diff --git "a/reddit_finance_43_250k_153.txt" "b/reddit_finance_43_250k_153.txt" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/reddit_finance_43_250k_153.txt" @@ -0,0 +1,10000 @@ + +Maybe use this time to read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) [.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +&#x200B; + +Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. [You have been warned](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share). + +&#x200B; + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related](https://discord.gg/wsNDGTf5QH). +Your markets are run by bots. Now your daily threads are too. + +&#x200B; + +This thread is for plans and thoughts prior to the market open period. + +Maybe use this time to read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) [.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +&#x200B; + +Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. [You have been warned](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share). + +&#x200B; + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related](https://discord.gg/wsNDGTf5QH). +Your markets are run by bots. Now your daily threads are too. + +&#x200B; + +This thread is for plans and thoughts prior to the market open period. + +Maybe use this time to read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) [.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +&#x200B; + +Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. [You have been warned](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share). + +&#x200B; + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related](https://discord.gg/wsNDGTf5QH). +Your markets are run by bots. Now your /r/Asx_bets daily threads are too. + +Read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) people[.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +[Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX\_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. You have been warned.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) + +Automoderator may provide "Guidance" for Lazy and zero effort posting. + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related.](https://discord.gg/ywAGqfUAQE) +Your markets are run by bots. Now your /r/Asx_bets daily threads are too. + +Read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) people[.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +[Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX\_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. You have been warned.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) + +Automoderator may provide "Guidance" for Lazy and zero effort posting. + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related.](https://discord.gg/wsNDGTf5QH) +Your markets are run by bots. Now your daily threads are too. + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related.](http://discord.gg/2sQBNuM) + +Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a 1 day ban. +Your markets are run by bots. Now your /r/Asx_bets daily threads are too. + +Read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) people[.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +[Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX\_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. You have been warned.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) + +Automoderator may provide "Guidance" for Lazy and zero effort posting. + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related.](https://discord.gg/wsNDGTf5QH) +Your markets are run by bots. Now your daily threads are too. + +&#x200B; + +This thread is for plans and thoughts prior to the market open period. + +Maybe use this time to read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) [.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +&#x200B; + +Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. [You have been warned](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share). + +&#x200B; + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related](https://discord.gg/wsNDGTf5QH). +Your markets are run by bots. Now your daily threads are too. + +&#x200B; + +This thread is for plans and thoughts prior to the market open period. + +Maybe use this time to read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) [.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +&#x200B; + +Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. [You have been warned](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share). + +&#x200B; + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related](https://discord.gg/wsNDGTf5QH). +Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) reported earnings after hours on July 28, 2022, for Q2. + +EPS: miss – $0.29 non-GAAP ($0.69 estimate), $(0.11) GAAP. + +Revenue: miss - $15.3 billion non-GAAP and GAAP. Down 17% and 22% YoY, respectively. + +Intel cited that Intel’s Client Computing (CCG), and Datacenter and AI Groups (DCAI) were “largely impacted by continued adverse market conditions” and their Network Edge Group (NEX) and Mobileye “achieved record quarterly revenue.” + + + +The CEO had this to say, “We are taking necessary actions to manage through the current environment, including accelerating the deployment of our smart capital strategy, while reiterating our prior full year adjusted free cash flow guidance and returning gross margins to our target range by the fourth quarter. We remain fully committed to our business strategy, long-term financial model communicated at our investor meeting and a strong and growing dividend.” + + + +How do we all feel after this earnings report? Historically the past 4 earnings quarters, Intel beat on both EPS and revenue estimates. After hours, the share price has been hit hard. Are you buying more and still holding Intel as a great dividend paying stock, or have you started considering dumping your shares for an alternative? +Just thought I'd share this as I sometimes see health insurance issues here. + +I got a bill from a medical test that was taken in a doctors office that was IN NETWORK. A year later I got a bill for the test that they had sent out to a company in California that was not in network. + +I was about to just write a check and be done with it and decided to call and pay with my rewards credit card so it wasn't a total loss. I complained about the bill to the customer service rep I got and she said 'let me put you on hold because Florida has a No Surprises law'. While on hold I googled it and it passed in 2016. + +Since it was out of network but from an in network dr/issue the bill was zeroed out and I don't have to pay it. + +It was nuts. From a $400 bill to nothing and had I not called I would have been out $. + +There may be other states with this law so check before you pay. +I feel that I have a basic understanding of money and investing so I keep it simple. I bought property on a loan, I own quality dividend stocks (and buy more when they dip) and put a monthly amount into index funds. All fine. I make six figures on a salary so it‘s enough to live comfortably and they way I invest will most likely guarantee a safe retirement in my late 50‘s and to support my parents who don’t have much. + +However it feels that some people know „tricks“ that most of us (including me) don’t know? Recently I spoke with a colleague who bought as much property as he could when rates where low to „leverage“, a term that is often used money-related to my understanding?! + +Obviously rich people have access to tools and networks that are hidden from most people. But that cant be the whole answer. So: + +What are principles and strategies I/we can adopt to do better? + + +Thank you for taking the time to answer. +TequilaParty is building bridges from the real world to the cryptosphere. + +Latest video with updates on the project : https://youtu.be/Bh3KDBjfoKI + +TequilaParty is a genuinely unique project in the crypto space. Why? + +* Tied to a real legal structure (Missouri LLC) +* Doxxed, transparent Dev - Jameson Huckaba (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesonhuckaba/) +* Making an actual Tequila in Mexico. +* Working with real artists and non profits - their work tied to the Tequila via NFT. +* Responsive, professional team driving the project forward. +* Proper governance model. + +TequilaParty launched eight weeks ago, and has been making consistent progress in terms of branding and readying the physical product for release. TequilaParty’s Tequila will be distributed initially in the US, Mexico, and Hong Kong. + +* Market Cap: <$200k; 1,084 holders * + +New Whitepaper just released: http://tequilaparty.space/whitepaper/tpwhitepaper.pdf + +Circle of Incentive: $tequila fuels the Tequila. Tequila supports Artists and original Mexican art, and a non profit that they choose to support. Revenue from the Tequila flows back into $tequila in the form of a structured dividend. + +More on the NFT complement from the dev: +“We’ll commission Mexican artists to design a piece that goes with each bottle; they’ll be very limited editions of artwork. With the sale of the bottle, the NFT is minted, or created, and the contract has a built-in tax - a small percentage (2%) will go to the artist who created the piece. A larger percentage, 8%, will go to the charity or non profit the Artist originally designated. This is all done automatically via SmartContract. We expect that these NFTs could be traded and resold and collected, and with each subsequent transfer, it’s not a one-time donation to this artist or charity, but perpetual, which we hope will make a major difference in their lives.” + +This is a real company making a real product. Huge opportunity. + +Join the best community in crypto on their Telegram. + +* Critical Details * +Network: Smart Chain +Contract: 0xf459693e9f45f432eCB48afE1bD0cCaA4ad82959 +Token Supply: 1,000,000,000,000 +Mint Function: No +Reflect Tax: 2% redistributed to holders +Website: http://tequilaparty.space +Telegram Community: http://t.me/tequilaparty +Twitter: http://twitter.com/TequilaPartyBSC + +#worthashot #cantdrinkashib +I am not advocating this. I am interested in hearing the opinions of people who know what they are talking about. My knowledge of economics is limited, so ELI5 style and references would be very welcome. It seems like this is highly unlikely to come to fruition, but what would be the implications if it did? + +https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5404 +https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/07/air-force-is-looking-into-elon-musks-pot-smoking-source.html + +What else short of the entire Fremont factory catching fire could go wrong today? +(Originally posted Friday, reposting for visibility) + +What’s up + +FTSE Russell’s website has been crashing for the past 5 hours but I was finally able to get it to load. Today, FTSE Russell announced preliminary changes to some of their indexes. + +Why is this important? Well previously, **GameStop was in the Russell 2000, 2500, and Microcap indexes**. You can see how companies are organized into these indexes [here](https://research.ftserussell.com/products/downloads/Russell-US-indexes.pdf?_ga=2.52998315.2077289559.1622740584-1724202943.1618684881) page 21. + +GameStop was in these indexes because they are market cap weighted, and as of the last reconstitution **in 2020, GameStop’s market cap was a measly ~$200M dollars.** It was scraping the bottom of the barrel for these indexes, even the microcap one. You can see the ranges for these indexes [here](https://www.ftserussell.com/research-insights/russell-reconstitution/market-capitalization-ranges). + +Now this is a big deal because as you can see from the median market caps for the mentioned indexes, **GameStop was on the bottom half of each one. But the date of record for adjusting stocks for 2021 was May 7th, and GameStop’s market cap was a *whopping* $12.5B.** + +That means **it should be removed from those three indexes**, and **added to the Russell 1000, 500, and Midcap.