So was the run up and subsequent deflation done by the hedgies to get normies to sell? There was a gut puece saying GME did some filings this week and the last time they did the same filings, the stock dropped massively. Another trick to get long HODLers to give up?
I don't believe the run up was caused by hedgies in my view. I also don't believe Roaring Kitty was the domino that started the run up. Here's why I say that.
For the entire month of April GME had danced in between $10-11.50 or so. No real movement. In fact one could say it was being driven down from the month prior where it spent most of its time in the $15 range. As April ended it fell into the $10 range.
On 5/1 it opened at $11.03 and by 5/10 it closed that Friday at $17.46.
It was clearly on an upward trend and breakout 10 days into May.
This is where I believe an opportunity was seized.
(This is all speculation and opinion on my behalf from what I've been able to see. So take it for what it's worth)
Keep in mind a firm doesn't simply decide to dilute their stock in order to raise funds. It's planned well in advance and for a purpose. It also doesn't do it when the stock is in a weak position. They want to raise as much funds as possible given that a dilution will do exactly that, dilute the price of the stock.
So GME knew it was going to raise cash and wanted to do it at a time when it was best for the firm while also hurting it's stock holders the least.
As forward momentum was noticed a key player decided to strike.
On 5/12 RoaringKitty decided to come out of hiding after 3 years. So Kitty didn't drop the first domino this go-round but instead used his clout to push the momentum.
I want you to imagine for a second being in Kitty's shoes. You've stayed quiet for 3 years but likely knew you would re-emerge but only when the time was right. You want it to be meaningful. As meaningful as you are to the community. Why? Well because you understand your impact and the power you wield. You also don't want it wasted. You don't want to go the way of the boy who cried wolf.
5/12 was a Sunday and Kitty begins to prep the GME community by dropping his first post in 3 years just in time to kick off the new trading week on the heels of 10 days of upward trend.
5/17 (Friday pre-market) Game Stop announces a new stock offering. GME closes on Friday at $21.30.
This new stock offering is likely to be finished by Monday and GME stands to raise $900M cash. If this would have been done just 30 days prior it would have only raised $450M IF, IF the stock stayed at the going rate of $11 then. That would have likely not been the case since, presumably, the $11 stock would have been beaten up as a result of that announcement. Likely would have cut itself in half which would have yielded somewhere around $250M.
That would have meant $650M lost cash revenue opportunity. Absolutely massive!
What the run up and subsequent further push by RoaringKitty did, in effect, was to cause the hedgies to expend resources to suppress the stock from a high of $57 during that run up down to $22 only to have GME raise $900M while they were struggling to suppress it.
This was and continues to be well coordinated in my opinion.
It is likely that any dilution and damage to the stock price from the stock offering has already been inflicted. I could be wrong but I think this thing still has legs.
Also keep in mind that the fact that Game Stop has just over $2 billion dollars in cash reserves places the stock at the very lowest cash price of $7.50.
Meaning that the company, by definition, can not go bankrupt. It is cash rich with zero debt therefore any short below that price is fucked. Game Stop is going to post profits the rest of the year from it's business and that $2B nets them $2M a week just on earned interest. They are going to continue to build that cash reserve and continue to push that $7.50 higher and as a result push more and more short sellers out of the game. And by push them out I mean placing them in a position to have to cover their short positions.
Was the run up done by hedgies? Not in my opinion.
Was the draw down done by the hedgies? Likely. And at a great cost.
Did the draw down work in their favor? Not in the slightest.
Will we ever see "moon"? Na. Well not like it has been hyped up to be.
Keep in mind in order for "moon" to happen the shorts would have to cover. To cover a short one would have to purchase a share. The purchase signals to the market an upward or positive trend. A positive trend further signals the market creating more interest in the stock that in theory will create more interest therefore more purchase. Etc etc.
More shorts having to cover means more purchases.
If the price remains elevated, the shorts will have to eventually cover or drown in margin interest.
Ok. Ok. All that is common knowledge. So I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.
But let's logically think through this experiment.
GME is being naked shorted and massively at that.
So hedge funds have been paying margin interest for the past three years at the least to keep the short positions open. Obviously longer than anyone of them ever expected. And all margin interest at a loss so far.
Now let's focus on Game Stop as a company and it's viability to give us some possible insight into a hedge funds strategy.
As we have seen from it's financials, leadership, profitability and cost saving measures it has proven to be a solid business that is projected to be profitable for the foreseeable future. So any illusions, at this point, of bankruptcy has to be out of the question for any hedge funds that shorted to zero or near zero.
Anyone, IMO, shorting below $7.50 knows their day is coming and are simply buying time via margin interest. Game Stop is valued no less than that amount simply as a result of the cash reserves on hand.
(Just over) $2B/280M shares = an estimated $7.5.
Ok so knowing this we now focus on hedge funds.
