Edit: why is this doing numbers? It’s a shitpost. Thank you for the awards though lmao

thetagang

its becoming downright ridiculous. not only for options but for stocks as well. i hear from so many around me not only them, they got their spouses into the game as well... create robinhood account and start trading... then they proudly tell hey we are up few bucks on amc or bb etc.. i am like did you sell? no. so you aint up. be prepared to lose the shit anytime though.

lkrrp9

META: Is there anything we can do about the fact that 90% of the posts in this sub are all just asking to ‘rate my portfolio’, most of which contain the same handful of ETFs?

Hi everyone, I’m a fairly new user on this sub but I just wanted to bring up the conversation on something I’ve noticed. If you look at the posts in the sub, almost all of them are from people asking others to rate their portfolio. Aside from the fact that it’s hard to see so few posts on any other topic, it drives me nuts that the portfolios of users on this sub, are often fairly identical. Everyone owns the same Nasdaq stocks, ark funds, BETZ, clean energy, and marijuana. Another post that’s even more infuriating is when people want this sub to do their due diligence for them and basically their entire post consist of “What do you think about $WXYZ, should I buy it?”. There’s never any other info on the post either, like what made you believe that this might be a good ETF to invest in in the first place. I have a few proposals to curb this kind of behavior and hopefully make this sub better : 1. A post in the sidebar to a link on the basics of how to construct a portfolio, or simple ETF investment strategies. This hopefully will decrease the number of daily new posts asking about this. 2. A post on the side bar with detailed answers to why this sub is generally in favor of or against certain commonly inquired about ETFs. If everyone is going to build their portfolios so similarly, we may as well have a prepared post with the subs concensus on stocks like ICLN, ARKG, QQQM, SPY, MSOS, LIT, BLOK etc... 3. We could start a monthly subreddit favorite ETF funds post. Maybe put up a poll or a stickies discussion thread on which ETFs everyone currently loves. This way if the top 10 funds users on this sub approve of are easily available, people can stop asking about them in those types of posts 4. This is my favorite suggestion. In order for anyone to post asking for feedback on their portfolio, they must share one piece of due diligence in their post, preferably about a stock they are inquiring about. You have to tell us why you like the stock and how it got included in your portfolio, even if your reasons are basic and incomplete. Anyone who is investing in ETFs without doing some type of DD is a fool of they’re blindly following the advice they get from strangers on here. Even if it’s something as giving us the P/E ratio, div yield, expense ratio and top 10 holdings, that’s more than what most posts contain. In doing so, I think the number of new posts without due diligence that just ask the sub to do the work for someone will decrease, and hopefully if everyone is sharing DD then we’ll all learn something new when we come on here. Let me know what you all think. If you have some suggestion your own, I’d love to hear them!

ETFs

I’m also new to this sub, but I’ve found it to be mostly fantastic and helpful. You get your handful of people asking about what you’re complaining about, but by no means does it seem overwhelming or a burden, at least not to me. When I scroll through the posts I find tons of thoughtful, intelligent info - way more than most other subs covering the finance sector, actually.

mpzbju

It is done

​ [Because editing my name out of 4 JPEGs is fuck \(also lifeline didnt email a receipt yet\)](https://preview.redd.it/rs0tn8agvws61.png?width=2048&format=png&auto=webp&s=80f27687dd731dd419a0138586c54a4a8ebe5167) Hey Cunts, So the last few runs of DW8 and EXR have finally pipped me over the $100k portfolio I made a promise back in Jan to donate $10k once i hit this milesone..([https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX\_Bets/comments/l6hwxu/rasx\_bets\_gives\_back\_a\_pledge/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l6hwxu/rasx_bets_gives_back_a_pledge/)) It is with the utmost humbleness that I offer my tendies to these organisations as a thank you to all of you who have allowed me to find financial independence that I could have only dreamed of what feels like a short year ago. Although this might look like an outrageous humblebrag (whales have big peepees etc) - that really isnt my aim. I do hope that others, who have made profits, consider giving back in their communities if you can afford to do so. Im not very good at this trading shit and most of it is dumb luck for me. But I hope it continues so that when i reach $150k I can make another donation. A few shoutouts for anyone still reading this: Im donating to Batyr because they do awesome work in mental health prevention in young australians. That donation is in the name of a friend who took her life and left us too soon. Her name was Carli. Im donating to Lifeline because the service they provide is amazing and saves lives. The donation is in the name of another friend who took her own life and is dearly missed. Her name was Denise. Im donating to guide dogs Aus because I like dogs. Also u/kervio suggested naming a dog ("Tendie") which would be fukn rad - but it costs like $35k to name a dog so yeah... nah. Im donating to Autism Austrlia with the literal message of "u/stinkyfatwhale is donating these funds on behalf of all the cucks on r/ASX_Bets". Im not sure if the people at Autism australia will find that funny but idgaf and they $2.5k to the good so meh. Also u/urban_avocado suggested it and it got the most up ticky things. A massive shoutout to all my madlad autistic big peepee smol brain friends that ive met and made within this community. Its been a fukn blast. I could try name you all - but ill just fuck up and type your names wrong and its gonna be a mess. Typing with fat flippers is hard enough as it is. u/username-taken82 \- you may take me off the purge list if im still on it - If more proof is required i can provide the actual tax receipts to these organisations for verification purposes - Just DM me. (except lifeline - coz they slow as fuck but ill get it from them eventually - TAX RETURN BABY) lucky last - huge thank you to the mods u/letsburn00 u/The_lordofruin u/phantom_hax0r u/username-taken82 u/mcfucking and even AutoMod for keeping all these retards in some semblance of order and creating an awesome community. mad respect lads. *"May your tendies be plentiful so you can ride a coke line to the moon🚀" - Ghandi* Godspeed retards 🐋❤ Stinky