** Now typically this isn’t a great thing for price action, [this article](https://www.nber.org/digest/nov13/stock-price-reactions-index-inclusion) discusses how going from the top of the 2000 to bottom of the 1000 causes selling pressure due to adjustments in weight from one of the heaviest weightings to one of the lightest weightings. + +However, our pal GameStop has been putting in work recently. Using the medians from the link further up, you can see that **GameStop is going from below the median (bottom 50%) in the old indexes, to above the median (top 50%) in the new indexes** (other than in the Russell 500). **This means that it will gain weight** and **passive fund managers will have to buy oodles of our favorite stock to accurately match the new Russell indexes.** + +The Russell 1000 is a big deal as far as index funds go, much harder to short a whole index of Wall Street favorites compared to the 2000. **Apple, for instance, is one of the top holdings in the Russell 1000.** There is also the question of what happens to previously shorted ETFs containing GameStop. + +Now, this is just speculation, albeit heavily supported speculation. **FTSE Russell hasn’t released the official index changes for the 1000, 500, and Midcap just yet.** They should announce the changes in one of the updates on the 11th, 18th, or 25th. **But they did announce changes for the microcap today, and [GameStop is being removed](https://www.ftserussell.com/files/support-document/russell-microcap-deletions-2021), thus confirming the theory.** + +Shoutout /u/WisePhantom for the links + +TLDR: GameStop is most likely getting added to the Russell 1000, 500, and Midcap, at a greater weight than it was when it was in the Russell 2000, 2500, and microcap. This is very bullish if true and should result in buying pressure due to passive funds rebalancing ETFs that track the Russell 1000 and others. The reconstitution should be finalized by the 25th. +I've been growing in concern over the massive stock buyback bubble we are experiencing over the last few years. This year alone, companies are on track to buy back $800 billion dollars of themselves (a 51&#37; increase from last year and another all time record) (citation: [http://fortune.com/2018/04/20/stock\-market\-buybacks\-nervous/](http://fortune.com/2018/04/20/stock-market-buybacks-nervous/)) . Most of these buybacks are centered in the tech sector that has subsequently experienced the most growth with the most gains when they did the most buybacks. Apple alone is buying back $100 Billion dollars this year. One figure alone said that many of the tech companies in the S&P 500 are planning to buy back as much as 10&#37; of their market caps. This normally wouldn't concern me that much except that there's this: [https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NCBDBIQ027S](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NCBDBIQ027S) + +It's a chart of nonfinancial corporate business debt. (The fact that it's nonfinancial is significant because financial companies are typically quite leveraged, and high debt is just a sign of success) Now, the debt levels wouldn't concern me either if the money was being used to reinvest in the businesses, but they aren't. If companies were just using their excess cash to buy back stock and issue dividends, I would see it as just a business decision, but they are literally cannibalizing themselves by taking on massive loads of debt just to pump up their own stock prices. The majority of the new debt that isn't used for refinancing is used to buy back stocks. + +I see a direct parallel to the Mortgage Backed Security market of 2005. In a controlled environment, isolated failures would be absorbed by the larger system with minimal loss. When everyone is too leveraged though, a small failure can have catastrophic consequences. Back in 2004, I had a blog preaching a possible crash in the MBS market, and I was dead on right. The part I was wrong about was that I expected it to happen a LOT sooner than it did. Markets can behave irrationally for a LONG time. + +This is how I see this potentially playing out. Interest rates go up a percent or two because a company is too leveraged and because the whole bond market raises its rates (pretty much a sure bet this will happen), one company can't refinance its debt without showing a loss. So, they reissue a small amount of stock or just accept a reduction in their credit rating. The problem is when all the companies suddenly have to deal with this, the bond market would shift rapidly to higher interest rates to compensate for all the reductions in credit rating and an overall uneasiness about the state of the debt market. This would make the problem worse which would in turn make interest rates even higher. It's a feedback loop like the MBS crash and subsequent foreclosure crisis. Companies will be left with no choice but to reissue stock to raise capital, and that will crash the stock market resulting in much less money for the same amount of company sold. So, they will have to sell more resulting in bigger valuation reductions. In other words, I see a 25&#37; crash in the stock AND bond market in the imminent future. Once again, I'm probably calling this way too early like I did last time. So, this might not happen for two years, but it will most likely happen. + +Any thoughts, arguments, discussions welcomed on this please. +The first shift I ever worked was 4 years ago today on the launch day of COD WWII. I've got a bunch of fun stories from my years I'd love to share. I've been a shareholder since January and keeping up with all the memes, drama, FUD & fun we've had. + +Ask away, + +~ToxicLullaby28 + +Edit: Yes I originally fucked up my name & I fell asleep but I am responding as fast as I can. This blew up more than I thought. + +Edit 2: I'm definitely stating everything I am saying is not financial advice because we never give that here & all of my opinions & views are my own and do not represent that of the company. + +Edit 3: I am heading to bed! Thank you all for your questions I had a blast spending my time answering them. I will attempt to continue answering when I have downtime throughout my workday tomorrow if this post happens to gain any more traction. +Just looking for real life stories from where you started and how and how long it got you to get there. Share with as much or as little details as you want :) +Welcome to the Daily General Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +Find the latest Daily Altcoin Discussion thread by selecting the top result on this [search page](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/search?q=Daily+Altcoin+Discussion&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new). + +*** + +The thread guidelines are as follows: + +- Please refrain from discussing non-Ethereum related tokens here. You are welcome to discuss altcoins in the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread. +- All sub rules apply here so please review our **[rules page](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/)** to become familiar with them. The rules page is also linked in the announcement bar above. +- If the top page becomes overloaded with memes, all but the top two voted may be removed. If we need to remove a bunch of memes from the top page, post memes in this thread first and upvote the best so the mods know which ones to keep + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + + +Don't expect Hedgies to hand us millions of dollars without putting up a good fight. We are fighting to change the financial system and make money, they are fighting to survive. It's a matter of life and death to them. It's a matter of bending over to the little guy and "dumb money" as they call it. + +Don't expect an easy win. You have to work hard for your tendies and ride the psychological roller-coaster. If we win, we will win forever, if they lose they will die, and they will be buried under the Charging Bull Sculpture on WallStreet. I beg you to remember, there is no room for panic-mongers and deserters. +[**Full Post**](https://bestinterest.blog/2020/01/03/personal-finance-and-mental-health/) **containing all the juicy details.** + +This is a limited/starter list, targeted towards the casual financial individual. Please feel free to add more and/or debate. + +## Beginners Goals for 2020 + +**Start a budget**. A budget is the single-most important personal finance tool. It gives you knowledge of where your dollars are going. It provides you with a way to *measure* your personal finance. And *measurement* is needed before *management* (a.k.a. improvement) can begin. If you need ideas, [**I wrote an entire article using experts’ opinions on how they budget.**](https://bestinterest.blog/2019/08/23/budget-basics/) + +**Create an emergency fund**. What happens if the furnace breaks in mid-February? What happens if you get laid off and need a few months’ expenses to get back on your feet? These are *scary* questions. While there are a few different ways to prepare, the most important one is to create an [**emergency fund**](https://bestinterest.blog/2019/07/14/slack-emergency-fund/). + +**Plan to pay that credit card debt**. A lot of us are in some form of debt…student loans, mortgages, car payments. But the most insidious form is **credit card debt**, because it has such a high interest rate. [**“Interest” means that you are burning up your money**](https://bestinterest.blog/2019/10/04/cost-of-debt/)–although sometimes it can be for good reasons (e.g. further education, or a place to live). + +## Intermediate Goals for 2020 + +**Take full advantage of your employer’s retirement savings program**. For most of you reading from the U.S.A., this would be your **401(k)**. But some employers use other programs, such as a **403(b), IRAs, Thrift Savings Plans**, or **457s**. Internationally, there are similar government-sponsored and employer-sponsored plans. + +In short, all of these programs offer either a tax-advantage, an employer contribution, or both. + +**Re-consider your spending**. This is something that anyone could do. But since you already have some of the financial basics locked down, this is an easy next step. If you go back to 2019, you could probably pick out some purchases that now seem pretty worthless. What could you do different in 2020 to prevent those worthless purchases? + +## Expert Goals for 2020 + +**Understand your portfolio.** You might have money in a bank account, a retirement plan, in company stock options, in home-ownership equity…the list goes on. And within those various locations, there can be sub-categories. Where is your retirement account invested? In stocks, in bonds, or a REIT? + +**Outside education**. This was a huge step for me. How often do you seek out knowledge when you’re confused about your personal finances? +Received a text yesterday that "The tenant is asking if a garbage disposal can be installed. And we also think this may help you prevent having future issues with plumbing, we just have to have you authorization first." + +Backstory, I lived in the house for 2 years, did some work on it, moved out and PM is now managing it since it is long distance. + +First month of it being rented the front door lock had to be replaced because it "fell off"...was brand new when I moved in and it worked fine for me for 2 years. + +Few months later the PM contacted me and said the kitchen sink was backing up (most likely because tenants are trying to put food down the drain) and that a plumber said the drain was too small. It was a 1 1/2" drain and they wanted to put a 3" pipe. 1 1/2" is fine for a sink, 3" is used for toilets etc. right? Again, worked fine for me for two years the way it is. + +Then the text yesterday asking about installing a garbage disposal and that. Now, this may be common, but the PM company has someone doing the lawn, and has someone for repairs. All invoices for these other services are under a different company, but they all share the same address, so...they are all owned by the PM company, and that is fine, I'd do the same thing. + +My thing is...I feel like my PM is just finding things to "fix" in order to put extra money in their pocket. I imagine my front door lock did not just "fall off". I also don't think the kitchen sink needed to be replumbed, and I know damn well I don't want to put in a disposal to "prevent future issues with plumbing". More than likely a disposal will introduce more issues down the line. + +Now, I don't want to fall into a trap of thinking "worked fine for me for 2 years" and forgo some repairs that are actually necessary...but, given the PM and the repairs that have happened so far I am skeptical. Thoughts? +Welcome to the Daily General Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +*** + +Thread guidelines: + +- Please refrain from discussing non-Ethereum related tokens here. You are welcome to discuss altcoins in the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread. +- All [sub rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/) apply here so please be familiar with them. + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +Hi all. Some of you probably saw my [SLABS post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/xei6c2/student_loan_asset_backed_securities_the_recent/) a few weeks ago that discussed the effect of loan forgiveness on the SLABS market. As always, I would recommend reading the previous parts before this one, which can be found here: [Part 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ros6ii/student_loan_asset_backed_securities_slabs_the/), [Part 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/rp585d/the_slabs_rabbit_hole_part_2_conflicts_of/), and [Part 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/rpcyt6/the_slabs_rabbit_hole_part_3_revenge_of_the_slab/), [Part 4](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/rpu2eq/the_slabs_rabbit_hole_part_4_return_of_the_slab/), [Part 5](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/rq6vmi/down_the_slabbit_hole_part_5_the_federal_reserve/), and [Part 6](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/s2deik/down_the_slabbit_hole_part_6_maturation_dates/). I also encourage you to check out my DD series on Auto Loan Asset Backed Securities (ALABS), which I believe pose as much (if not more) risk than SLABS. Those DD's can be found here: [Part 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/rqle93/the_big_short_again_auto_loans_bubble_edition/) and [Part 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/rqpup4/the_big_short_again_the_auto_loan_asset_backed/). + +This part is going to smaller, but there was a significant change to the way loan forgiveness works which has a big effect on SLABS. Here's a snippet of what I wrote in that post: + +*" Let's start with cancellation, as this has been the biggest news story as of late. While this only affects federal loans, it does have a pretty major impact on FFELP loans (a special type of loan that were originally funded by private institutions but are backed by federal money. These CAN be packaged into SLABS). This quote from* [*Bloomberg*](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-02/structured-weekly-student-debt-move-stirs-a-100-billion-market#xj4y7vzkg) *explains further: "But the plan is also likely to incentivize borrowers to swap older, bank-owned loans that don’t qualify for the benefits for new loans that do qualify under the Direct Loan program.* ***This would slash in half the existing Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) asset-backed securities market financed by those older loans predating 2010, according to*** [***BofA Securities***](https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/BAC:US)***.****"* + +*Essentially what this quote is saying is that people will restructure their FFELP loans into new federal loans that would allow for partial forgiveness, thereby decimating this FFELP asset backed security market. That's pretty huge! But what is the effect of this?"* + +The thing I want to draw your attention to is that last part: the forgiveness plan DRASTICALLY effected FFELP loans, thereby decimating the SLABS market for those loans. However, the White House ***REVOKED ELIGIBILITY*** for some FFELP holders. [This NPR article](https://www.npr.org/2022/09/29/1125923528/biden-student-loans-debt-cancellation-ffel-perkins) explains: + +*" Today, according to federal data, more than 4 million borrowers still have commercially-held FFEL loans. Until Thursday, the department's own website advised these borrowers that they could consolidate these loans into federal Direct Loans and thereby qualify for relief under Biden's debt cancellation program. On Thursday, though, the department quietly changed that language.* + +***The guidance now says, 'As of Sept. 29, 2022, borrowers with federal student loans not held by ED cannot obtain one-time debt relief by consolidating those loans into Direct Loans.' Ultimately, this administration official says, roughly 800,000 borrowers would be directly affected.*** *"* + +This is a truly unprecedented change. If I was to guess, I would say that institutions felt threatened by the sudden loss of SLABS and the interest rates that come along with them and thus lobbied the government to reconsider forcing private FFELP lenders to allow for forgiveness. The article offers a little more clarity: + +*"In fact,* [*a new lawsuit*](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.moed.198213/gov.uscourts.moed.198213.1.0.pdf) *filed Thursday by six state attorneys general, makes this very argument. One of the plaintiffs, Missouri, is home to MOHELA, which manages both federal Direct Loans and these old FFEL program loans.* + +*"The consolidation of MOHELA's FFELP loans harms the entity by depriving it of an asset (the FFELP loans themselves) that it currently owns," says the complaint. "The consolidation of MOHELA's FFELP loans harms the entity by depriving it of the ongoing interest payments that those loans generate."* + +Honestly, I'm kind of shocked that the administration would rug pull hundreds of thousands of people like this just to preserve an asset for banks. I think this shows the political power of our financial institutions, and how they generally work against the good of the average citizen. I also believe that this backtracking shows that this market is something to keep an eye on, as obviously someone doesn't want it going under. + +I don't have much more insight beyond that, as this story is just developing today, however I will keep you guys in the loop as always. + +***Tldr: government backtracked on forgiveness for the group of loans that can be packaged into SLABS, thereby rug pulling hundreds of thousands of americans in order to maintain the asset for financial institutions.*** + +Remember: I am not a financial advisor, please do not ask me how to make money off this play. As always, I believe that GME is the best hedge against a market crash (not financial advice though). Buy, Hold, DRS, and keep sending me leads to follow! + +Thank you all for reading and happy hodling and DRSing. +There is currently a PROPOSED RULE that absolutely needs to be seen by everyone that calls themselves an ape. In fact, I'd argue the future success of Superstonk depends on it... + +# Modernization of Beneficial Ownership Reporting + +[https://www.sec.gov/files/33-11030-fact-sheet.pdf](https://www.sec.gov/files/33-11030-fact-sheet.pdf) + +# Why should you care? Glad you asked… + +“…the proposed amendments would provide new exemptions to **permit investors to communicate and consult with each other, jointly engage with issuers, and execute certain transactions without being subject to regulation as a group.**” + +Read that again... + +Imagine a world where the apes are working directly with the companies they own ensuring our investments are protected and acting as a group, representing individuals, providing the necessary safeguards for our retail brethren. + +# THIS IS THE WAY. + +If you love the stonk. If you love this sub. If you love being an ape. + +THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO SOLIDIFY OUR EXISTENCE AS RULE. This rule is for us! + +Make your voice heard! They are literally begging us to comment on these rules. + +LFG 🚀🚀🚀 + +—————————————————- + +**Review the facts:** [https://www.sec.gov/files/33-11030-fact-sheet.pdf](https://www.sec.gov/files/33-11030-fact-sheet.pdf) + +**Search Proposed Rules for 2022 Q1:** [https://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed.shtml](https://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed.shtml) ( look for Release No. 33-11030 ) + +**Get that real world karma and** fucking comment! They make it hard to comment on the rules so I made this to help fellow apes navigate the Proposed Rule listing + +https://preview.redd.it/adfzhraaz6n81.png?width=951&format=png&auto=webp&s=b0fb0df0ba70dca974ef1ab6b6dccd575944f21d + +# Submitting a Comment Letter—Some Key Points to Remember + +1. **There’s no magic formula** but there are some things you can do to help your comment letter have the most impact. +2. Include the File number for the rule. The subject line of your message should include the File Number for the rule. This is the number that begins “S7-” or “SR-” and you can find it at the top of the rule proposal. +3. Briefly describe who you are and why you care about the rule proposal. +4. Set forth the points you want to make. For example, you can:\* Identify weaknesses in the rule that the agency should change\* Express support for the rule\* Share or cite any relevant data, research, or reports you think the agency should consider +5. Attach any documents you think support your arguments. + +**BUY, HOLD, DRS, and COMMENT 💎✊** + +Edit: Added some key points for commenting from [https://bettermarkets.org/get-involved/](https://bettermarkets.org/get-involved/) +Here is a link to last week's announcement: [https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/21/11/b24185353/dillards-inc-announces-special-dividend-of-15-00-per-share?utm\_campaign=partner\_feed&utm\_source=yahooFinance&utm\_medium=partner\_feed&utm\_content=site](https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/21/11/b24185353/dillards-inc-announces-special-dividend-of-15-00-per-share?utm_campaign=partner_feed&utm_source=yahooFinance&utm_medium=partner_feed&utm_content=site) + +&#x200B; + +Why is it important for GME if it's another stock? We are all about GME, but these are in the basket of stocks shorted significantly in 2020 that weren't closed and have similar ownership patterns. + +Also, if these guys rip then the SHFs get margin called just the same and GME goes to the moon. + +Also, it lays out a possible strategy for GME to follow. + +AAAAaaaannnd it shows that 'similar' stocks have a much higher % of shares sold short than is being reported. + +GME to the moon. + +EDIT 1: Adding in the short interest names from Fintel - I don't have access to the numbers and they don't really matter. More it shows that GME's usual suspects are also short on these guys as well for people questioning the underlying 'basket' part. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/eqe2jttgek181.png?width=792&format=png&auto=webp&s=286b6a8fff3255f95a25cd3c710110a41773a189 + +Edit 2: +Institutional owners according to Fintel. Total shares are 16m so would need 5m here outside of the Dillard's listed to lock the float... + +https://preview.redd.it/n66k1fq6jk181.png?width=1598&format=png&auto=webp&s=641f8ced5a075aa83add2a3e48ed9d64635050e9 +title says it all. I had put in my two weeks' notice, intent on doing the right thing, but after another night of being chronically understaffed I couldn't take it anymore. I have references that I know I can use from a previous job (that I got fired from for being late in two separate instances that happened... over a year apart... long story,) but I'm terrified of the future now. I have a decent amount in savings and my landlord has agreed that me and my roommate (who is also currently unemployed) can pay the next three months' rent in advance, but like... I'm terrified. Is this life ending? I just couldn't take it anymore... I've only worked fast food and manufacturing before and I can't stand feeling like I'm going to be stuck like this forever. + +**ETA**: wow, thanks for the overwhelming response, y'all! I definitely can't reply to EVERYONE but rest assured I'm reading and taking all your advice to heart-- I mean it: THANK YOU! + +For those asking "why pay rent 3 months in advance?" It's a safety net, knowing I've already put that money forward into rent and not having to worry about it for the summer months is for my own peace of mind (as well as my roommate's!) I've signed up for DoorDash in the meantime to cover other bills. +edit: should have been more clear, there will probably be people going like 'id buy a bunch of drugs' lol. i mean if you want to be wise about it and make the most of what little you have, and not "waste" any. + +&#x200B; + +I've minimized my expenses as much as I can handle, pretty much got it down to bills, phone, ymca, and amazon. i quit smoking, drinking, video games, all i do now is go to the ymca and watch youtube. Just saving money won't cut it forever, i am only allowed to have a total of $2000 to my name (ssi, which is why the $440 is fixed) so unless i withdraw some and buy some Gold to bury every month to keep it from tipping over the limit, there's an expiration date. so I'm curious for people with more knowledge and experience, if you knew what you know but you were suddenly in my position with a fixed income, what would you do to be smart with the $440? investment? going to lots of garage sales and trying to flip? etc +First time poster + first time investor with very limited means as a graduate student. I split up my portfolio into the following: 60% VTI, 25% VXUS and 15% QQQ. Gonna keep pumping into it whenever I can. +First time poster + first time investor with very limited means as a graduate student. I split up my portfolio into the following: 60% VTI, 25% VXUS and 15% QQQ. Gonna keep pumping into it whenever I can. +Tenants paid at beginning of the corona. + +May it’s a few days late. +June a month late. +By September it’s a couple hundred bucks here and there +Rental assistance by December - 3 months. Still 6 months behind. +I have continually mentioned cash for keys. Upward of $1,000. +“I can’t apply again” last 5 months. +New cars. Household of 5. Milking the system. Blatantly posting it on social media. + +I file for eviction in April. +They call me one night and say. “We’ll be out in 2 weeks. You don’t need to move eviction further” +The day before they ask for 3 more days. +End of those 4 days. +I call “oh. Something came up. 1 more day” + +So, I go over. Door unlocked. A lot of big stuff gone - furniture, table, 2 beds. A lot of stuff still there - 2 beds, TV. +Trash everywhere. Literally. Like just random stuff. Like a school trash can ripped open with papers. Receipts. Fast food. Junk mail. Random boxes. + +I call and say. Tomorrow. 5pm. + +So, should I proceed with eviction just so no one else has to deal with this or let dead dogs lie and move on with life? +Hey guys, + +&#x200B; + +I'm 28 and I inherited a townhouse that is paid off. My goal is to get into real estate investing to generate income that can eventually help me retire earlier. What are some strategies I can employ to make the most of this ? I am very new to investing + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +Thanks for reading + yea so basically we would just be chatting and asking you some mind set questions to see if you both qualify to move forward and possibly(they are picky about who they work with) be mentored on how to build an asset by that couple that has those results in life we talked about. Hopefully that makes sense, its totally fine if he’s not really looking for more but they don’t really educate half couples, if that’s a serious relationship, I would recommend him being there. + +Edit: I told her to ask what company it is, this was the lady’s response. + +Hey, so no not a company, really it’s their information to give and we went through a process to earn that information,and I’m not sure your education level on financial independence, mine was really a zero , but basically they taught us how to change the way we made money so it works for us instead of us having to continue to work for it, basically we earned their time and mentorship on building an asset. There’s a lot of layers of understanding obviously, but that’s the in a nut shell version, really sitting down would be to see if you think the right way and if it’s a good fit for us to open a door for you to be fully educate on everything that contains, because they don’t just give that information to anyone and everyone. + +Edit: thanks for the responses guys! Just to be clear neither of us wanted to go we were just curious about what they were up to! +Welcome to the Daily General Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +*** + +Thread guidelines: + +- Please refrain from discussing non-Ethereum related tokens here. You are welcome to discuss altcoins in the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread. +- All [sub rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/) apply here so please be familiar with them. + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/place](https://www.reddit.com/r/place) + +# [https://halfdane.github.io/rplace/](https://halfdane.github.io/rplace/) ---- GO HERE + +This will show you coordinates, and you place the tile based on the coordinates here. When you mouse over, it gives you the x and y axis - IF YOU CLICK THE TILE, IT WILL BRING YOU TO THE CORRECT TILE!!!! Then pick the correct color and place it :) + +# How to use the Github program: + +&#x200B; + +[click the tile](https://preview.redd.it/a4ljs4mt7zq81.png?width=279&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b09f539f7dbee0d55bb19119b69c7f3f6c4a7e9) + +# when you click on the tile in Github it will bring you to the same tile on r/place + +https://preview.redd.it/viaip0xj1zq81.png?width=729&format=png&auto=webp&s=f5c63cb74e4323972a5789a3247f542754837536 + +# Click on "place a tile" + +# Choose the correct color and place the tile! Wait 5 minutes, then do it again!!! LFG! + +# JOIN US IN THE DISCORD TO HELP! [INVITE HERE](https://discord.com/invite/hgJmtEeJ) + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ttcrsu/no\_april\_fools\_jokes\_rplace\_is\_back\_and\_well\_get/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ttcrsu/no_april_fools_jokes_rplace_is_back_and_well_get/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +original post + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/GMEPlace/comments/tt6mty/updated\_gme\_rplace\_strategy\_please\_provide/](https://www.reddit.com/r/GMEPlace/comments/tt6mty/updated_gme_rplace_strategy_please_provide/) + +# Strategy + +Beginning of [u/ChippThaRipp](https://www.reddit.com/user/ChippThaRipp/)’s [post about the strategy](https://www.reddit.com/r/GMEPlace/comments/tt6mty/updated_gme_rplace_strategy_please_provide/) (there are more details within about how [r/place](https://www.reddit.com/r/place/) actually functions): [https://www.reddit.com/r/GMEPlace/comments/tt6mty/updated\_gme\_rplace\_strategy\_please\_provide/](https://www.reddit.com/r/GMEPlace/comments/tt6mty/updated_gme_rplace_strategy_please_provide/) + +Efforts will be prioritized based on the position of a component within the image above, this is to ensure that we get at least one key component on the canvas as it’s a large undertaking and we’re unsure how many people will actually help out (hedging our bets). + +* **Priority 1: Gamestop Logo** +* **Priority 2: GME Ticker** +* **Priority 3: DFV** +* **Priority 4: Loopring and Immutable** + +Please check out the post from Ripps above, as it goes into A LOT more detail. + +I’m sure many people with have lots of different feedback, bring it to the discord - it’ll be chaos, fun chaos though. As said before, people have put a lot of effort into coming up with this design and building out the strategy, so if you do have feedback - try to make it actionable straight away as things will move fast. + +This lasts until April 4. LFG!!!! +The numbers: The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city price index posted a 18.6% year-over-year gain in December, up slightly from 18.3% the previous month. On a monthly basis, the index increased 1.5% between November and December. + +Meanwhile, the Case-Shiller national home price index demonstrated 18.8% growth between 2020 and 2021 in December, in line with November’s reading. + +“This is the highest calendar year increase in 34 years of data, and +substantially ahead of 2020’s 10.4% gain,” Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P DJI, said in the Case-Shiller report. + + +What happened: Phoenix recorded the highest rate of home-price growth in the country in December, according to the Case-Shiller report, with a 32.5% year-over-year increase. As with the month prior, two Florida cities closely followed: Tampa with a 29.4% gain and Miami with a 27.3% rise. + +The FHFA report showed that home-price growth during the fourth quarter of 2021 was strongest in Arizona, Utah and Idaho, and weakest in the District of Columbia, Louisiana and North Dakota. That report recorded the highest pace of home-price appreciation in Cape Coral-Ft. Myers, Fla., where prices rose 34.6% on an annual basis. + +Looking ahead: “Home prices continued to surpass expectations in December, but a marked change may be ahead for growth as rising mortgage rates eat into homebuyer purchasing power,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. + +“While typical asking prices continue to accelerate, the pace of median sales price growth has slowed, signaling a potential gap between what buyers are willing and able to pay and what sellers are hoping to net,” she added. + + +https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coming-up-s-p-case-shiller-and-fhfa-home-price-indexes-11645537850 +I want a home so bad. Not as an investment, not to make money from. So I can have a garden, so I don't have to worry about where I can afford to live every year. So I can have a safe home base, a stable place to build a life from and be a productive member of my community. + +I can't have a home, because corporations have decided that the decades of work and new innovations that me and all of us hard workers have done, just isn't enough. Those who are lucky enough to have enough buy more homes than they needed to buy all the homes and drive their price up through artificial scarcity. + +Guess what motherfuckers. We know your game. We've found your weakness. We know you've oversold the float of GME. We know that you need every last share, because when this house of cards comes crashing down, you'll all tear each other up and point the finger to try and not be the one holding the bag. + +I DO BELIEVE IN GME AS A COMPANY. But I am here for MOASS. I am here for hedgies blood. I am here to brutally fuck the people that told me I couldn't have a home. Despite being productive. Despite no criminal record. I deserve a safe, stable place to rest my head at night. All of us Apes do. I hold for each and every one of us that worries about whether they can afford to stay in their rental because they don't know how much their rent will increase. I hold for each single share ape who otherwise lives paycheck to paycheck, or worse, running away from collectors for debts they never should have been forced to take on. + +They took our stability away from us. Now we use their tactics back on them. No cell? Sorry, no sell. Until my entire family, and the family of every ape is comfortable and debt-free, hedgies will continue to bleed. + +Buy. Vote. DRS. Hodl. + +This is the way we get what we're owed +My father passed away and I'm trying to sell the house. On Zillow it has the Zestimate at $475k. My realtor says he has a cash buyer that can pay $335k ASAP. Or he said he could list it at $375k. Everything house around his (a lot of houses) have Zestimates at $420k+. I need to sell it kinda fast, but I don't want to leave a ton of potential money on the table. I was thinking of listing it at $420k first. But maybe the realtor wants to list it at $375k first to get bids going? Just need some advice, I haven't signed anything with my realtor yet. +[One 'meme stock' is actually a big deal... It's the biggest investment opportunity, hidden in plain sight](https://preview.redd.it/hauf39masqz81.jpg?width=760&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=afbe7b00a300dbe61328ed5d4c5a965b7afd4661) + +Did you watch the documentary 'Diamond Hands, the Legend of