Not everyone sees it that way.
“I trusted at least three, four guys that they lost money and that they would never invest again,” said Tobi Alli, an amateur trader from Bowie, MD, who bought 80 shares last week. of AMC and 50 shares of Nokia, two other previously imperceptible shares that rose as part of a revolt against hedge funds.
Mr. Alli said he would have walked away with a neat profit if he had sold earlier, and now he is $ 800 lower than his initial investment. But he said he did not even think about profits anymore. Instead, holding its shares is a protest against the brokers who have imposed certain limits or restrictions on the trading of volatile shares.
Mr. Alli, which owns a small multimedia company, is among those who believe that brokers – such as the one he uses, TD Ameritrade – have imposed certain restrictions under pressure from the hedge funds he and his fellow retailers are trying to squeeze out.
“You know you can think and lose, and I was ready for it,” he said. Alli said, following Twitter accounts that post WallStreetBets content. “But what I was not prepared to do was to lose because of manipulation by billionaires that prevents people from doing what their legal right is.”
For investors not interested in a crusade, the big swings and high stakes are nerve-wracking.
Ian Poppel, 23, a wildfire firefighter in Winnipeg, Manitoba, spent more than $ 18,000 over three days – equivalent to an entire fire season’s salary – at GameStop, just before the stock started. He reached a climax last Wednesday, a day before the protest.
“I did not sleep,” he said. Poppel said, who started trading stocks as a hobby during the off-season. ‘I did not really eat those few days. I was so stressed about how the trade would go. ”
He earns about $ 40,000, an amount he called ‘life-changing money’. But he knows it has nothing to do with investment skill.
“I’m lucky, ‘he said,’ and I see people online who say they’ve lost all their life savings. ‘
Tara Siegel Bernard contribution made.