THREAD: The story of the week in finance is how a group of retail traders at @wallstreetbets, with assists from @ElonMusk and @Chamath, took down the establishment short sellers at GameStop.
A thread on the underlying mechanics of the $GME saga...
1/ First, for those unfamiliar with the business, GameStop is a videogame and merchandise retailer.
It has >5,000 stores, primarily in malls, across North America, Europe, and Australia.
The business has struggled to modernize, hurting its financial and stock performance.
2/ For a variety of business reasons, a bull (i.e. optimistic) case regarding its future performance has formed.
It really came to the forefront after RC Ventures, an entity managed by Chewy founder @ryancohen, disclosed a large position and assumed three board seats.
3/ @ryancohen summarized his case, stating:
"We are excited to bring our customer-obsessed mindset and technology experience to GameStop and its strategic assets...expanding the ways in which it delights customers and by becoming the ultimate destination for gamers."
4/ At the time of that statement on January 11, $GME stock was trading at about ~$20 per share.
Since then, the stock has surged to ~$200 per share and captured the public imagination.
But how did it happen?
There are two dynamics at play: a short squeeze and a gamma squeeze.