WaII Str33t B3ts' and now you want to know more about why others are investing in GameStop? This post is for you. + +# Buying reason #1: The GameStop Board & Management have a superb track-record + +Before 2021, GameStop used to be a struggling indebted business, without a clear strategy and direction. Today, GameStop is in the process of making a business turnaround that will be studied in business schools for years. At least three names stand out: + +**Ryan Cohen, Chairman of the Board of Directors** + +The business turnaround started in August 2020, when successful entrepreneur Ryan Cohen initially bought a 10% stake in GameStop. Ryan Cohen founded Chewy, an online retailer of pet-related items in 2011. In 2017 Ryan Cohen sold Chewy for $3.35 Billion, the largest e-commerce acquisition by the time. Delighting customers is his credo. Ryan Cohen currently owns 11.9% of GameStop total shares outstanding. + +**Larry Cheng, Board member & Director**, also Managing Partner at Volition Capital. Larry was the first investor in Chewy, and is an investor with a remarkable track record: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/larrycheng](https://www.linkedin.com/in/larrycheng) + +**Matt Furlong, Chief Executive Officer**, previously Country Leader at Amazon Australia, where he oversaw Amazon’s Australia business during a period of substantial growth. Matt worked at Amazon for 9 years before he joined GameStop. + +Since Ryan Cohen became GameStop’s largest shareholder, he onboarded hundreds of vetted professionals that want to work for GameStop instead of staying at well-known companies such as Amazon, Chewy, Facebook & Google. At least 400 of these hires have been documented: [https://gmedd.com/report-model/](https://gmedd.com/report-model/) + +[Over 400 professionals chose working for GameStop over working for established corporates... Do they see the value?](https://preview.redd.it/ntnk9vl42rz81.jpg?width=911&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2be0efa776853471d010b5c3c8547d89fef60fd6) + +# Buying reason #2: The GameStop Board & Management are invested in GameStop’s long-term success + +**Insiders are buying substantially more then they are selling.** + +[Last year the previous board sold some shares, which is what you see 9-12 months ago. Since then, GameStop insiders have bought a substantial amount of shares.](https://preview.redd.it/rqkuarig2rz81.jpg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eaf4a9ef9468f3cd6460bd3ed02fe87c9404b528) + +**Directors receive compensation in shares only** + +https://preview.redd.it/py7eg5ju2rz81.jpg?width=748&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f6946c29bdc59927d549fe0d19f19e5fa265e18f + +As of the annual shareholders meeting in 2021, non-employee directors receive NO cash compensation. They only receive compensation in shares. This makes sure that they are committed to the company success. The average price their shares vested at was around **$220-225**. At the minimum, the directors will want the share price back to this point, and ideally above that, as this is also beneficial for them! + +# Buying reason #3: The Numbers show that GameStop is currently heavily undervalued + +In 2021, GameStop raised $1.67 Billion in capital, which enabled them to heavily invest in GameStop’s growth. GameStop invested in two extra warehouses to double down on same day delivery in USA, opened new satellite offices in various locations to appeal to talents in technology hubs and invested more money in inventory to expand on their product catalog (currently 915M in merchandise inventory). And all of that with… **NO debt and $1,2 Billion in cash on hands!** + +GameStop’s investment in growth are already showing fruits. Last year GameStop booked $6 Billion in annual net sales, an impressive **+20% increase in annual net sales year over year**. + +GameStop’s current market cap is $7.51 Billion, a 1.25x valuation on annual net sales, not even accounting for the investments GameStop has already made to grow bigger in the upcoming years. + +# Buying reason #4: The Squeeze has NOT squozen yet! + +The billion dollar question is: Did GameStop short-squeeze in January 2021? + +The answer is no. **GameStop did NOT have a short squeeze according to SEC staff** that investigated the events in January 2021. + +On page 26 the SEC staff writes: “Figure 6 shows that the run-up in GME stock price coincided with buying by those with short positions. However, it also shows that such buying was a small fraction of overall buy volume …”. + +https://preview.redd.it/0w3zcgcq3rz81.jpg?width=636&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0ce8f6ecce7687933131b66088ebca98034a0e42 + +[Red = Short Seller Buy Volume. Blue = Total Buy Volume. Notice how abysmally small the short seller buy volume is?](https://preview.redd.it/dbilla4h3rz81.jpg?width=625&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=49083dbe0a5c1fabdeaf69002ab8d0c52bf2489d) + +Just think about it... if the Short Seller Buy Volume is *that* small, then how does a short seller escape a short position that is 122.97% of the float? They can't! + +Source: SEC staff report on January 2021 events: [https://www.sec.gov/files/staff-report-equity-options-market-struction-conditions-early-2021.pdf](https://www.sec.gov/files/staff-report-equity-options-market-struction-conditions-early-2021.pdf) + +# Buying reason #5: There’s a TON of reasons why 800K+ people Buy & Hold GameStop + +There’s actually a whole lot more reasons why over 800,000 people decided to Buy & Hold GameStop. Possible reasons include: Ryan Cohen is still allowed to increase his stake substantially to 20%, the anticipated launch of the GameStop NFT marketplace before July’22, the upcoming stock-dividend… and more! + +&#x200B; + +**Welcome to the GameStop Opportunity! Power to the Players! 🚀** + +&#x200B; + +This post is not financial advice, I’m not a financial advisor. Thanks to everyone who contributed with ideas and screenshots for this post! 🧡 + +*If you want to see more updates like these, you can follow me here on Reddit or on Twitter - Tendie Baron* +Apparently someone bought multiple Iphone XS and opened an AT&T account in my name last month. I just received a bill with past due fees and it totals over $730. + +I have T-Mobile, not AT&T. What do I do now? + +Edit 1: I called AT&T and they confirmed it was fraud. Opened through a third party service online "Enjoy". They used full social and name/address. I also called my bank and put a secret codeword on my account. I've filed a freeze with experian and equifax. I'm working on Trans-union. + +Someone mentioned police report, is this really important? What is the purpose? What else should I do? + +Edit 2: I've filled a report through Identitytheft.gov. I'm keeping records on my laptop so I can access these things later to unfreeze my accounts and such. I'll try to pull another credit report tomorrow to check for fishiness. + +Thank you for the help! + +Edit 3: I've pulled my credit report and noted about 4 hard inquiries in the past week on Equifax. With "Frontier", "Comenity", "First Premier Bank", and another. How do I proceed with these? +The message threatened to liquidate to pay down the debt, but the retarded algo that sent out this message does not know I have nothing to liquidate - no stock, no options, no assets, no cash in any account. + +Is there anything else they can do? So far I just am keeping quiet, and uninstalled the app from my phone. It's a month now and so far, no legal notices or no one knocking on the door.... at least I think .... I haven't been home in over a month. + +Most of it was $SPX calls/puts across a period of week. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/8z8334s5k9c81.png?width=1214&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d898b8db3ed04b87d84f7edaa743aa31af316f7 + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/pnqj61urvac81.png?width=1506&format=png&auto=webp&s=560942e7f481974b964f6760122af98736d34392 + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; +I know it sounds stupid because people gonna say get a paper round or something that’s what I’ve tried to do but I can’t lmfao + +Reason im asking is because my nan recently passed away the funeral and cremation all together was upwards of 3 grand my family are lower to middle class we’ve got a decent house and a nice car but my dad came from nothing and so did my uncle and aunt my uncle was never close with my Nan so he doesn’t want to pay for her funeral and my aunt simply can’t afford it because she’s strapped financially so I thought even if I could get a little bit of money it would make it abit easier for my family financially + +I’m tryna think I’ve got a bank account so it’ll probs be easier to do it online and stuff so any suggestions only problem is I don’t want to invest in stocks and all that stuff because we’re heading for a massive recession across the world according to economic experts don’t quote me I’m not that good at stocks and stuff and bitcoin has also plummeted massively recently so any tips on how to make money whether online or irl ? + +Any help would be appreciated massively +We see a lot of posts here about people making $500k or more.\* I wanted to present a little of my own journey for those of you who are on the journey to Fat with a more common salary and situation. Yes, I know $200k+ is not "common" household income, but it is relative to the fat fire crowd. + +tl;dr - our story of getting FAT slowly on $225,000 income living in the midwest + +I am posting to show others that by compromising on one or two FAT luxuries at a young age when our friends also don't have many of those things (high end cars, a boat, living through/performing labor on a renovation, not living on the coasts) we live a life that is envious to our friends in similar income ranges/careers on the coasts due to significantly lower cost of living, and we will probably finish way ahead of them and much earlier. Those friends love coming to visit, eating out at nice restaurants, going to professional sporting events, and big name concerts for a fraction of the cost of comparable experiences where they live. + +**Here are my stats:** + +* Married, no kids (yet, but soon), age 30's +* $350,000 in income producing real estate equity (2 properties I redeveloped - value add commercial) - the cash spat off of this is used to buy the next deal, etc. so not included in income +* $350,000 in taxable brokerage +* $200,000 in various retirement accounts +* My salary: $165,000, goes up about 15% per year usually to retain me, have been named successor to the CEO who is preparing for retirement in about 5 years, not totally counting these chickens though +* Wife's salary $60,000 not likely to rise beyond inflation +* Wife will get a pension of approximately $20,000 at 59.5, has no desire to retire early +* Debt: about $30,000 low interest student loans paying off in couple years, 15k car loans very low interest, and $180,000 mortgage. Total debt each month is about $2,200 + +**Savings -** After tax, we save about $70,000 per year currently (effectively spending $80,000 a year currently). There will be some lumpy big additions over time as we refinance the commercial properties to take equity out an reinvest. + +**Our situation:** We live in the midwest rather than on the coasts - Think Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Madison, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Minneapolis, Louisville type of city. This keeps our costs way down - I own a house in a downtown neighborhood I was able to purchase not long after graduate school, managed the renovation myself, and live in what is now a pretty high end historic neighborhood I basically bought the worst house on our block and fixed it up. I probably have about $250k in total in renovations and acquisition in the home, which is now worth about twice that. I could probably make about $50-75k a year more on the coasts, with a slightly higher bonus, but the cost of living doesn't make it worth it, and I wouldn't get the leadership opportunities at my age I have gotten at a small shop in the midwest. I also really don't enjoy New York and San Francisco, if I am being honest. + +We drive new but reasonable cars (with very low interest loans or pay cash) since it is easier to walk or uber than drive ourselves most places, plus we just aren't car people. We spend most of our money on travel, food, and good seats to concerts. A super nice meal here is about $150 per person, and compares to much more expensive tabs I have had at coastal and abroad high end meals. Most of our friends are pretty fiscally responsible, and we don't feel a need to splash cash like we do when visiting college friends on the coasts. People are reasonable here. + +***Essentially, cost of living is super cheap, so it allows us to supercharge our savings, while not really sacrificing our quality of life a great deal.