ASX_Bets

You absolute weapon 👏🏽 You’re too good for this place mate. Really makes me proud to be a part of this community when I see people like yourself sharing their good fortune with those that need it. Cheers 🍻

6t57w1

ETH price is gonna moon this weekend! ICO's gonna dump into it!

Edit: please check comments and upvote for free Reddit gold! Now that Bitfinex is restricting EOS and SAN er20 tokens for US customers people are gonna dump those coins and get back into ETH before August 16th. This is great for Ethereum long term, because pretty much all the value that drained out of Ethereum from low 400's and high 300's was from those ICOs. If you have any of these tokens my general suggestion is to dump back into ETH before anyone else does and take your profits if you have them. Ethereum is also now making progress on plasma that will make scalable financial contracts that industry like the EEA want and what is going to be the backbone of ETH value in the near future. (Link to plasma: http://plasma.io/) This is the long-term use case that will work for the Ethereum network and slingshot it past Bitcoin. "Pursuant to the recent report of investigation issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Bitfinex is taking the proactive step of barring U.S. customers from trading certain digital tokens that may be deemed securities in the eyes of the SEC. The restriction will generally apply to ERC20 tokens issued through "ICOs" and will go into effect at noon UTC on Wednesday, August 16, 2017. No trading of these tokens will be allowed for U.S. customers. At the time of this post, the tokens active on Bitfinex that will be subject to this restriction are EOS (EOS) and Santiment (SAN)." https://www.bitfinex.com/posts/216

ethtrader

For every one upvote that this comment receives, I will give you one gold on the condition that the Ether price tops 349.99 USD by 12:00 AM Monday EST. Edit: 12:00 AM EST Sunday.. BTC hogged volume, need a 17% gain tomorrow. Edit II: 5:00 PM EST Sunday.. Ruh-Roh Edit III: 11:55 PM EST Sunday. Bitcoin Cash is on Polo if you need it Edit IV: 2:13 AM EST Monday. Thank you for the karma; to the moon, guys.

fdlriy

You are not "family" to your company. If you have an opportunity to better yourself, take it. They will do the same when it comes to cutting ties with you.

People tend to feel a sense of guilt when it comes to leaving a job like they owe them or their coworkers something. That is because America preaches this "family" culture that we are such a strong team all working together. In reality, if they need to close your entire division, they will do it without hesitation. If they can outsource something cheaper, they will do it. You do not owe them anything and if you see a better opportunity for yourself or your family, please take it and make your own financial future.

personalfinance

I just put my resignation in today. 3 years of being perpetually short staffed, pushed to the absolute max, and taken for granted finally came to a head. 3 years of, "it will get better. We will ~~higher~~ hire ^((edit: I changed it, please...no more messages. I'm sorry I offended so many people with my error)) more people." Nah. I'ma take my skills and sanity elsewhere. I thought I would feel regret and sadness doing it. I, however, felt giddy. This is exciting. I'm taking my life back.

mrwmvg

The Missing Link of Next Investors: Why you should know what Amplicat is before you purchase ANY shares held by Next Investors.

