Stock Market thread

[WaterBottle]

What are the best alternatives to Robinhood?

I'm out of there after this debacle, but figure that any other platform will do the same eventually, but that's another thread.

A "real" brokerage. I use schwab. They have a computer application called Street Smart Edge.

I have been thinking about checking out Fidelity and their Active Trader Pro software.

But those are computer apps. There are many phone apps besides robinhood. Just got to the app store and search.

 

[Lavabis Me]

I hope this is the right thread to post this. If not, I humbly accept instruction from long-timers on here:

I was forced by job requirements to have my 401k at a big-bank (the likes of BOA, UBS, etc) wealth management division for reasons of reporting and conflict-of-interest trading. I'm recently out from under that restriction, by my 401k is still at the Big Bank Wealth Management (BBWM).

If these BBWM institutions are indirectly exposed to this short squeeze as prime brokers, where is the safest harbor to move my 401k / IRAs / etc? Would a place like Fidelity be insulated from the shortstorm on the horizon? Could you drop a few lines about why in your response? I'm researching this myself, but there is so much sewage out there, it's getting harder and harder to sift through it all and find real information so I thought I'd come to you guys first to get pointed in the right direction.

Thank you.

 

[Meraki]

There’s gonna be damage. This is gonna suck when our gains mean nothing in the sea of giga-inflation

 

[NoMoreTO]

I hope this is the right thread to post this. If not, I humbly accept instruction from long-timers on here:

I was forced by job requirements to have my 401k at a big-bank (the likes of BOA, UBS, etc) wealth management division for reasons of reporting and conflict-of-interest trading. I'm recently out from under that restriction, by my 401k is still at the Big Bank Wealth Management (BBWM).

If these BBWM institutions are indirectly exposed to this short squeeze as prime brokers, where is the safest harbor to move my 401k / IRAs / etc? Would a place like Fidelity be insulated from the shortstorm on the horizon? Could you drop a few lines about why in your response? I'm researching this myself, but there is so much sewage out there, it's getting harder and harder to sift through it all and find real information so I thought I'd come to you guys first to get pointed in the right direction.

Thank you.

I'd say Gold & Silver as Safe Harbors.
- For Paper Gold/Silver I like Sprott PHYS/PSLV because they physically hold the silver* (apparently)
- Physical always good
- A mix of commodities (Corn, Oil, Copper etc)
- Cash has it's place


If you could pull out of the 401K
- Pay down Debt
- Make a pending major purchase like a car you know you'll be buying soon

 

[Lavabis Me]

I'd say Gold & Silver as Safe Harbors.
- For Paper Gold/Silver I like Sprott PHYS/PSLV because they physically hold the silver* (apparently)
- Physical always good
- A mix of commodities (Corn, Oil, Copper etc)
- Cash has it's place


If you could pull out of the 401K
- Pay down Debt
- Make a pending major purchase like a car you know you'll be buying soon

Thanks for the reply.

I like the advice to move more to commodities and physical metals. But my question is more institutional. More precisely, where should my actual holdings be managed? I want to be as far as possible away from the institutions that are probably exposed, i.e.; all the big banks. But is a place like Fidelity or some of the other trading platforms so intertwined with the big banks that they're all going to go?

As far as debt, I have zero. House paid, no credit cards, no car payment. Lived like a caveman to make that happen, put off a lot of things I wanted (like a bigger house) and poured everything into my IRAs and 401k's for retirement. I'd hate to see all the material sacrifice I made go "poof" because the big banks start toppling.

Does that make sense?

 

[fastandfurious]

Congratulations on your 450%. With all due respect I call that luck.

Unless GameStop is going only digital, I see no way for them to compete against companies like Steam, GOG, Epic... With digital, you have scale. You can sell everywhere in the world and "create" a copy by pressing a button (copy/paste). When you have to keep a brick and mortar company, there are too many expenses (employees, inventory, real estate...). Just like bookstores competing against Amazon.
There are some products that's difficult to avoid having a physical store (people prefer to try clothes in person since every body is different).

Anyways, that's my opinion. I would never invest a single dollar in GameStop. It might go to $1000/share. What a crazy world.