*** The biggest downside is that we usually have to connect to fly abroad as there are only a few international directs from our airport. I can deal with that. We have high quality museums and arts due to old industrial families endowing them, plus several pretty good universities, professional and minor league sports, and some big name employers. + +**Kids** \- We don't have any yet, but one or two are likely in the next 3 years. We anticipate dealing with this increase in expenses with my increase in compensation when/if I take over the company, but if that doesn't happen, we will just reduce our savings and retire later or reduce our target spend. Frankly, the nut we have saved now provides us the bulk of the asset growth, more so than the savings anyway. + +**FatFIRE -** We are doing FIRE the old fashioned way - getting rich slowly. Our plan is to retire in our 50's with around $5mm as our target, and will get rid of the real estate at that time to go to a hassle free portfolio. This also coincides with our house being paid off, and any children we may have entering adulthood. It is likely that we will hit that number sooner if my real estate plays continue to return well, or my income goes up. + +*Other notes/the risks I took before people ask:* + +*How did we save so much early?* Took out loans to pay for college and grad school, used my income and scholarships to invest during the great recession. Loans were around 3% interest, bought battered stocks when they were dirt cheap that popped, eventually went to three fund portfolio and rode it up. Wife and I are both savers (she started saving for retirement in highschool) and lived like we were still in college. She didn't have student loan debt which helped her save a lot pre-marriage as well. The lesson here is start early, and help your children start early if you can. + +*How did I afford commercial real estate?* I refinanced my house to take equity out after some renovations and have been very selective buying distressed properties, and built relationships with cheap contractors that put guys on my jobs in downtime, sacrificing speed for cost. Was able to market the properties while under construction, and fortunately leases came soon after. + +*How did I get such a good deal on my house?* I made a low ball offer on an home that was in an estate and on the market for years (like 50% of ask) asked my realtor to check in with the seller every few weeks. After 3 months they accepted. Right place, right time. Low rates have also helped with my real estate plays. + +*Why save so much if we live on a lower amount now*? I grew up in a family that did not have much, but got merit scholarships to a good private school ( for context - I was one of only a few kids who used lunch "tickets" instead of paying cash - free and reduced lunch program). I saw the advantages and security that wealth provided the families around me - very few divorces while I had a single mom, better health while my relatives were seemingly constantly injured on blue collar jobs, tutoring and educational experiences that helped prepare them for college and careers, and other simple stresses like not having to worry about their car breaking down on the way to homecoming like mine did. My wife grew up in a stealth high wealth family and wasn't accustomed to the stresses I experienced - when we really started discussing our upbringing it was sort of a privilege awakening for her that also got her on board the FI train. We want first to be very secure, then second, increase our spending over time to be able to travel more richly, maybe get nicer cars, and do more "wealthy" things, hence the goal of a $175k spent on a 3.5% withdrawal. + +&#x200B; + +\*Edited to remove a statement that was unintentionally shitting on high earners, and was distracting from the point of the post. +Has anyone looked into Rubic, if so what are your thoughts? + +I've read the whitepaper and the tokenonomics look more than reasonable and it's sitting at a very low market cap currently. + +The team has had great communication through Telegram and another AMA is coming on 12th Feb. + +This could potentially help solve a huge issue with DeFi and Ethereum. + +I'd love to hear others thoughts on it, if they grab a reasonable portion of the market it could be 100x from here. + +One question I had is how have they appeared out of nowhere, completely under the radar. When I search L2 DeFi Rubic is still completely unknown but have a fairly large community. +We bought concert tickets pre-Covid for a show that was supposed to happen this past weekend (Rammstein in Philly), we even bought the insurance which we never do. + +The concert was postponed - until next year! To me that’s not a postpone, that’s a “we cancelled our concert, see you at next years tour”. Further, I don’t live in Philly and was just happening to be there the same weekend for a wedding. + +StubHub was unresponsive, would not refund tickets, offered to let us sell tickets “fee free” which is still nonsense. I could not get customer service on the phone. + +I initiated a dispute with my cc company, stubhub didn’t even respond to the dispute, so we go all of our money back. + +Don’t be afraid to dispute merchants trying to give you the shaft because of Covid. + +UPDATE: I just called stubhub, informed them of the charge back and what to do with the tickets. They are sending me a shipping label to return the tickets; all is good. +One of the most common questions I get asked is if we don't invest in a major city how will we get any tenant? + +My husband and I invest in towns with populations ranging from 5k to 60k people. We have never had any problem filling units up with tenants. + +We just closed on 2 single family houses in a town with about 14k people. We will have it renovated and then list it. We haven't even started working on it yet and we already have people calling us asking about them. + +As in just by word of mouth alone we already got a line of families wanting to rent those houses a month before we intend on making it available. + +We had a duplex in a town with 5k people and we got half a dozen applications within minutes of listing it. + +So, please stop thinking the only way to make any money from REI is in a major city. +One of the most common questions I get asked is if we don't invest in a major city how will we get any tenant? + +My husband and I invest in towns with populations ranging from 5k to 60k people. We have never had any problem filling units up with tenants. + +We just closed on 2 single family houses in a town with about 14k people. We will have it renovated and then list it. We haven't even started working on it yet and we already have people calling us asking about them. + +As in just by word of mouth alone we already got a line of families wanting to rent those houses a month before we intend on making it available. + +We had a duplex in a town with 5k people and we got half a dozen applications within minutes of listing it. + +So, please stop thinking the only way to make any money from REI is in a major city. +I came up with this just this week, while I was wondering quietly to myself "How do I eat for four days on eight dollars?" + +Ingredients +Campbells Cheddar cheese (condensed soup) - $1.50 at my store +Taco shells - $1.75 +Lentils - Already in cabinet, probably $2 if you buy 1 lb. +Sriracha paste, or flavor packet from beans, or taco sauce packet from fast food store. Save your flavoring packets. + +Lentils are the pasta of the bean world. Simmer 3 cups water to one cup beans. Cook 12-14 minutes until water is absorbed. Add seasoning and flavor packet you found under your couch halfway though cooking and stir it in. Keep stirring lentils, they tend to stick. + +Campbells Cheddar Cheese (It will have the blue ribbon on it that says great for cooking) is basically unsalted nacho cheese dip. I don't bother salting it because I salt the beans and also I'm an animal that doesn't care about flavor profiles. If you want take half the can and put three pinches of salt in it, stir it up, and see how you like it. + +Bean go in taco. Cheese go on bean. You live another week. + +This produces 7 jumbo tacos out of 2/3 cup of beans. You are left with half your shells, 2/3 a can of cheddar cheese, and most of your beans. + + + + +EDIT: Thank you all for the awards and the offers to bail me out financially. I don't need any money. I could have dug into my savings and eaten steak but I am trying to save my paychecks. Tortilla shells are indeed cheaper than tacos. And lastly I don't have enough recipes to make a cookbook. There's a subreddit for that. r/eatcheapandhealthy +I know the first and second rules of FIRE club - Do NOT talk about FIRE club. + +However, for those of you who chose to/accidentally let people in your life know of your accomplishment, how did they react? + +In particular, if someone doubted your ability to FIRE because it's an "unachievable dream", how did they react? + +How did it feel giving in your notice - did you get asked any questions? + +What are your experiences with the people around you? + +Curious to hear these stories. +Background: My wife and I purchased our first SFH rental property in July of this year. We put 15% down on it and this + closing costs consumed about 75% of our liquid savings. We had to put about 5% of the property's value into repairs before listing it, but we were able to float this across the slush from 2 paychecks. + +Interest in this class C area was high, and I posted here about the large amount of interest we got, although from a series of not-the-greatest applicants; but the ones we selected signed a 2 year lease and have, over the limited time of the last 2 months, paid on time and only done one stupid thing to the property that was easily fixed. The monthly CoC return on this property is about 30%. + +We live pretty frugally, so we've built our savings back up to the point where 15% on another similarly-priced rental property in the same neighborhood would consume our entire savings, but should we want to solidify those funds, we could technically afford to push forward on a second one. My question to you all is... should we? Is buying now a smart move, even if it consumes all of our cash savings (we have stocks and CDs and stuff we could liquefy if our personal shit hit the fan), or should we wait for what some people predict is a dip/crash in the next 12-18 months? Or should we wait until our cash savings is a little more bulky and/or we have more than 2 months' experience in this game before deciding if we want to move forward? + +Thanks for any and all feedback. +Top edit for fun: [me and u/Suspicious-Singer243 rn](https://i.imgflip.com/4awvl8.png) + +I am no professional and all of this is just my thoughts and opinions. Nothing I say is guaranteed or should be encouraging you to make any decisions. Always do your own DD. + +For an unknowing amount of time, GME has been ramping up on t+21 Failure-To-Deliver cycles. It can easily be traced to January, where it starts to go cold. I personally think it started when Ryan Cohen bought-in last year, from there, the price has since never turned back. It is a good case for the start of using FD's to hide shorts. Either way we know the SI% was up to at least 140% in early January and they never actually covered. + +So the series of spikes I will detail are all the day AFTER t+21 in the FTD cycle. Jan 13 we saw the first "notable" spike which was 22 trading days after Dec 11 options expired. Jan 22 was 22 days after Dec 19 options expired. **I dont credit the FTD cycle with these spikes** but I think it was present and actively contributing to upward momentum. + +[Here is an image of those cycles](https://i.imgur.com/wziwmwx.png) + +Now we also know that FuckFace Plotkin of Melvin Capital said when the price went up into the 70s (presumably on the 22nd into the week of the spike) Melvin decided to "Cover their shorts". This is where I believe going into the week of the January spike, Short Hedge Funds (namely Melvin, Citadel, and co.) began their process of hiding shorts in FDs on the 26th. [Take a look at the MASSIVE spike in Open Interest on DEEP OTM Puts the week of the January spike](https://i.imgur.com/X6xrkF5.jpg) + +This is where our recent major cycles started. I think they were super near term focused and strapped for cash, and just trying to give themselves an out, for as little as cash as possible. They got a large amount of Puts starting expiring Jan 22 on day of expiry for basically nothing, because they knew it was an easy way to cover some, with the window of settlement to be able to worry about any further issues. They bought puts for all throughout February into early March and had sufficiently "covered" their shorts. 