#Disclaimer The following post contains strictly public information that I have gathered from my own independent research. This information concerns the operations of S3 Consortiums, who I call "Next Investors", and the publicly listed companies they operate with. All further analysis built on top of this is my own, meaning both my subjective opinion and independent calculations, and is prone to error. I am not a financial adviser, and this is not financial advice. I strongly condemn any brigading that results from this post, all information regarding individuals has been sourced from publicly available profiles on the web. #Intro Alright cunts, I'm back from my self-imposed exile after falling flat on my face putting a number on the returns from the Next Investor emails. This post again is focused on the Next Investors, but taking a different angle. Over the past few days, I've had some messages from individuals asking about my analysis, and the possibility of predicting when they appear. Based on my independent analysis, I believe this is possible, but I won't be discussing that today. Today I will be discussing something that came up in those conversations, which I believe to be a bigger story about who and what the Next Investors really are. Everything below is based on my independent research, with a few helping hands. #Who and what Next Investors claim to be. Next Investors claim to be an "investment group" that does research on companies looking for buying opportunities. When they find such an opportunity, they send out an email to their readers. This has a [Well Documented](https://imgur.com/a/i95GieK) pumping effect on the price when the email is sent, which you can read about further in depth [here](https://old.reddit.com/user/Mutated_Cunt/comments/moqm5e/the_next_pump_a_comprehensive_analysis_of_the/). They do claim that they do not engage in any trading activities for a given stock within 72 hours either side of sending an email which I am inclined to believe. I don't think even ASIC would let something that blatant past them. One thing a lot of people have noticed is that Next Investors have a real lack of transparency about who they are. No email they have ever sent has had an author attached. If you go to their [website](https://www.nextinvestors.com/) nothing immediate is available. On the front page, you get a standard spiel about how they look for small cap opportunities they are dying to share with their readers. Their explicitly stated business model is the following: [**What is our business model: We only make money when our portfolio increases in value. We don’t charge subscription fees or management fees - everything here is free.**](https://imgur.com/a/NurrTuK) But this tells us nothing about who they are. If we go to their [about page](https://www.nextinvestors.com/lp/about-us/), we get more of a standard spiel about how expert and incredibly helpful they are. Absolutely nothing about the people behind this group, and proof of their expertise. The only proof they show is their claimed returns on their portfolio. Way down the bottom of the page, hiding in the [smallest fucking text on a grey background](https://imgur.com/a/Frvxhls), they disclose something about S3 Consortium Pty Ltd. This is their parent, and the next breadcrumb of the trail. #S3 Consortium Pty Ltd (Stocks Digital), the Bigger picture A lot of you already know this, but Next Investors is one of three "promotion groups", the other two being [Catalyst Hunter](https://catalysthunter.com/) and [Wise Owl](https://wise-owl.com/), that fall under the umbrella of Stocks Digital. This is something that [confused me at first](https://old.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/mlx7qd/premarket_thread_for_general_trading_and_plans/gtqwncq/?context=3), but makes a little sense according to their "philosophy". Catalyst hunter is for their short term, Next Investors for mid term, and Wise Owl for long term plays. All three of these have email lists you can sign up for, that have a notable pumping effect on the stock when sent. From here, I was able to find the first person with a face I could connect, the twitter page of **their founder [Damian Hajda](https://twitter.com/dhajda).** I have no idea why, but I could not find his name mentioned anywhere on any website run by Stocks Digital. Maybe he prefers anonymity. Personally, I believe it is unethical to hide who you are if you are actively promoting public companies. I had to stalk the people Next Investors follows on twitter to find him. In my dig, I didn't find too much about his background. He started Next Investors around late 2018 / early 2019. He is also the founder of another startup [Socialsuite](https://www.smartcompany.com.au/startupsmart/news/socialsuite-wins-128000-prize-money-at-salesforce-pitch-comp/#.Wp89iLjcdxI.linkedin) which aims to help charities be more effective through data analysis, which appears to be doing [quite nicely](https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/twitter-again-targets-trump/news-story/bdc98d20179d568e45d9826e980668c5) in more recent times. Their website is [here](https://socialsuitehq.com/). Digging through articles posted on Next Investors website, I was only able to find two names attached to articles, [Jonathan Jackson](https://www.nexttechstock.com/immediate-upside-whk-reveals-future-revenue-growth/) and [Meagan Evans](https://www.nexttechstock.com/whk-secures-a21m-us-government-contract-extension/). Remember the first one. According to Stocks Digital, the following is their Investment process, which is found directly on their homepage. #Our Investment Process - Our network introduces us to pre screened investment opportunities. - Our trusted advisors and sector experts help us assess the investment. - We conduct regular meetings with management to build trust and a relationship. - Our inhouse team of analysts conduct due diligence and analysis - The investment committee makes the final investment decision. - We announce the investment to our followers and update them as the company progresses - We aim to increase position as the company delivers over time. - We aim for free carry within 24 months of investing. Now I will focus on that very first step, on what "Our network introduces us to pre screened investment opportunities" really means. #How Next Investors Really Make Money They are reasonably transparent about the basics of this process on their Stocks Digital website, but not the specifics. Next Investors do not "find" their stocks by doing their own research digging deep, they get approached by the companies. If Next Investors like what they see, they work out an arrangement, and "purchase" the shares in the company and begin "promoting" it under one of their three groups. Lets have a look at this process in detail with an example, their recent pickup of ONE. #ONE Case Study, The Devil is in the Details. On the 12th of March 2021, ONE released a price sensitive announcement stating that they had [entered an agreement](https://imgur.com/a/T6XxLPk) with Stocks Digital. The previous day, the price closed at $0.08. [Here are the details of this agreement](https://imgur.com/a/VDxEcHP). Translated to English, this means the following: - After some haggling, ONE has agreed to pay Next Investors 6.25 million shares instead of a $375,000 cash sum, which is the equivalent of $500,000 in stock, for the **"Services"** of Next Investors. - In addition to this, Next Investors agrees to pay $1m in cash for 16,666,666 shares, at an average price of $0.06. However, if you look at the net effect of this, according to this agreement Next Investors have acquired (16,666,666+6,250,000)\*0.08 = **$1.83 MILLION** worth of **ONE** shares according to the previous market close, for only **$1 MILLION DOLLARS.