Are we to assume that hedge funds are oblivious to these company stats? That somehow they are not privy to publicly available data?
Of course they see this data.
So what options do they have?
Continue to short the stock and lose margin interest despite knowing they will never meet their short therefore their bet will never pay out.
Realize their folly. Cover their short positions. Stop the bleeding of margin interest and lose on having to cover the short at an ever increasing price since the purchase to cover drives the price higher. Therefore having pay more and more for every short position they cover.
Option #2 is "moon" for you and I.
So if option #2 is sure hedge fund demise why would they ever choose that option even if they could. Which they can't since they simply can't cover that many naked shorts. But put that aside. Why would they?
Again. If option #2 is bankruptcy for the hedge fund why on earth would they choose that option? Especially if it would make "non-sophistocated" retail traders like you and I rich?
They have no out. And in the face of that they will choose margin interest bankruptcy. They will choose option #1 with a twist.
With a twist? Yup.
They may be buying time via margin interest. They also see a market implosion in the future. They are likely going to hide their folly in the chaos. Amongst a market implosion they will scurry away and avoid prosecution. Or at least hope to avoid prosecution.
Think about it?!
Admitting defeat (covering shorts) now will implode their hedge fund which will lead to investigations into their fiduciary responsibilities to their investors since their mega millionaire investors will demand it. When hedge funds lose, their investors lose.
So why not just let a black swan event implode the economy let it be used for cover. Heck maybe even some padding since no doubt the fed will swoop in to pad their investors since they would be "too big to fail". Sure their investors will lose but they'll be given the ol' "well. At least you didn't lose everything" as they look over a wasteland of retail investors.
And that's how they'll, yet again, avoid investigation and prosecution.
The stock offering doesn’t have to be “sold” or completed on Monday. GameStop has 3 years to sell the stock and they can choose whom it goes to. Also, they determine what price they sell the stock for.
It was wrong for me to use the word “stupid”. It was a knee jerk reaction from me because honestly I was of the thought that $20 was far too low. Maybe they needed to act now.
I would still like to know the mechanics behind the sale of the 45 million shares.
So was the run up and subsequent deflation done by the hedgies to get normies to sell? There was a gut puece saying GME did some filings this week and the last time they did the same filings, the stock dropped massively. Another trick to get long HODLers to give up?
I don't believe the run up was caused by hedgies in my view. I also don't believe Roaring Kitty was the domino that started the run up. Here's why I say that.
For the entire month of April GME had danced in between $10-11.50 or so. No real movement. In fact one could say it was being driven down from the month prior where it spent most of its time in the $15 range. As April ended it fell into the $10 range.
On 5/1 it opened at $11.03 and by 5/10 it closed that Friday at $17.46.
It was clearly on an upward trend and breakout 10 days into May.
This is where I believe an opportunity was seized.
(This is all speculation and opinion on my behalf from what I've been able to see. So take it for what it's worth)
Keep in mind a firm doesn't simply decide to dilute their stock in order to raise funds. It's planned well in advance and for a purpose. It also doesn't do it when the stock is in a weak position. They want to raise as much funds as possible given that a dilution will do exactly that, dilute the price of the stock.
So GME knew it was going to raise cash and wanted to do it at a time when it was best for the firm while also hurting it's stock holders the least.
As forward momentum was noticed a key player decided to strike.
On 5/12 RoaringKitty decided to come out of hiding after 3 years. So Kitty didn't drop the first domino this go-round but instead used his clout to push the momentum.
I want you to imagine for a second being in Kitty's shoes. You've stayed quiet for 3 years but likely knew you would re-emerge but only when the time was right. You want it to be meaningful. As meaningful as you are to the community. Why? Well because you understand your impact and the power you wield. You also don't want it wasted. You don't want to go the way of the boy who cried wolf.
5/12 was a Sunday and Kitty begins to prep the GME community by dropping his first post in 3 years just in time to kick off the new trading week on the heels of 10 days of upward trend.
5/17 (Friday pre-market) Game Stop announces a new stock offering. GME closes on Friday at $21.30.
This new stock offering is likely to be finished by Monday and GME stands to raise $900M cash. If this would have been done just 30 days prior it would have only raised $450M IF, IF the stock stayed at the going rate of $11 then. That would have likely not been the case since, presumably, the $11 stock would have been beaten up as a result of that announcement. Likely would have cut itself in half which would have yielded somewhere around $250M.
That would have meant $650M lost cash revenue opportunity. Absolutely massive!
What the run up and subsequent further push by RoaringKitty did, in effect, was to cause the hedgies to expend resources to suppress the stock from a high of $57 during that run up down to $22 only to have GME raise $900M while they were struggling to suppress it.
This was and continues to be well coordinated in my opinion.
It is likely that any dilution and damage to the stock price from the stock offering has already been inflicted. I could be wrong but I think this thing still has legs.