109million shares worth of DEEP OTM puts were bought between Jan 2 and March 2. With the heavy concentration being in late January and early February. + +You're like... FUCK MAN ON WITH IT. Okay I get it. Jan 22's t+21 date is Feb 23. The day before Feb 24 massive spike. Only a week after DFV did his first double down. Oh. We also saw thousands of high volume single transactions at the lowest possible strike of 0.5 in the days leading up. Feb 19 2000+qty @0.5 strike(price each unknown, total is $2000), feb 22 3000+qty @0.5 strike(price each unknown total is $3000), feb 25 3000+qty @0.5 strike(same, $3000). These can easily add up to well more but are a drop in the hat of what I am about to say. + +Feb 5 t+21 cycle ends March 9. The day after we obviously saw a MASSIVE run up then crash. Leading up to this, on March 3rd and 4th we saw more deep OTM Put activity then the ENTIRETY of 2021 so far. Almost 1.1 Million DEEP OTM Puts bought on these two days. [This image shows a comparison in the share leverage](https://i.imgur.com/EETkZw6.jpg) These Puts were pretty much ALL split between April 16 and July 16. Just to underline it.. 1.1 million puts is 110million shares. Almost 200% of the float. [Check out the ridiculous volumes compared to open interests on March 3 and 4](https://imgur.com/a/6NgeNtG). And then [here is a graph showing volume of days options volume exceeded open interest](https://i.imgur.com/sAZEz1r.jpg) + +So directly after all these puts are bought, coincidentally equaling the volume previously bought during the year, to further delay the FTD cycle on FD's, the price begins to ramp up hard. At the end of the day on March 4 it spikes hard to almost 150 before closing at 125. In 4 days it goes up 100 points to close at 248 on March 9. By 11:30 on March 10 the price is nearing 350 and gets reshorted to shit. I think they opened more shorting positions here to drive the price down. But that is outside the scope of this thesis. + +Moving on, a massive amount of deep OTM options were bought for 4/16 expiry. 4/16 t+21 is **TOMORROW**. And we have barely seen a large amount of Put option volume in the lead up. [This image shows the % of deep OTM Options used to cover which were purchased for 4/16](https://i.imgur.com/RZ9Iio0.jpg) Notice how the Movie Theatre stock barely has any volume too. + +We also have 7/16 which saw a large amount, but a slightly smaller margin than 4/16, and is a ways down the road. But for tomorrow, there are ~~upwards of well over 50Million~~ shares worth that has to be accounted for by end of trading! Definitely not enough have been bought so far. Only 61k of $2 puts bought on Thursday, could explain some of the spike. + +[Here is a my chart for the last 3 months on major FTD cycles](https://i.imgur.com/GL1xbZp.png) I just want to point out on top of the ~~50+million~~ FTDs for April 16, DFV also bought 50k shares and exercised for 50k on that day, which has to be covered by end of tomorrow too. + +I think they see this as a way to perpetually delay the inevitable by resetting their FTD cycle and allowing themselves to be on a synthetically "neutral" ground. But they have to get those options in order to keep it going. + +I am also trying to see the reason to why exactly right after the t+21 cycle on the FTDs and the purchase of all these deep OTM puts drives the price up. There is definitely a correlation, I just need to figure out if it is causation and why. + +Any feedback or criticism is more than welcome. Thanks for reading, have a great night. BUY AND HOLD + +**TL;DR:** Tomorrow is end of t+21 for April 16 which had at least 30 million shares worth of FTD covers expiring. The last 2 times we a major t+21 FTD cycle ended was Feb 25 and March 9, the days before the price skyrocketed. Hedgefunds have covered over 110million shares worth of FTDs between April 16, July 16, Jan 21 2022 in deeeeeeep OTM puts. + +**BIG CREDITS to u/dejf2 for his DD Weeks AGO** +[link](https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/mzre4k/put_anomalies_pt1_were_127_million_synthetic/) + +**EDIT 1:** TY to u/TheDragon-44 for pointing out 13F's are [indeed due tomorrow too](https://i.imgur.com/qjqkz8H.jpg). Though I think that may be just info up to March 31. + +**EDIT2:** I have stricken out the 50 Million shares worth because I think the 110 million is more split between April 16, July 16, and Jan 21, 2022 now. [If you look at this, even though 3 weeks old](https://i.imgur.com/LGjhf6I.jpg) July 16 has the 2nd highest Open Interest of any PUTS on the market for that day, which is insane. Almost 38 Million Shares worth. April 16 is like the same, I dont have the exact but I know it wasnt much lower. And as you can see Jan 21, 2022 has 250k OI. So they have already "covered" 25million shares until 2022. Its an absolute joke. + + [https://www.ft.com/content/3c2c576c-51c6-4ced-b1c2-586c4b2f4914](https://www.ft.com/content/3c2c576c-51c6-4ced-b1c2-586c4b2f4914) + + +Saudi Aramco stuck by plans to pay out $75bn in dividends this year despite a 73 per cent drop in second-quarter earnings and surging debt levels, as the state energy group bets on a rebound for the pandemic-hit oil sector. +**People all over the WORLD have made the MOASS too big to fail.** + +Think about it, we have 300k diamond handed apes from everywhere just in SuperStonk. You got more over in /r/GME, retards from /r/wallstreetbets and it's many derivatives, /r/finance (whatever they go by), more from /r/stocks, /r/options and even /r/gme_meltdown. This is just on Reddit and I know I missed a bunch. + +Let's look outward. /BIZ/NESSMEN over on 4chan, Ants from Korea, Wallaby's in Australia (I made that up). Who knows where or how many other platforms there are that are carry the same diamond hand philosophy? That share that oh so sweet bias confirming DD? + +If this were a US only problem, much greater levels of fuckery could potentially happen. But it's not.... + + +**At least one foreign government has already included references to what's happening in annual financial reports:** + +https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/financial-stability/fsr/html/ecb.fsr202105~757f727fe4.en.html#toc19 + +I did not find that, it was posted yesterday and forgot who OP was. OP also posted a US financial report that contained references as well. ~~Sorry I don't remember your name, but awesome job!~~ Credit: /u/StrifeLover + +I'm sure there are even more to be found, but not everyone is interested in digging through foreign government's annual financial reports looking for mentions. Mass media damn sure isn't going broadcast any real coverage of how fucked the market is right now. + +If news like that got out on even one media outlet, it would cause a cascading panic selloff and launch the MOASS and likely end in economic tragedy. + +**Wen fuckery?** + +There are multiple avenues of fuckery that could be taken, some we can't even imagine. The douchecanoes on wall street have made careers out of screwing over the retail investor, and built firms doing just that. + +One group of them got so good at it, they are now a bonafide market maker and control over 40% of retail trades. Gotta love PFOF (Fuck you very much, Bernie Madoff). + +I firmly believe that there are no real shares left. The only shares that are being sold have already been rehypothecated, and continue to be. Do I have proof? Fuck no. Only people inside the system know for sure. All the DD posted here seems to point to it though. + +Right now, all eyes are on the shorts. Rules and changes in policy written and passed in record time. Updated haircut procedures. Huge changes to collateral requirements. Surprise liquidity tests.... The powers that be know it's coming and they're getting ready. + +The shorts are just going to keep at it until it's impossible to kick the can down the road any further. You technically haven't lost if you break the entire game. When they go down, they want to take everything with them. + +The fuckery is happening now, and it's aimed everywhere. + +**How many banana?** + +All of them. You know why? + +The longs on wall street want it to happen too. Think about it. + +Not that many bananas are going to be leaving wall street. Shuffled around, yes. But still there. + +That money is going to be in the hands of your brokers before it ever gets anywhere close to your bank account. Even then, how much did you plan to reinvest after the MOASS? Were you going to buy the dip afterward? Hello DOMO. + +After a while, it'll start getting transferred to the banks. Then the banks will be flush with cash once again, and this time not from a printer that kept going Brrr. Good news is good. + +Uncle Sam will get his 40% cut, and he is going to need every single bit of it. I would not be at all surprised if the IRS issued special early file requirements for apes that ended up over a certain amount of bananas. + +I really hope they do, I'd be happy to cut that check. I'll hand deliver it in my lambo if they want. + +Bunch of apes that have been broke all their lives will be going out and spending bananas. Charities will thrive and Local business will love it too. + +It's actually an economic rescue plan. + +**The Fate of the Shorts....** + +One angle I haven't seen presented too often is just how bad Citadel, Susquehanna and all the others on the short side of things have fucked up. The rules for every participant on wall street are going to change because they got too greedy. + +It's not just going to put those shorting firms out of business, there will be individual players that get blacklisted from the market entirely. The long Wall Street titans aren't going to take very kindly to the shorts due to it ruining the easy money game for everyone that ever played it. + +They could have ended this shit in January, instead they will end up getting liquidated and absorbed. Then a nice big spanking by the now fewer and bigger players that will continue to remain on Wall Street. + +**Who ends up in jail?** + +Prosecution wise, man that's anyone's call. This is a bit different than 2008, all the big the players were in on that crash. Bank wise, they might all be on this one too. I dunno. + +This time though, there is an identifiable section of wall street that participated. There is an actual group that a finger can be pointed at. People are still pissed about 2008, and some of them ended up in congress. + +There could be some actual incarceration this time. But I'm not gonna hold my breath. + +**TLDR.