** - This means that Next Investors paid an effective **$0.044 per share**, representing a **45%** discount to the previous closing price. So why are ONE practically donating their shares away for only $1m? The key here is the "services" they are acquiring. Immediately after this announcement was made at 10:23am, the Next Investor email was sent at 10:25 am. This [caused the price](https://ibb.co/2PsTJqz) to **open at $0.14**, a **75% increase** on the closing price of the previous day, to a **maximum of $0.20**, and finally a **closing price of $0.16.** Unfortunately, my free intraday data isn't working for this date, so I cannot show you the instant price movements. Clearly, we can see the backing of Next Investors has a powerful effect, especially since this was their very first email announcing their partnership with ONE, claiming it as their [2021 Tech Pick of the Year](https://www.nexttechstock.com/our-new-2021-tech-pick-year/). What am I trying to say with all this? In my opinion, they appear to be an advertising company that masquerades as the retail investor's best friend. I bet that my returns would be pretty fucking great if I could "buy" at a 45% discount. When Next Investors talk about their next "great opportunity", they're already well in the money. They paid $1m for $1.83m of stock, an instant $830k return. At the close of the day, their net assets doubled in value, to $3.66m. **In the space of a day, they "earned" $2.66m on paper.** That's a fucking solid racket if I've ever seen one. Another dishonest aspect behind this purchase is that they advertise their [entry price](https://imgur.com/a/sYiSKkO) as $0.08 proudly on their home page. This is highly misleading, and has also been [picked up by another journalist](https://arichlife.com.au/s3-consortium-publishing-misleading-returns-about-oneview-asxone/) who apparently gets paid to do this shit unlike yours truly. However, I think this journalist ended his story too soon, because he didn't mention another tidbit hiding inside that announcement which really shines the spotlight on how their "services" work, and I am sure is of great interest to retail investors. From the announcement, they state their intent to ["further increase awareness"](https://imgur.com/a/Pb3iJJ9) of the company ONE through their digital publisher network amplicat.com. Okay I lied a little there for the narrative, the first time I became aware of Amplicat was thanks to the legend /u/Darebottle, who discovered that Next Investor's website accesses an API hosted on the Amplicat.com domain. Weaponised autism is powerful. He wanted to know if there was a link because what was on there was very confusing. The ONE announcement confirms that Amplicat and Next Investors are indeed one and the same company operating under different personas. From my understanding, Next Investors is the **face they present to retail**, and Amplicat is the **face they present to companies they wish to do business with.** This connection is the headshot, and the most egregious, disgusting part of this post that motivated me to write. #Amplicat, what the fuck is that? Amplicat is yet **ANOTHER** component of the behemoth that is Stocks Digital, and as far as I have searched, is advertised fucking **NOWHERE**. In not a SINGLE PLACE is this website named in ANY of Next Investors websites that I can find. I challenge you to prove me wrong. If I do a google search for news of their name, I get [**9 results**](https://imgur.com/a/xeUfSWW) in a fucking foreign language with no relation. These guys are off the map. Lets take a dive into [their website](https://www.amplicat.com/) and see why they're keeping such a low profile to retail. Remember, this website is run and OWNED by Stocks Digital. I have taken screenshots of everything, because I suspect that once retail discovers this page, it will be vanished quickly. If I had to guess, I believe Amplicat is a concatenation of "Amplify Catalyst", which is a very generous wording. Amplicat is what I consider the **TRUE PRODUCT** of Next Investors. When companies trade their shares at enormous discounts to Next Investors, they are buying the services of Amplicat. Their home page advertises themselves as a provider of [GUARANTEED MEDIA COVERAGE](https://imgur.com/a/gJ6rsjT). The business model is simple, you provide shares of your company to Next Investors at a discount, and they will provide a sophisticated, coordinated online marketing campaign for your company. They are mercenaries for hire. [Here is a very helpful explainer](https://imgur.com/a/wZLlLRd) from their home page on how it works. For a suitable payment, Next Investors will publish articles/send emails within their own network, and create sponsored content for you. Like a smorgasbord, you get to choose what online publications you want these guys to publish "positive news" about your company in. You can get good news about your company straight onto [Yahoo finance]( https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/pursuit-minerals-pursues-european-nickel-targets-to-meet-growing-battery-metal-demand-062832688.html), [bloomberg financial](https://sponsored.bloomberg.com/news/sponsors/features/the-next-oil-rush/88energy/?adv=25442&prx_t=FnYFAwbU-At_sQA) or [news.com.au](https://www.news.com.au/sponsored/wWGLmt5IPjDyNhO0XhLC/the-untapped-potential-of-alaskan-energy/) if you please. This is powerful. Lets have a look at the way they describe these articles. One thing I noticed in my original Next Investor analysis was that an awful lot of emails that they sent coincided with a major company announcement. This is no coincidence, it is an [explicitly stated TIMING strategy](https://imgur.com/a/br49hy3) that they employ. They love a good excuse to "promote", and know this is an effective strategy. [Here are some companies](https://imgur.com/a/tIgZaoM) that they advertise as having used their services. You may recognize some names (cough cough **RAC** cough cough). Now we are up to the **shameful** section, where by my interpretation Next Investors appear to "**boast**" about their ability to increase a share price. On their website, they have a section of [case studies](https://www.amplicat.com/case-studies.html), where they "brag" about their past performance as "promoters" to attract future clients. #CASE STUDY 1: Pursuit Minerals' (PUR) Norwegian Nickel Exploration FEBRUARY 2020 In this example, Next Investors take credit for ["drawing investor attention to their Norwegian nickel project to improve liquidity in ahead of a capital raising."](https://imgur.com/a/CH8Bax9) TRANSLATION: THEY P****** THE STOCK UP SO PUR COULD GET $$$$ FROM A CR. [Here is the image](https://imgur.com/a/rYEKsP9) from their website showing how over the month of February 2020, their shilling media campaign TRIPLED the stock price from $0.004 to a high of $0.012, a **~~300%~~ 200% INCREASE**(fuck I'm bad at math). One thing awfully dodgy about this is where their chart cuts off, its awfully convenient. It does coincide with about the time a certain virus you may have heard of made its presence known. [HERE IS THE FULL PRICE CHART](https://imgur.com/a/2ApQjW6) for PUR including the months after the purported media campaign. Following their "Successful Cap Raise" the price has PLUMMETED down to $0.002! To be fair, they got fucked pretty hard by external factors, Mar-2020 was a scary time for the entire economy. Allow me to do my best to construct the timeline of PUR's Activities straight from their announcements. I might fuck this up because I have absolutely zero qualifications, but feel free to fact check me by reading the announcements on PUR's page. #PUR NICKEL VIKING SAGA TIMELINE - **Oct 2019** (Share price ~$0.009) : PUR is primarily a [Vanadium exploration company in Scandinavia](https://imgur.com/a/cs27KBl) with 5 projects in Finland, 8 projects in Sweden, and 3 projects in Queensland. [They undergo a Capital Raise of ~$1.2m.](https://imgur.com/a/IZrkfDg) - **Jan 2020:** [Progress continues](https://imgur.com/a/KldThQw) on these projects, share price hits an [absolute low of $0.0037!](https://imgur.com/a/lwuvBLB) - **Start of Feb 2020:** By my understanding of what Amplicat has put on their website, this is when [Next Investors claims to have started contact with PUR](https://imgur.com/a/rYEKsP9) about "promoting" them at the same time PUR wants to perform a Capital Raise to fund a new Norwegian Nickel exploration project. This time period was not highlighted by me, this was highlighted by them and publicly advertised on their [Amplicat website](https://www.amplicat.com/case-studies.html). The Norwegian project is not yet public information. - **Feb 11th 2020:** No public announcement has been made. Next Investors has not published any articles that I can find or sent any emails. The price of PUR has increased to a high of 0.0085. At 12:16pm, their [trading is halted](https://imgur.com/a/q8QmCOa) pending an announcement. - **Feb 13th 2020:** PUR undergoes a ["voluntary suspension"](https://imgur.com/a/oIWOkhd) because they love ASIC so much and can't wait to explain why their stock price has doubled under no news prior to this trading halt. - **Feb 17th 2020:** PUR is reinstated, and announces their new plans to enter an Option/Purchase agreement for [three Nickel Exploration Projects in Norway.](https://imgur.com/a/kqZxl0U). The next day, they announce another [Capital Raise](https://imgur.com/a/Z3OQ5Ch) of ~23m shares at $0.0073 = $170k to fund this. - **Feb 20-21 2020:** Next Investors post a [series of 5 articles](https://imgur.com/a/EWTM4PB), two articles on their own websites, three articles that are sponsored content published to financial sites such as Yahoo Finance. This pushes the price to an intra day high of $0.0125. A certain virus is starting to make itself known. - **Mar 24 2020:** PUR admits defeat to the [Wuhan flu](https://imgur.com/a/cUVy9HS), and ceases all exploration activities in Scandinavia. Their share price reaches a low of $0.002. - **Skip a few months** they start pursuing exploration activities in other regions, [a gold mine in Arizona](https://www.nextminingboom.com/pursuit-1moz-gold-high-grade-usa-alluvial-project/), and eventually land an exploration license in the [infamous Julimar region](https://www.nextminingboom.com/1600-gain-sparks-julimar-explorer-race-we-just-found-cheapest/), where every new prospector is trying to copy the astronomical rise of Chalice Mines (CHN). - Jan 20th 2021: The Viking saga ends, PUR effectively [sells all 18 of their Scandinavian assets for a total of $3m](https://imgur.com/a/ojKvpx2), or $60k per project. The market however is liking their new direction with their company, the share price is $0.032. What we can learn from this case study? If you had followed Next Investors and held, you would be making money but for what I believe to be the wrong reason. The Next Investor promotion was explicitly focused on the Scandinavian projects to support a Cap Raise, and they were paid by PUR to do this. If you had bought shares of PUR believing in the success of the Nickel project, you most likely would have sold at a great loss following the White Swan event of COVID-19 closing their exploration. **Obviously, I don't blame Next Investors for this crash**, but I find it very disingenuous that the stated purpose of their promotional campaign was to support an upcoming Capital Raise, and is touted as a success. #CASE STUDY 2: The Golden Child VUL, Feb 2020 In this example, Next Investors take credit for ["a significant rise in liquidity and share price movement immediately after Amplicat promotion."](https://imgur.com/a/QhiXCF2). Again, they pull the same trick of cutting off the COVID crash following their ["promotion"](https://imgur.com/a/NUaPzP7). They claim credit for [20 articles posted](https://imgur.com/a/opMnrrb) in the month of February, two of them to their own websites, and EIGHTEEN sponsored articles. The share price rose from a [low of $0.185, to a peak of $0.38](https://imgur.com/a/o896VAp), before again it hit the same problem as PUR where they got fucked by COVID back down to a low of $0.15. Again, VUL follows an awfully familiar pattern. Next Investor's chart highlights the beginning of Feb-2020 as the start of their "arrangement". On Feb 11th, they go into trading halt. On Feb 15th, they announce their Positive Pre-feasibility study. On Feb 20th, they say "trust us bro" when ASX asks them about the suspicious price movements before that announcement. From Feb 21st to Feb 24th, Next Investors start "promoting" VUL throughout their network. This coincides with the official announcement on the 21st of February for the Positive Scoping study of their project. The share price reaches an intra-day high of $0.38 on the 24th of Feb. Again, March 2020 