It's pretty irresponsible to pretend that buying into GameStop was dumb luck. Sure, I am not the most educated investor, but there was a ton of good DD involved in this play. In fact, I'd posit that missing this play is plain blindness.

Gamestop is going digital.

Source: www.gmedd.com

 

[joost]

It's pretty irresponsible to pretend that buying into GameStop was dumb luck. Sure, I am not the most educated investor, but there was a ton of good DD involved in this play. In fact, I'd posit that missing this play is plain blindness.

Gamestop is going digital.

Source: www.gmedd.com

My intention is not to sound like a jerk or a smart-ass. What I'm trying to say is that buying into a pump (entering a bubble and leaving before it pops) requires luck. Most people are buying the frenzy and if the stocks rises considerably, they will sell and take a profit (unless they think they can make even more money). They're trying to convince us buying GME is about "screwing The Man" but that's just another pump. Just like Bitcoin, you don't see people talking about the tech (uncensored transactions, limited supply), only about price. I can show you my LocalBitcoins account from beginning of 2012. I could brag about a 900,000% increase and tell you I'm a wizard but that's not the whole picture.

Did you use 100% of your portfolio and made a whopping return? Did you invest a small amount you wouldn't mind losing? First one is not a wise move.

With a fast DuckDuckGo search I was able to look for some numbers:
-Steam holds 75% of the market (seems to be private equity). An article from 2018 said that 2017 was the sales record at 4.5 billion.
-GOG said to be around 14.3% in an article from 2013. Today might be way more than that.
-EPIC might be filling the gap.

So... GameStop is a losing business, that's why hedge funds were heavily betting against. They pay analysts (who are far from dumb) before putting money in such "bet". Even if it goes only digital, how much market share do you think they can get, 5-10%? Do you really think GME is correctly valued at 24 billion, or even +50 billion (since they want to pump even more)? That's why it's hard for me to believe buying GME is nothing more than a pump. Everybody buys into a pump thinking they can leave and take a profit before the next guy. We all think we're better than average but mathematically, that's not possible.

Dave Portnoy was pumping Nokia, Blackberry, AMC among other failing businesses. He looked for shitty stocks that funds were likely shorting and thought he could make a fortune by pumping those stocks (forcing a short squeeze). I didn't follow the rest of the story but I heard he lost a million. And he's a poster-boy trader with influence.

 

[Kangaroo]

This has nothing to do with the fundamentals of the company, its all about the short squeeze, its about the fundamentals of the trade.

 

[joost]

This has nothing to do with the fundamentals of the company, its all about the short squeeze, its about the fundamentals of the trade.

Short squeeze ain't new concept. Some influencers are pumping stocks from failing businesses by exploiting people's envy. Gullible people buy in droves thinking they're screwing "rich bankers" but that's not true. Some might see the opportunity, buy, take some profit and close the trade. When I saw a post about a guy saying he never had more than $1000 in the bank and decides to buy GME and never sell to "prove a point". It reminded me of people talk about reparations.

Short sellers are free to bet like they want. They're not the ones responsible for a business to fail. Elon Musk posted on Twitter saying he "secured" money to turn Tesla private. Some conman move to screw short sellers.

I don't mind people gambling. I just don't think it's a good example for the young ones to think you can beat the market consistently.

 

[WaterBottle]

It's pretty irresponsible to pretend that buying into GameStop was dumb luck. Sure, I am not the most educated investor, but there was a ton of good DD involved in this play. In fact, I'd posit that missing this play is plain blindness.

Gamestop is going digital.

Source: www.gmedd.com

Ive followed GME debate since last summer when it was $4.

My issue with the whole going digital argument is..."what is the value proposition, what are you offering that isnt already there?"

- direct download game sales? Steam has the PC market and direct-to-console is dominated by the console makers who control the content much like Apple controls the app store. Now if GME could become the steam of consoles, that would be massive. But the console makers already have the direct to console process established and blocked. Big barrier to entry there.

