Surely a large group of people getting together and saying "GME is way too shorted, buy buy buy and don't sell until $5k" should either be absolutely definitely market manipulation, or absolutely definitely not?
This. I recall seeing a post recently that essentially said that any action could be construed as securities law violation.
I'm going to assume this wasn't your point, but come on. Don't compare the current actions WSB and others are taking right now to curing cancer.
> Should start up founders not be allowed to ask for investor money?
Startup founders are already not allowed to ask for investor money buy posting on reddit or buying social media ads.
> with multiple accounts to hide the moves, ... these folks are publicly declaring their intent
I don't think anyone has fully look in to what accounts have been pushing things, and at this scale it will be incredibly difficult to do.
> Out in the open with frequent updates.
Just to be clear, I have absolutely no issue with anything DFV (who I assume you're referring to) has done in this situation. But DFV is not the entirety of "retail" that could have crossed a line here.
> "fuck these guys for going all in on destroying a quality company for no reason other than the lulz."
Lol I'm not even going to respond to this.
Do you also want cancer charities to stop asking for donations? Should start up founders not be allowed to ask for investor money?
I could totally see the market manipulation argument if this was done in backrooms, with multiple accounts to hide the moves, several shell corporations holding the funds, etc. But these folks are publicly declaring their intent. And the first person to uncover the gamestop shorts has been saying it for over a year. Out in the open with frequent updates.
The short sellers have had a year to get out and leave the company alone, but they were so obsessed with watching a company die that people got pissed and wanted some blood.
The chain of events doesn't start with "we buy a lot and blah blah blah" - the chain of events starts with someone declaring over a year ago "fuck these guys for going all in on destroying a quality company for no reason other than the lulz."