arrives and tanks the share price down to $0.15, along with the rest of the market. Ultimately, what can we learn from this case study? The current share of VUL is $7.430 as of my typing this. This was a scenario where everybody won. If you bought at the peak price of this "promotion", your return is ~1700%. Short term, investors may have gotten fucked by covid, but long term this is a winner. Congratulations Next Investors. #CASE STUDY 3: An Awfully Familiar Story Along with SGC/XST, one of the most spectacular loss porn events of this year was with 88E, which plummeted from a peak of $0.097 to its current price of ~$0.022, following their failed drilling results. Here are some articles about the lead up to this story. [Exhibit A](https://www.nextoilrush.com/88-energy-edge-closer-spud-date-one-biggest-oil-wells-2020/#_ga=2.60745130.600602532.1585875991-103860279.1584488176) [Exhibit B](https://sponsored.bloomberg.com/news/sponsors/features/the-next-oil-rush/88energy/?adv=25442&prx_t=FnYFAwbU-At_sQA) [Exhibit C](https://www.news.com.au/sponsored/wWGLmt5IPjDyNhO0XhLC/the-untapped-potential-of-alaskan-energy/) [Exhibit D](https://www.sharecafe.com.au/2019/11/19/88-energys-north-slope-well-could-be-one-of-the-biggest-in-2020/) Wait, is there an error? Those articles say "88 Energy’s North Slope Well Could Be One Of The Biggest In 2020"? Nope you're reading it right, this is something they pulled not once, but TWICE, and **IN MY COMPLETELY SUBJECTIVE OPINION** they are [BRAGGING ABOUT IT](https://ibb.co/kyT0kXp). "88 Energy (ASX: 88E | AIM: 88E) engaged Amplicat(Next Investors) to generate investor interest in the company ahead of its upcoming drilling program scheduled that was anticipated to commence in months’ time." This happened in 2020, and it happened again in 2021, WITH NEXT INVESTORS ACTIVELY PROMOTING BOTH TIMES! From Nov-2019 to Jan-2020, [Next Investors take credit](https://ibb.co/CHn5Th5) for "Amplifying" the price of 88E from $0.014 to $0.026 in the lead up for their drill campaign. They achieved this [with 22 articles](https://ibb.co/0CDnCZV), 6 of them posted on their own website, and 16 sponsored articles. Here is a [pastebin of 10 of these articles](https://pastebin.com/BhQxBMyr) for your viewing displeasure. Here is an [article from earlier this year](https://www.nextoilrush.com/oil-strikes-back-88e-leveraged-exploration-success-coming-weeks/) by Next Investors that makes ZERO MENTION of this previous failure, and ZERO MENTION of their previous involvement "promoting" this dog of a company. How can Next Investors claim to have a team of sophisticated investors with an eager eye for early opportunities when they pull something like this? #The Next Investors Media Network. Now I will do a mini summary behind the mechanisms of how Next Investors spread their news today, but you may have already picked up on this. [This is what I imagine I look like by now](https://i.imgflip.com/55r9e7.jpg) They have three primary methods of distribution - **News Articles posted on their own websites [Next Investors](https://www.nextinvestors.com/latest-articles/), [Wise Owl](https://wise-owl.com/commentaries/) [Catalyst Hunter](https://catalysthunter.com/), and most importantly [FinFeed](https://finfeed.com/)** You cannot find a direct link to FinFeed from the Next Investor website, but you can find direct links to Next Investors from Finfeed, so its not as "hidden" as they make Amplicat. Finfeed is the primary website where they post articles about companies they are involved with. For articles of all three email producers, Catalyst Hunter, Wise Owl, and Next Investors, corresponding articles are congregated here. From Finfeed, we can actually dig into who the fuck is writing these articles. There is no direct page for you to view their authors, but again thanks to the magic of the legendary /u/darebottle , I can give you a [pastebin of all 80 unique authors](https://pastebin.com/rne8z2WD). The majority of these authors have only posted 1 or 2 articles, so it is misleading to say they are all affiliated closely with Next Investors. However, I would like to bring attention to two authors. This is all public information, [Trevor Hoey](https://finfeed.com/author/trevor-hoey) [Jonathan Jackson](https://finfeed.com/author/jonathan-jackson) These two authors are responsible for the majority of articles written on Finfeed. Jonathan Jackson is the "Managing Editor at Stocks Digital", which I would creatively describe as "Leader of the Ministry of Propaganda" for Next Investors. Trevor Hoey is a former senior writer for AFR who now works for Next Investors. As a sample, today I clicked on the front page of Finfeed, and 7/9 featured articles were written by these two individuals. This holds all the way back to 2019. It is my imperfect suspicion that I cannot prove that the majority of content produced by Next Investors is written by these two people. This is all public information which I simply want to make transparent, as Next Investors provides virtually zero information on their main websites about who is producing their content. Another writer that appeared often historically was [Meagan Evans](https://finfeed.com/author/meagan-evans), ~~but as of late she has not posted anything since [Oct 16, 2020](https://finfeed.com/small-caps/technology/retail-isnt-all-dead-which-corner-of-the-market-is-booming/). I believe it is safe to say she is no longer involved prominently with Next Investors.~~ EDIT: Based on more research, I have found [this article](https://catalysthunter.com/technology/fgl/tiny-retail-analytics-stock-fgl-signs-deal-34bn-wholesale-giant-metcash/) posted to Catalyst hunters on the 10th of March 2021. It is now safe to say she is still in the game. - **Sponsored Articles posted on Prominent websites** In the case studies, I've provided examples of these Sponsored articles. Next Investors gets their writers to copy paste the "promotions" from their own website onto financial news websites online, for a price. In every sponsored content article I have linked in those case studies, the author was one of the three individuals I have mentioned. If you are reading news about a Next Investor company, look for the author name to discover if you are being shilled. - **Emails sent directly to Retail Investors** This is the obvious one everyone knows about, people sign up to the newsletter, they send the email, the price shoots up. This is a modern development, in the early days of their case studies Next Investors did not send emails, only posted articles. I believe that they have discovered the email method of distribution to be much more powerful in pumping prices up than articles. We can see instant ~20% increases from the minute the email is sent on a candlestick chart. I believe the emails are written by the same people writing the articles, as you can easily correlate