- PC Parts. Now youre competing with new egg, pcpartpicker, etc. The market is there but GME has zero market share and there are massive competitors established. Small margins too. I did a gear a rumor that GME was thinking about having a "DIY PC Maker" section in their stores, so anyone could basically go in and build/repair their PCs. I love that idea, but it is such a small niche that I don't see it being very valuable.

- Gaming toys and and apparel. This is a good segment for GME but I believe it's best served in person (brick and mortar) thing for various reasons I won't bore anyone with. If you go that route now you have the additional upkeep of physical locations.

Sure cohen took Chewy digital and crushed it. Hes got experience in saturated low margin markets. So he is your man if your banking on a turn around. But Chewy had first mover advantage (for the most part), digital game sales is already a massive industry with major barriers to entry.

GME has an active shelf offering and will take advantage of this squeeze in order to raise money. I don't see them managing to secure a significant share of the direct-to-pc download and I don't see them entering the direct-to-console download market as that is a closed market controlled by the console makers. I dont see GME going bankrupt, but I think it's going back to sub $50 levels. It's going to break a lot of hearts when it happens too.

 

[Meraki]

Hey gents,

just checking in with some more dd on some of the companies I follow.
LI: recently awarded excellent safety rating, something akin to a “best in class.“ relative to NIO they are still undervalued and the price action is a bit more stable. Analysts have increased price targets to $40-49 a share. Could be good to plan a swing from low 30s to $39 in the near term. I bought more at $32.

XXII: very bullish here long term. Price action a bit frustrating right now, and is taking a beating in the market, and being shorted hard from $3. Mid-high 2s & the trend on daily chart holding well. Recent news: acquired a hemp patent & announced a huge expansion of farmland for growing. In addition to this, they are moving to a new HQ in March. They are still waiting on their FDA approval, but why make a massive move to a new building and upgrade growth operations if they didn’t think they’d get it?

recent article on yahoo finance, the CEO hints at an additional revenue source to be announced in the coming months. FDA itself has funded a lot of their research. Democrat swamp creatures pushed a lot of their low nicotine regulation of Big T in their agenda. If xxii captures just 1% of the market the stock could hit anywhere from $4-10. They’d also be a prime buyout target, but with their patents, I think they’d stand to make more thru licensing. if dems introduce a nicotine tax, cig regulation, or anti-tobacco advertising, this stock will moonshot as they’re the only company able to grow tobacco with 95% less carcinogens & up to 99% less nicotine in their cigs, which they want approved as the first combustible smoking cessation device.

i was originally in at .98 but I have added substantially at 1.90, 2, 2.10 & 2.40 over the past 3 months. Could also short squeeze, as it is being suppressed hard. Feb-March is my timeline still. But I anticipate more news in April after they move to the bigger HQ

 

[fastandfurious]

I logged on Facebook today and the usual political radicalism has been replaced with stock and crypto trading. WSB has grown from 2 million to 7.4 million subs in a week. I don't like it.

 

[fortysix]

Anyone looking at SPACs? For those not in the know, a SPAC is a blank check company - essentially a shell company that puts together a management team and thesis based on a specific industry, then raises $ in an IPO, and then looks for a smaller private company to acquire using the proceeds raised from the IPO. Once the target is locked down, they then go out to the market for another investment (called a PIPE) to raise money to run the business. Its in the interests of the small company to get acquired by a SPAC since it allows them to go public quickly without going through the standard time consumming IPO process and also retain the majority if its management in the post merger company.

If a SPAC isnt able to find a target company during some agreed to period (16-24 mo, typically), then it gets dissolved and the IPO proceeds get distributed to its stockholders (so the downside is limited pre-merger).

There have been a lot of great ones in this space (i.e. Draftkings). One im watching closely is Ivanhoe Capital Acquisition Corp. I like this one because one of the key managers is Robert Friedland (mining billionaire) and the rest of the team is also very connected in mining/resources.
The SPAC is going out to find a company to acquire in "industries related to the paradigm shift away from fossil fuels towards the electrification of industry and society". See its prospectus for more info. Everything ive seen so far points to acquiring a company in the battery space, maybe a play ancillary to EVs.

I am loving it because right now there is retail investor money looking to speculate in this space, but really the only options with high upside potential are various penny stocks or chinese companies. Here, we have the SPAC run by super connected people in this space do its own diligence for us and downside is limited since its trading close to NAV (until it finds a target and merges).

