If I want to focus on scalping which site should I use (Im UK) . I've been practising on a demo account on plus500 but the spread seems really difficult to overcome. Is there a better option or different type of site I should use?
I am new to this

i dont get the point of the gamestop thing. didnt they just end up losing a bunch of money? what were they expecting to happen?

Matt Levine's explanation seems excellent to me: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/ar...me-never-stops

(You should subscribe to his free, daily, newsletter, he is one of the best writers in the world, and it is free, and excellent)

this reddit/gamestop thing is fascinating, even for an investing illiterate like me

It's the real Occupy Wallstreet.

Mr. Spy, you are spot on! I'm fascinated and a bit horrified watching this whole thing unfold. Have been boglehead fan and follower of Warren Buffett investing advice. I'm a regular on the boglehead boards which read like the opposite of WSB. What is happening is surreal.

Not sad to watch a few hedge funds get decimated, but it's when this spills over to the people that cant afford to lose the $500, 1k, 5k, etc..because it's 50, 70, 90% of their net worth that I have a problem with all of this.

I've always been leery of the get rich quick schemers/scammers.

This reddit WSB thing will run it's course but someone or lot's of someones are going to be left "holding the bag".

Yes. Every movement has their martyrs.

Where should I go to check out actual data for short interest? Ortex? Other?

Lol at thinking Wall Street is going to be hurt by the game stop thing. This is going to end up being somewhere between neutral for Wall Street to a huge win for them.

Wall Street is hoping this becomes a thing that happens a couple times a year for the same reason an elite poker player wishes really bad and unpredictable fish come to play at their table.

If that's their hope, they've handled this one really really poorly.

They've already been hurt by it. Hence all the fackery you are seeing going on so they can stop the bleeding.

Their actions and amount of money they've lost so far seems like they're hurt at least enough to have gained quite a bit of attention.

lol at thinking this is nothing.

yeah that's why wallst is indicating that shorting is dead lol

because it has/will work/ed so well this time lol

the blind faith some of you have in wall st as these uber 200 iq super players is crazy

if you think these guys are that good why are you even here? just seems stupid to want to invest if you are competing against such monsters

Yeah I mean for him to say, "Oh this was nothing." Means he doesn't understand what happened. Melvin Capital was on the verge of bankruptcy and already needed a bail out.

But I guess that's a huge win for them. All just part of the plan.

Short interest has lost $1B YTD on GME

Wall Street is bigger than one hedge fund.

WSB isn't fighting all of Wallstreet. They are fighting the particularly greedy excesses of some hedge funds.
In short they found a loophole in one of the moneymaking machines that hedge funds have exploited (and in this case overexploited) for decades.

Playing by the rules is fair. Even if you do something that your oopposite number hadn't thought about.

I’m not against what the redditors are doing. I actually like the idea of going after hedge funds as I think they target stupid rich people.

I was just pointing out that some think this whole deal is going to hurt Wall Street and I wanted to remind everyone this will end up helping Wall Street. Most of WS are not hedge fund guys and destroying a hedge fund or 2 would mean less competition and would get some of the riff raff out of the industry. This will also likely help WS in that it seems likely the people who are most likely to get hurt here are investors doing it on their own and that may take away from all this that they need a pro on their side when they invest.

I'm not sure a scandal of this type, with calls for change from both parties, at the very beginning of a democratic administration is going to be a boon for Wall St.

Short-selling isn't 'greedy' and shorts have been carried out on bad trades since Piggly-Wiggly 100 years ago. Read up on Palm Pilot, or MAXX which is my favorite, or Porsche not that long ago becoming the most valuable company in the world for a short while.

Melvin isn't 'Wall St.' There's HFs that go under every year, just usually from terribad longs, or leverage or both.

There's no loophole, that's loltastic. Melvin and a few others just didn't have appropriate risk mgmt, or got stubborn and stupid, likely both. Most shorts were covered by institutions in the high double-digits.

Every trade in $gme has a buyer and seller. If you're buying, you don't know if the seller is a normal seller vs a short seller and it doesn't matter. Someone can cover their short at 200 and Brian can short it again at 300 and I can re-short it at 400. The short interest will likely drop but it's not going to zero, or even close to it at these levels.

I was going to short a small amount over 400, but couldn't get a borrow at my main broker and figured that was a sign to leave it be. If anyone thinks $gme is going to stay over $350-400, well, I wish them luck.

What scandal? Raising margin requirements on super-volatile stocks is super-standard for decades and prevents brokers & stock clearinghouses from going bust when customers cannot or choose not to pay. If you trade on margin, you literally signed up for that risk.

A lot of redditors would fail their trade if they bought at $450 and it goes to $50 in less than 2 days. Just take the money out of your RH account and skip the $400 a share loss, esp for those who cannot afford it.

And as Matt Levine pointed out, retail was net sellers of $gme on Tue, Wed, Thu.

What scandal? Just the one that's been the lead story of every news outlet for nearly a week. Perception is what matters as it relates to whether or not this benefits Wall st over the long term.

You've also missed the most relevant part which is the outrage over the hedge funds, the system, and the rigging of the game, not raising the margin requirement. Raising the requirement, and the process through which that was done, should certainly be investigated though.

Assuming a 30yr fixed ~2.5% mtg which is available today, you could buy bonds that offer superior yields, plus you are getting the tax deduction on your borrowing [let's assume Homeowner is in this case. If not then not, maybe not worth it.]

So, I see Berkshire Hathaway Finance Corp at Fidelity at 2.81%. That's AA2/AA rated, tenor of 27+ years [close enough for govt work], you're duration matched.

Southern CalEdison you can get 3.34% for A3/A- in March 2049. CSX Rail at 3%.

With BH you're making 30bps pretax and say 19.5 bps net a year on, say, $500k mortgage: $975 a year plus thousands in mortgage deduct annually. That's real money. You can do your bond purchase at Fidelity in <30 seconds, one could educate themselves on IG bonds fairly quickly to get up to speed first. Have I missed something?

It's more risk than paydown, but you don't have equity risk. You do have BH's credit risk. And the right decision is should be properly driven by risk tolerance, of course, as n00b points out.

Most people would put the money in stocks if they were thinking about doing this and they may not be as risk-seeking as they think if markets go down and stay down. If you can truly stand the equity risk and have the monthly cash flow to pay your debts, then long and levered stocks is the way to go. It's definitely a small % of people for this option.

Oh sorry, didn't know you were a conspiracy theorist, I'll go back to ignoring you immediately. Game so rigged HFs getting carried out with multi-billion dollar losses, got it. Is this the part where you confuse Citadel Securities and a hedge fund called Citadel? I'm sure that's coming from someone.
'The system,' okay man, insert <CharlieKellyConspiracyChart.jpg>.

My outrage indicator didn't flash all week. Maybe needs new batteries.
The only thing HFs have done of note this month is donate lotsa cash to the GME, DDS, AMC, BB, KOSS, MAC longs, and good for the longs. Nothing funnier than seeing a big hedge fund donate to the fish and go busto from where I sit.

In the sentence immediately preceding the one you quoted I pointed out that perception is relevant. The perception in the news media, and among the general public, as well as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle is one of outrage over the hedge funds, the system, and the rigging of the game.

I pointed out that I believe that is going to be a long term negative for Wall St. Whether or not you're outraged is entirely irrelevant, except that you seem to be letting it cloud your judgement.

Josem,

thank you for the recommendation!