As online broker Robinhood eased disputed trading restrictions on GameStop, the army of small investors behind this week’s dramatic squeeze on Wall Street hedge funds returned to drive shares in GameStop and other hot companies higher on Friday.
Shares in the video game store chain and headphone maker Koss Corp both doubled in early deals after slumping on Thursday when several online platforms imposed buying halts, sparking a backlash from investors, celebrities and policymakers.
Robinhood said on its website that it was easing the restrictions, but still not allowing purchases of fractional shares in GameStop and 12 other companies, effectively meaning smaller investors have to bet more in order to buy in further to the trade.
The showdown between small-time traders and professional short-sellers has drawn the scrutiny of Congressional lawmakers, the White House, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is being probed by the New York Attorney General.
Global equity markets have also suffered as funds were forced to sell some of their best-performing stocks, including Apple Inc, to cover billions of dollars of losses.
U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday as worries of a short squeeze resurfaced after an army of amateur investors trading in GameStop and other hot stocks pitted small investors against short-selling hedge funds.
Big hedge funds rushed to cover losses after retail investors bought into shares of companies including GameStop Corp, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc and BlackBerry Ltd.
Popular long positions in some stocks including Apple Inc were sold off by hedge funds recently to cover billions of dollars in losses.
Shares in Apple, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp , Facebook Inc, Netflix Inc, Tesla Inc and Alphabet Inc fell between 0.5% and 1.3%.
MacDailyNews Take: Screw the hedge fund shorts. When Apple was smaller, the short fomenters routinely manipulated AAPL. Obscenely. Obviously. With impunity.
Squeeze ’em ’til they bleed.
Apple, the world’s most valuable company, will be fine (and AAPL buyers will get a nice discount price) because Apple makes things of value to earn their money, unlike the shorts who will now need to think twice before attempting to manipulate the market while the SEC sleeps.