Anyone else digging into these?

Here is a write up from bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/IVAN/U:US

Its prospectus @ SEC filing:

Loading…

sec.report

 

[M'bare]

Why are young men so eager to buy stocks?

Save your cash. Pay down your debt. Get a good, cheap home. Then come back and ask again.

If you're dead set on risking it in the stock market during a super risky time, start with exactly what you've done with some meme stocks. Stay away from options unless you're going to do this regularly and really don't mind losing money for awhile.

Well that's the thing -- I'm not particularly young. I'm in my late 30's. I'm married, we have a home and I have very little debt.

Throughout my 20s and early 30s, I focused on a lot of other areas in my life to improve, but unfortunately neglected financial literacy. I simply opened a TSP, and more or less didn't touch it.

There's obviously still time, but definitely feeling behind the curve, and regret not picking a book earlier in life or learning from someone experienced. I figured others on here might be able to relate.

If I end up making money with it, then that would of course be great. But right now, as things stand I'd just be glad to make sure the value of the money I've made doesn't dissipate.

 

[fastandfurious]

 

[fastandfurious]

Deleted; repost.

 

[chromium50]

Well that's the thing -- I'm not particularly young. I'm in my late 30's. I'm married, we have a home and I have very little debt.

Throughout my 20s and early 30s, I focused on a lot of other areas in my life to improve, but unfortunately neglected financial literacy. I simply opened a TSP, and more or less didn't touch it.

There's obviously still time, but definitely feeling behind the curve, and regret not picking a book earlier in life or learning from someone experienced. I figured others on here might be able to relate.

If I end up making money with it, then that would of course be great. But right now, as things stand I'd just be glad to make sure the value of the money I've made doesn't dissipate.

never too late to learn more about finances but im in a sorta similar. I learned to save save save early and often in my career but never really learned what to do with those savings until recently

 

[EndlessGravity]

Well that's the thing -- I'm not particularly young. I'm in my late 30's. I'm married, we have a home and I have very little debt.

Throughout my 20s and early 30s, I focused on a lot of other areas in my life to improve, but unfortunately neglected financial literacy. I simply opened a TSP, and more or less didn't touch it.

There's obviously still time, but definitely feeling behind the curve, and regret not picking a book earlier in life or learning from someone experienced. I figured others on here might be able to relate.

If I end up making money with it, then that would of course be great. But right now, as things stand I'd just be glad to make sure the value of the money I've made doesn't dissipate.

never too late to learn more about finances but im in a sorta similar. I learned to save save save early and often in my career but never really learned what to do with those savings until recently

Sometimes I forget which forum I'm on. In your case, take a grand or two and play with it. No one ever taught me anything I know about finances or investing. Not even how to balance a checkbook. I just read anything I could find and since my wife and I are savers, I used extra cash after savings to play around. Treat it more as a hobby and in a year you'll know more than 99% of people out there. Then stop treating it like a hobby.

But it's always about you, not everyone else. You can do meme stocks but let me give you an example...I occasionally short oil since I believe we're still in a deflationary situation overall. I also watch the rig numbers and have an interest in the international politics around energy. I wouldn't recommend someone else do what I'm doing unless they have similar interests.

Another example: I have maybe 20 years experience in real estate investment. I literally fell into this by accident. However, I kept learning, discarding what I thought was silly and keeping what I thought worked and looking for the bigger picture. I still don't consider real estate any sort of primary interest but it has largely formed the (meager) bedrock of our financial stability for my family. I also trade some other things that are more complex and less run-of-the-mill.

So if you have no interest in houses, you might want to skip real estate. If you're interested in GPUs, see what's up with AMD, INTEL, NVDIA, etc. Go from there. I also made friends with many professionals in the market and hung out with them, learning everything I could.

 

[budoslavic]

 

[BasedAndPrimitive]

Until the Fed is gone the USD will be nothing but a Ponzi scheme. Every dollar the Fed makes is based on debt, which will pile up until we default, but the can is being kicked down the road by inflation, which is its own evil.