Also keep in mind that the fact that Game Stop has just over $2 billion dollars in cash reserves places the stock at the very lowest cash price of $7.50.
Meaning that the company, by definition, can not go bankrupt. It is cash rich with zero debt therefore any short below that price is fucked. Game Stop is going to post profits the rest of the year from it's business and that $2B nets them $2M a week just on earned interest. They are going to continue to build that cash reserve and continue to push that $7.50 higher and as a result push more and more short sellers out of the game. And by push them out I mean placing them in a position to have to cover their short positions.
Was the run up done by hedgies? Not in my opinion.
Was the draw down done by the hedgies? Likely. And at a great cost.
Did the draw down work in their favor? Not in the slightest.
So the million dollar question, when will it moon and stay mooning?
(Just my opinion)
Depends on your definition of "moon".
Will some make money? Yes.
Will some make lots of money? Yes.
Will we ever see "moon"? Na. Well not like it has been hyped up to be.
Keep in mind in order for "moon" to happen the shorts would have to cover. To cover a short one would have to purchase a share. The purchase signals to the market an upward or positive trend. A positive trend further signals the market creating more interest in the stock that in theory will create more interest therefore more purchase. Etc etc.
More shorts having to cover means more purchases.
If the price remains elevated, the shorts will have to eventually cover or drown in margin interest.
Ok. Ok. All that is common knowledge. So I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.
But let's logically think through this experiment.
GME is being naked shorted and massively at that.
So hedge funds have been paying margin interest for the past three years at the least to keep the short positions open. Obviously longer than anyone of them ever expected. And all margin interest at a loss so far.
Now let's focus on Game Stop as a company and it's viability to give us some possible insight into a hedge funds strategy.
As we have seen from it's financials, leadership, profitability and cost saving measures it has proven to be a solid business that is projected to be profitable for the foreseeable future. So any illusions, at this point, of bankruptcy has to be out of the question for any hedge funds that shorted to zero or near zero.
Anyone, IMO, shorting below $7.50 knows their day is coming and are simply buying time via margin interest. Game Stop is valued no less than that amount simply as a result of the cash reserves on hand.
(Just over) $2B/280M shares = an estimated $7.5.
Ok so knowing this we now focus on hedge funds.
Are we to assume that hedge funds are oblivious to these company stats? That somehow they are not privy to publicly available data?
Of course they see this data.
So what options do they have?
Continue to short the stock and lose margin interest despite knowing they will never meet their short therefore their bet will never pay out.
Realize their folly. Cover their short positions. Stop the bleeding of margin interest and lose on having to cover the short at an ever increasing price since the purchase to cover drives the price higher. Therefore having pay more and more for every short position they cover.
Option #2 is "moon" for you and I.
So if option #2 is sure hedge fund demise why would they ever choose that option even if they could. Which they can't since they simply can't cover that many naked shorts. But put that aside. Why would they?
Again. If option #2 is bankruptcy for the hedge fund why on earth would they choose that option? Especially if it would make "non-sophistocated" retail traders like you and I rich?
They have no out. And in the face of that they will choose margin interest bankruptcy. They will choose option #1 with a twist.
With a twist? Yup.
They may be buying time via margin interest. They also see a market implosion in the future. They are likely going to hide their folly in the chaos. Amongst a market implosion they will scurry away and avoid prosecution. Or at least hope to avoid prosecution.
Think about it?!
Admitting defeat (covering shorts) now will implode their hedge fund which will lead to investigations into their fiduciary responsibilities to their investors since their mega millionaire investors will demand it. When hedge funds lose, their investors lose.
So why not just let a black swan event implode the economy let it be used for cover. Heck maybe even some padding since no doubt the fed will swoop in to pad their investors since they would be "too big to fail". Sure their investors will lose but they'll be given the ol' "well. At least you didn't lose everything" as they look over a wasteland of retail investors.
And that's how they'll, yet again, avoid investigation and prosecution.
So when will GME "moon"?
Near market implosion we may see a mini "moon".
Not financial advice
That makes a lot of sense. Thank you for your time.
The stock offering doesn’t have to be “sold” or completed on Monday. GameStop has 3 years to sell the stock and they can choose whom it goes to. Also, they determine what price they sell the stock for.
It would be stupid to sell it now.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gamestop-jumps-raising-nearly-1-204825745.html
An 'ATM Agreement' requires that the stock is sold at the "current market" price when they decide to sell.
So they do not determine the sales price but they do determine at which point in time to sell.
Also. I'm curious. Why would it be "stupid" to sell at current market now?
It was wrong for me to use the word “stupid”. It was a knee jerk reaction from me because honestly I was of the thought that $20 was far too low. Maybe they needed to act now.
I would still like to know the mechanics behind the sale of the 45 million shares.
All in all, you were right and I was wrong.