the emails sent with named articles written and posted by the individuals on finfeed. #A Fourth Frontier? Astroturfing Social Media This section is pure speculation, but I believe the next stage in Next Investor's promotional evolution will be astroturfing social media websites like our very own shitposting haven. They are well aware that we exist, and [exploit us to promote their companies](https://ibb.co/3Cf8GzM), and have hired individuals in our demographic to work for them [making memes](https://ibb.co/mD4cXgL) referencing us. What a fucking time to be alive. Because of the effectiveness of their promotional emails/articles, the rising stock prices naturally creates people posting about the Next Investor stocks going up. However, we need to be on red alert for astroturfing shills, remember **POSITIONS OR BAN**. #Conclusion I believe the business model of Next Investors is highly predatory on retail investors. Companies approach them, and I believe there is evidence to suggest that they make Next Investors aware of non-public information about upcoming announcements for the company. They do this so that Next Investors can co-ordinate emails/articles that are specifically co-ordinated with their announcements. This "timing feature" is an explicitly stated service that Next Investors provide under the name Amplicat. In their dealings, they acquire shares in companies at a huge discount to the fair market price, and begin to "actively promote" them across a vast media network. Short term, this causes a significant price increase, and for mining explorers it is for the purpose of justifying Capital Raises at elevated prices. This creates unhealthy market cycles, where prices for their stocks surge violently upwards. When you combine this with their media propaganda empire, this causes retail investors (the retards on here) to FOMO into peak prices, and short term become left holding the bag. There are cases such as VUL where everybody wins, and I do not believe a company being associated with Next Investors makes it inherently bad. However, their relationship with 88E disgusts me on a personal level. If you are going to promote a company that has failed previously under your promotion, I believe you have the moral obligation to be transparent about this history. I will not tell another person to buy PEN without letting them know about some of the problems they're having with their In Situ chemistry. Ultimately, the long term price of these companies makes no difference substantial difference, because they have already been paid for their promotional services. Remember the Silicon Valley maxim, if you are getting something for free, you are not a customer, **YOU ARE THE PRODUCT**. #Open Letter to Next Investors Finally, I leave a series of questions that I would like Next Investors to answer, even if this a longshot. I think leaving these questions unanswered speaks louder anyway. Here goes #1. Who are the so called "experts" behind your "investment decisions" and what are their credentials? There is zero transparency offered on any of your affiliated websites about the "team" involved. There have been clear winners like VUL, but also complete dogs like 88E that you have shilled not once, but twice, leaving retail investors holding the bag. At most, I have been able to link five people to your group, but that is all. Why should we not assume you are a marketing company that helps public companies make money by selling shares, not selling a product? #2. Why is the entry price on your [website](https://www.nextinvestors.com/portfolio/) misleading for PUR, and are there any other listed entry prices that are similarly misleading? From my previously calculation, we know that you effectively purchased 22,916,666 shares of ONE at an average price of $0.044, yet your website states your entry price as $0.08. In this scenario, why have you chosen to use the market price of the closing day prior to your investment as your entry price instead of the actual effective price you paid? Also the fact that you highlight the "Highest Return" in green on your website is pretty fucking cringe #3. Why are the Entry Dates on your website misleading with regards to your relationships with these companies? From the Case Studies page of Amplicat, we know you have been affiliated/doing business with PUR since at least Feb-2020, and 88E since at least Nov-2019, yet you list your "entry date" for these companies as Dec-2020 and Jun-2020 respectively. I believe the first time, they may have only paid you cash instead of shares, but I still find this to be an incredibly dishonest way to operate. #4. Why is it so hard to find Amplicat? The services offered by your other website "Amplicat" are not advertised anywhere on any of the "retail investor webpages". On this website, you boast about your ability to "improve liquidity in ahead of a capital raising" and create "significant share price movement". Is this conflict of interest not something the retail investors you advertise towards should be aware of? #5. How is it possible to "time" emails regarding price sensitive announcements using only public information? Your Amplicat website advertises your ability for "Swift & synchronised publication to coincide with material news announcements and macro-economic events". I have identified [five separate occasions](https://ibb.co/WHwvXSL) where the email you sent was less than 60 minutes after the announcement was officially made on the ASX. Are you simply that amazing and awesome at processing announcement information and churning it into an email in record speeds, or are you aware of certain things the public is not? #6. Do you think your behaviour under Amplicat is befitting of someone holding an Australian Financial Services License? I'm no lawyer, but I think there's something to be said about a "conflict of interest" that is hidden away inside the Amplicat division that you do not advertise on your main websites. and finally, the one question I really hope they answer #7. Why is the [official Twitter account of Amplicat](https://twitter.com/amplicat) suspended for violating Twitter's policies? I followed the link to your social media on your website, and as of writing this, [the linked Amplicat twitter account is banned.](https://ibb.co/98qZYbP) Does Jack Dorsey have stricter standards than ASIC? 🤡 🤡 🤡 🤡 (**UPDATE** Amplicat's twitter account is now unbanned) Congrats if you made it all the way through this post in one go. Love you all, lets keep this place special. #Update I don't know why, but google has decided to show me an actual news article instead of foreign languages when I search for Amplicat now. [Here are the details of their agreement to promote EMN](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/08/25/2083606/0/en/Euro-Manganese-Inc-Appoints-Digital-Investor-Relations-Firm.html)

