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The plan is simply for insiders to offload their bags (overvalued shares) to retail investors, like the folk who frequent the wallstreetbets subreddit and do al

The plan is simply for insiders to offload their bags (overvalued shares) to retail investors, like the folk who frequent the wallstreetbets subreddit and do all their “investing” on Robinhood. This speaks to the larger trend of the lower and middle class apparently giving up on any plans to retire- and it’s understandable as the federal minimum wage has never been so disconnected from the cost of living, plus inflation, plus the current job market being universally terrible (even for software engineers), et al. It’s worth noting that this is nothing new. I’m reminded of Virgin Galactic, another “space company” that was heavily speculated on. Predictably, insiders like Richard Branson himself sold a large number of shares (well into the millions of dollars) ahead of the inevitable “dump” where the share price fell around 75% in a matter of weeks. Virgin Galactic (SPCE) entered the Nasdaq via SPAC - Special Purpose Acquisition Group - essentially a company whose sole purpose is to acquire a private company, thereby effectively making the company public. Why wouldn’t Virgin Galactic just go public? Why go through a SPAC? The short answer is “to bypass regulations.” OpenInsider is an excellent website that makes it easy to see when insiders buy or sell a stock, and the most common pattern is insiders dumping their shares in overvalued companies. We saw it when Zoom and Crispr and a few others shot up several hundred percentage points during COVID. C-suite and board members made out like bandits. Those weren’t even SPACs, those were just companies that people were foolish enough to speculate on. Finally I want to bring attention to Robinhood, the stock trading platform that eliminated commission on trades from all brokerages - Schwab, Fidelity, Merrill Lynch, et al- by making it incredibly quick and easy (and free) to buy and sell stocks. They opened this Pandora’s Box, though I suppose it was bound to happen eventually- brokerages charged $7 per trade (sometimes more) and obviously for the college student who wants to throw $20 at Amazon stock… losing $7 in and then $7 again on the way out makes no sense. Now for anyone giving Robinhood the benefit of the doubt- their evil was (I think) absolutely confirmed when they unveiled a new feature- you can now trade OPTIONS with your retirement account. Options are essentially gambling, so to enable people to throw away their retirement on gambling is truly vile.