ASX_Bets

Jesus fucking christ. I knew they were paid in shares but to actually boast about raising price of shares ahead of a known capital raise? Their pumps and dumps were already hard enough to play recently due to the increase of bots but this is actually fucked.

xxt9k4

Asda has announced it is offering over 60’s unlimited hot drinks, hot soup and a roll for just £1 through November and December.

Asda has announced all of its own in-store cafe’s will be offering over 60’s a roll, hot soup and hot drinks through November and December for £1 to help with the cost of living crisis. This isn’t strictly personal finance related but I’m sure there’s plenty of people over this age or with family over this age that may see this post and benefit from it, so I though it’d be worth posting for awareness.

UKPersonalFinance

Honestly what about young people? Its really hard take but im positive next government will pave a way for young people. Theyre simply being ignored. edit: I have love for elderly and not saying they should be ignored but this types of initiatives from Asda seems kinda discriminatory.

71c0w4

[UPDATE] I found out that a coworker in the same position, with the same education, experience, workload, etc. is making almost twice what I make

[Original Post](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6t8hme/i_found_out_that_a_coworker_in_the_same_position/?st=J7T77MXH&sh=810eb4d6) For those of you who read my original post, I just wanted to update. Everyone was so encouraging and supportive, I really did not expect it! After making my post, I met with my boss in order to inform her that I needed a raise. She told me she would submit a pay raise request. 1 week later she called me into her office. She absolutely berated me for thinking I could move into the coordinator position for which I was already doing the work, and complained about my work performance. Last month I had an evaluation, and received very high praise for my performance, and there has not ever been complaints about my performance in the past. All in all, I assume she was making excuses not to increase my pay. Fast forward a bit, and I received a text from the wife of one of my boyfriend's friends, offering me a job at a rehab facility. I interviewed for the job, and they offered me the position at $20 an hour ($6 more an hour than my current job). In the meantime, my boss called me into her office AGAIN, and informed me that I was VERY fortunate, as corporate had approved my pay increase. She stated that she "truly shot for the stars when submitting my new pay" and that corporate had "gone above and beyond" anything she ever thought I would receive: $17 an hour. Still $7 less than my coworker. I accepted the new job, and put in my two weeks notice. My boss was absolutely side swept. She could not believe that I was quitting. She waited a day, and called me into her office yet again, and asked me what they were offering me that was so great that I would choose to leave. I told her $20 an hour. She said, "If I can offer you that, will you stay?" Wow. And here I thought $17 was above and beyond what they could ever offer me. I told her I would think about it. In the meantime, I contacted my new employer and informed them that my current employer was offering to match their offer to keep me, and got an even bigger offer from them. I start next Monday!! Thank you r/personalfinance for all your support and advice! I can't wait to start my new job :)

personalfinance

Good on you. This whole baby boomer mentality of not disclosing pay is bullshit. As long as the other person is comfortable telling you, it's not your bosses business. Once I had the other job in hand, I would have simply explained that you knew she was underpaying you, and that unless she offered you equal pay with a bonus for the back pay you feel you are owed, you will be leaving. Considering they were giving you coordinator work without the title or pay shows how they value you, so you're not losing out at all.