OutOfHere 3mo ago
Options is gambling only for the vast majority who're inexperienced with them or don't have a sound theory for them. I can trade them in my setup with over a 95% success rate, perhaps even 99%. Of course I am not going to type out my theory here. Such an overgeneralization ruined your otherwise reasonable comment. Always stop when you are winning.
- busyant 3mo ago
  Explanation 1: You're lying / delusional about your success rate. Explanation 2: Your trading "theory" is sound, but your theory requires specific and rare conditions to be met before you trade, so your 95-99% success rate only achieves modest gains.
  - OutOfHere 3mo ago
    Of course I require specific conditions and I limit the amount at risk. I don't know who doesn't. Regarding me lying, no, but I accept that the pattern can change in the future.
- gymbeaux 3mo ago
  If you have an options strategy that works 99% of the time, then you’re a millionaire, and if you’re a millionaire I have to ask what you’re doing here replying to people about options trading.
TalkingCodeMonk 3mo ago
Agreed. More importantly, this long documented history of massive recurring multi-billion dollar fraud and theft – mostly from domestic and international retirement funds – indicates that America is essentially, for all intents and purposes, a plutocratic dictatorship with the illusion of democracy. Ticking a box every few years, when all your options are pre-positioned to continue a criminal status-quo, is neither "democracy" or "by/for the people". This systemic corruption did not materialise out of thin air recently. It has arguably been present all of history (in every economy). It's just accelerated to psychopathic levels of obscene gratuity over the last 2 decades. This is why I've voted with my wallet the only way I can, by moving all of my investments (including retirement) out of the American market. The rot is far too deep. The few bad apples have entirely spoiled the bunch. I'm not under any illusion other markets will be safe from the fallout, or that I'll make better returns long term, but I do not care. I'm voting the only way I can given the current system. If I'd moved my investments earlier, when I came to this conclusion, I would have actually made significantly larger gains over the last couple of years.
- blini-kot 3mo ago
  apologies, not putting it directly at you I've always thought americans had an amendment specifically for situations when voting does not work I think it's a great illustration of complicated cybernetics at work, i.e. its not enough to give people the right to enact change and own the instruments for it: homeostatic forces will preserve status quo no matter how many firearms are circulating. Can't really think of a clean approach to this predicament though
  - gymbeaux 3mo ago
    I mean unfortunately, as with the rest of the constitution, it’s up to the courts (ultimately the Supreme Court) to interpret, and the majority will never condone revolution, no matter how corrupt or ineffective the government becomes. I think not many people realize that if the American Revolution was unsuccessful, the founding fathers would have been hanged for treason. It’s nice to have that given to us as a “right”, but with no means to enforce that right it may as well not exist at all. As time goes on I become more and more convinced that the founding fathers were exactly like Elon Musk- greedy, selfish, and out to brainwash the populace into doing their bidding. Many were wealthy slave owners, after all.
glimshe 3mo ago
Gambling has always been a mechanism for transferring money from the poor to the rich. Platforms like Robin Hood just finished transforming the entirety of the stock market into a casino that preys on the poor (oh the irony about the company's name). True investing, which in theory could be done even with Robin Hood, is boring and incompatible with gamification. Warren Buffett famously said that the reason people don't often become rich with stocks is because nobody wants to get rich slowly.
jjav 3mo ago
> Now for anyone giving Robinhood the benefit of the doubt- their evil was (I think) absolutely confirmed when they unveiled a new feature- you can now trade OPTIONS with your retirement account. While I think robinhood has done some shady practices, this isn't one. I can trade options in a Fidelity IRA just as well.
- gymbeaux 3mo ago
  It’s harder to do on Fidelity. Robinhood plays on human psychology to make their money.
  - jjav 3mo ago
    I've never had a robinhood account so admittedly don't know their interface, but on Fidelity (IRA account) I just click Trade->Options and enter the trade info, click Submit. How it can be easier than that?
    - gymbeaux 3mo ago
      It’s easier to open an app on my phone, and I believe wholeheartedly that Robinhood works hard to make their UI/UX as “fun” (dopamine-releasing) as possible. One area where Robinhood would be easier than any web app is biometric authentication. Not even having to sign in to the app makes it that much faster and easier to get a dopamine hit from placing a trade. Robinhood makes their app fun to use with things like swiping up to place the trade, sometimes they put confetti on the screen… it really has quite a lot in common with an actual phone game like Monopoly Go or Candy Crush.
potsandpans 3mo ago
Most if not all brokerages allow you to do that. I just opened up my fidelity and etrade to check. That doesn't make it right perse, but your moralisation at the end becomes more weak. Robinhood is only as "truly vile" as all of wall street. And anyway, options can play a decent role in financial strategy, most retailers don't use these instruments appropriately. To quote The Big Short, "this is wall street dr bury, if you offer us free money we're going to take it."
- gymbeaux 3mo ago
  Most brokerages don’t have an app that encourages reckless trading by exploiting dopamine. This becomes that age-old argument about where the corporation’s responsibility ends and the individual’s responsibility begins. I guarantee it’s a lot harder to blow your retirement on 0DTE options via a “traditional” broker than an “app first” brokerage like Robinhood.

OutOfHere 3mo ago

Options is gambling only for the vast majority who're inexperienced with them or don't have a sound theory for them. I can trade them in my setup with over a 95% success rate, perhaps even 99%. Of course I am not going to type out my theory here. Such an overgeneralization ruined your otherwise reasonable comment. Always stop when you are winning.

busyant 3mo ago
Explanation 1: You're lying / delusional about your success rate. Explanation 2: Your trading "theory" is sound, but your theory requires specific and rare conditions to be met before you trade, so your 95-99% success rate only achieves modest gains.
- OutOfHere 3mo ago
  Of course I require specific conditions and I limit the amount at risk. I don't know who doesn't. Regarding me lying, no, but I accept that the pattern can change in the future.
gymbeaux 3mo ago
If you have an options strategy that works 99% of the time, then you’re a millionaire, and if you’re a millionaire I have to ask what you’re doing here replying to people about options trading.

TalkingCodeMonk 3mo ago

Agreed. More importantly, this long documented history of massive recurring multi-billion dollar fraud and theft – mostly from domestic and international retirement funds – indicates that America is essentially, for all intents and purposes, a plutocratic dictatorship with the illusion of democracy. Ticking a box every few years, when all your options are pre-positioned to continue a criminal status-quo, is neither "democracy" or "by/for the people". This systemic corruption did not materialise out of thin air recently. It has arguably been present all of history (in every economy). It's just accelerated to psychopathic levels of obscene gratuity over the last 2 decades. This is why I've voted with my wallet the only way I can, by moving all of my investments (including retirement) out of the American market. The rot is far too deep. The few bad apples have entirely spoiled the bunch. I'm not under any illusion other markets will be safe from the fallout, or that I'll make better returns long term, but I do not care. I'm voting the only way I can given the current system. If I'd moved my investments earlier, when I came to this conclusion, I would have actually made significantly larger gains over the last couple of years.

blini-kot 3mo ago
apologies, not putting it directly at you I've always thought americans had an amendment specifically for situations when voting does not work I think it's a great illustration of complicated cybernetics at work, i.e. its not enough to give people the right to enact change and own the instruments for it: homeostatic forces will preserve status quo no matter how many firearms are circulating. Can't really think of a clean approach to this predicament though
- gymbeaux 3mo ago
  I mean unfortunately, as with the rest of the constitution, it’s up to the courts (ultimately the Supreme Court) to interpret, and the majority will never condone revolution, no matter how corrupt or ineffective the government becomes. I think not many people realize that if the American Revolution was unsuccessful, the founding fathers would have been hanged for treason. It’s nice to have that given to us as a “right”, but with no means to enforce that right it may as well not exist at all. As time goes on I become more and more convinced that the founding fathers were exactly like Elon Musk- greedy, selfish, and out to brainwash the populace into doing their bidding. Many were wealthy slave owners, after all.

glimshe 3mo ago

Gambling has always been a mechanism for transferring money from the poor to the rich. Platforms like Robin Hood just finished transforming the entirety of the stock market into a casino that preys on the poor (oh the irony about the company's name). True investing, which in theory could be done even with Robin Hood, is boring and incompatible with gamification. Warren Buffett famously said that the reason people don't often become rich with stocks is because nobody wants to get rich slowly.

jjav 3mo ago

> Now for anyone giving Robinhood the benefit of the doubt- their evil was (I think) absolutely confirmed when they unveiled a new feature- you can now trade OPTIONS with your retirement account. While I think robinhood has done some shady practices, this isn't one. I can trade options in a Fidelity IRA just as well.

gymbeaux 3mo ago
It’s harder to do on Fidelity. Robinhood plays on human psychology to make their money.
- jjav 3mo ago
  I've never had a robinhood account so admittedly don't know their interface, but on Fidelity (IRA account) I just click Trade->Options and enter the trade info, click Submit. How it can be easier than that?
  - gymbeaux 3mo ago
    It’s easier to open an app on my phone, and I believe wholeheartedly that Robinhood works hard to make their UI/UX as “fun” (dopamine-releasing) as possible. One area where Robinhood would be easier than any web app is biometric authentication. Not even having to sign in to the app makes it that much faster and easier to get a dopamine hit from placing a trade. Robinhood makes their app fun to use with things like swiping up to place the trade, sometimes they put confetti on the screen… it really has quite a lot in common with an actual phone game like Monopoly Go or Candy Crush.

potsandpans 3mo ago

Most if not all brokerages allow you to do that. I just opened up my fidelity and etrade to check. That doesn't make it right perse, but your moralisation at the end becomes more weak. Robinhood is only as "truly vile" as all of wall street. And anyway, options can play a decent role in financial strategy, most retailers don't use these instruments appropriately. To quote The Big Short, "this is wall street dr bury, if you offer us free money we're going to take it."

gymbeaux 3mo ago
Most brokerages don’t have an app that encourages reckless trading by exploiting dopamine. This becomes that age-old argument about where the corporation’s responsibility ends and the individual’s responsibility begins. I guarantee it’s a lot harder to blow your retirement on 0DTE options via a “traditional” broker than an “app first” brokerage like Robinhood.