** + +Buy, HODL, vote. Diamond Hands are world wide. Fuckery is now. Win all the bananas. Shorts gon' get spanked and hopefully incarcerated. +Prosus has had its share of attention in the value forums, at least partially because Mohnish Pabrai said he sold BABA to buy it. The value proposition was depending on how you look at it: a) You are buying a great tech company Tencent at a discount, or b) The cap of the company equalled the valuation of its Tencent position, so you were buying the rest of its portfolio for free. +Now Prosus announced it would sell Tencent to finance share buybacks. +How is that supposed to bring value to the stockholder? They are selling a stock that is supposed to be undervalued, probably putting even more pressure on its price in order to buy back shares in a company, that few would have wanted to buy in the first place, if it weren’t for Tencent. +Doesn’t this mean that the prosus stockholder now has to TIME his own sale of the Prosus stock at a point that the stock price is inflated through the buybacks and not be stuck bagholding a random holding company? +Or is one to expect that the percentage of share buybacks will be so great, that the little percentage of remaining shares will be rewarded with a handsome Net Asset Value per share? + +Please explain and in return I give some great advice: + +Don’t piggyback on things you don’t understand. +Literally every single IPO this week has over 100% gain right when it comes out. + +So, how in the world do common folk or mid tier workers get in? Or is it just all the top execs and elitist keep making more and more money? + +I’m beyond confused, and it makes me lose faith in our market. +So I got a new job which pays me well and I start saving. I would like to start investing in stocks but I’m an absolute beginner and I would like to start somewhere. +Where can I start studying? Do you have any advice for me? At the moment I’m not swamped and i can spend some time studying and educating myself on the topic. Books, YouTube videos, anything really. + +EDIT: I ended up choosing this book: + +The ETF book: All you need to know about Exchange Trading Funds +I need your advice. I am a 33 year old guy from Austria living in Amsterdam. I am earning approximately 4.500€ net monthly and have around €100k cash on my Austrian bank account, invested the same amount (€100k) in shares and bonds, partly very conversative (70%, fixed payout next year), different ETFs (30%)). + +&#x200B; + +Should I + +A: buy ETFs/stocks with most of my cash? + +Or + +B: buy myself a flat to live in and give up most savings? + +&#x200B; + +A bit about my situation: + +I am paying 1600€ rent for a flat, excluding utilities. I have a job at a rather small company and can imagine staying there for a few years, potentially 5-10 (depending on promotions and development). + +&#x200B; + +The large amount of cash is really bothering me. I know I am losing money, but I feel investing now in stocks is not a great time (reasons: economic consequences of covid unclear, very heated market) - i also know that I will still invest a large amount (maybe 70%) anyways, if - and this is a huge if - I don't buy a flat to live myself in. + +I could improve my living situation (from good to very good), use all my savings and a mortgage to buy a flat for around 600k. (with the risk of decreasing value of city center flats in Amsterdam). + +&#x200B; + +What would you do in my position? Any adivce would be really great +I'm actually impressed that a platform that won't even let you change UI language on-demand is one of the better-known online brokers in Europe. + +I was thinking about signing up into a second broker and opening half my positions there in case something happens with my main broker. Then realized that Degiro's site is completely useless to me in my local language. + +How can you operate such an enterprise in 2020 without having realized that people from all over the globe learn terminologies and study a subject solely in **english**? Holy fuck. +6m NW - 36 m - L/MCOL - HHI 500k-1m/yr - Logistics + +**Background Not Important** + +My wife and I are in logistics. For a while we were kind of cruising. Maybe working 20-40 hours a week. However a couple of months ago we caught an employee stealing and trying to hire away key employees to try and compete against us. We felt like we were fighting for our lives for a couple of weeks. We locked up our info and accounts, monitored them, then fired them. They did start a company but it's failing in spectacular fashion. We stepped in and hired some new employees, did some restructuring, etc. And since we started grinding again putting in 80+ hours a week a significant amount of money has begun pouring in. Last month we made roughly 400k profit which is what we normally made in 6-9 months previously. And we're only getting busier. + +**Investing Context** + +- ~ 1.5m cash + +- ~ 5.4m property including 1m primary + +- ~ 1m Retirement (401k/profit sharing/ cash balance) and Taxable Brokerage Broadly invested in mostly VTI with some old faang stocks I had when I worked there + +- ~1.9m debt + +Our ("necessary") spend is very very modest for a family of four maybe 100k/year, excluding ~2k weekly in VTI. I know how to make money, but I far from the most savvy investor. And I feel like maintaining such a large cash position right now is a bad move. Idk why but every time we have a large cash position I'm always reminded of this quote from futurama "Now, my caddie's chauffeur informs me that a bank is a place where people put money that isn't properly invested." + +**The Questions** + +What do you do with your windfalls? What are you investing in atm? Any good books I can read, when I have time? Should I just start dumping more in the stock market? Should I keep buying real estate even though our lopsided portfolio keeps me up at night? Should I pay down debt even though most of it is between 1.89% and 4.25%? Franchises, other revenue streams, side hustles etc I should look into? Good Company Assets to buy, tax considerations, etc? I have zero wealthy friends or family in my life to ask for advice. + + +I’m wanting to pose a scenario to this group and see if anyone can poke holes into this plan. + +I have a lot of equity in my home currently. I bought it 5 years ago on 15 year note so an aggressive payoff schedule and appreciating home values have left me in good position. I’m wanting to take out a HELOC to buy 100 shares of either an s&p index fund (spy)or nasdaq index fund (qqq). My plan would be to buy the shares and then sell a covered call every month. The premium collected would be used to pay down the HELOC. My thoughts are that by doing this for 6-7 years, the HELOC will be paid off and I will have 100 shares of an index fund that has grown over 6-7 years. Even with doing this, I’m still in a great position on my home. Rate on the HELOC is 4% fixed so I’m not overly worried about rates sky rocketing + +My thoughts are that I would be able to amass a decent portfolio using other peoples money. Let me also preface this by saying I’m in my early 30’s and make good income so I could float the payment on the HELOC if for some reason i wasn’t able to sell a covered call. I have 401k, emergency savings, and everything else so that’s not really a concern. I also plan on being in my home for many years so I’m not worried about that. + +Let me know if there is something I’m missing! +Ryan Cohen built Chewy into a 40 Billion Dollar E-commerce business from Zero and he will do the same with GameStop... but this time it will be easier. Why? Because... + +1. GameStop is not at Zero, GameStop is already established. +2. GameStop is already producing more top line revenue than Chewy. +3. GameStop has an existing customer base of millions today. +4. GameStop has an army of loyal retail investors. +5. GameStop has the national spotlight and has a STRONG existing Brand. +6. GameStop is targeting a much larger Gaming and Technology Total Addressable Market. +7. GameStop has more established and proven talent now than Chewy had. Ryan Cohen and others are stronger and more knowledgeable today than they were at the start with Chewy. +8. GameStop now with Ryan Cohen's team has an existing e-commerce business playbook that they know works. +9. Way less debt than Chewy, ZERO DEBT. And the ability to raise money easily. +10. Perfectly timed moment to perform a turnaround with the new console cycle. + +Pepper in a new CEO, NFTs and Crypto... I don't understand how this isn't getting to the market cap of Chewy, at a minimum? + +The only part of the Bear Thesis that made any sense was that GameStop wouldn't make it through the pandemic and would go Bankrupt because of their debt. Well that Thesis is obviously completely false now that the pandemic is coming to an end and GameStop paid off their long term debts completely. + +I'm writing this as a reminder because Bears keep saying GameStop cannot be turned around. It can and it will. And it will be "easy" because of the reasons listed above. + +The short Squeeze is important, don't get me wrong. The squeeze will happen as the Market Cap continues its march to 40 Billion and beyond. But isn't that just icing on the cake at this price?! This stock should be $600+ a share if this was valued properly at $40 Billion Market Cap based on expected future earnings and past performance by this team, imo. + +I don't think it's unfair to compare Chewy to GameStop for valuation. If you do this comparison then GameStop appears very underpriced. GameStop should probably be valued at more than 40 Billion and worth more than Chewy for the above listed reasons. Ryan and team will tighten the existing operations, revenues will increase and profits will flow to the bottom line pushing earnings above Chewy Levels, in my opinion. + +Also, I believe this is what u/deepfuckingvalue saw too but very early on because he is a badass. This is why I would bet he sees opportunity at anything under $600 a share, without the squeeze and would continue to tell congress he would buy. If you watch his videos it was not focused on the Short Squeeze. It was focused on GameStops SURVIVAL and TURNAROUND story. + +The squeeze is real, don't call this piece FUD please because it's not and that's not the intention. I think the stock price is going well beyond $600 with the squeeze. But if we take the squeeze away for a moment and take a step back, anything under $600 is a deal and a no brainer buy in my opinion. Add the short squeeze and.... 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 + +I am Buying confidently at this price and I bet DFV would be too! 📈🚀 + +Hope this serves as a reminder to where GME is and to keep those 💎👐s strong. +Due to certain circumstances, I will be moving from my house in Indiana to Pensacola, FL. I lived there for about 8 years, and I have a good friend that I will be living with for 4 months with his parents, and then we will move out during his winter break. I have no car, or even license. I have a couple jobs that I could probably get within a couple weeks, and my license will be the first thing I push for. I also have no idea how to do things such as finding a good doctor, getting cheap healthcare, how to get my prescriptions filled, etc. I will also not be going to college this year. I will wait til next year when (hopefully) I'll have more money and won't have to pay the huge amount of money in out of state tuition fees. I am pretty scared of the move and would like to get any advice that you guys have to give me. + +tl;dr: Moving out with $5000, no car, license, and little knowledge of things like healthcare and paying bills. I need any advice you can give. + +Edit: So much advice! I can't respond to it all but I'm definitely looking through each and every one of them +THIS IS NOT A DRILL papa Elon has blessed us all. Tesla battery day today in the US, presentation starts 6:30am AEST. Has any rumors related to novonix leaked?? + +Edit: 176% I am so hard + +Edit 2: NOW 200% THIS BABY KEEPS RISING🚀🚀🚀 + +Edit 3: 268% it is 12:06am sleep is for the week we are watching this climb all night + +Edit 4: Peaked at $4.85 for a rise of 268% now back down to $3 still over a 100% gain for the day +The ASX bets inquisition has been launched and I believe that they believe that Melvin is a prime suspect in the stock ejaculation that was BRN. The inquisitors are out and they want blood for this day is red and our tendies are cold. + +Edit: +You autists. I'm not throwing Melvin under a bus lmao. I'm looking at all of you that have beared your fangs over a whole market red day. My crystal ball says market green in Monday so we should all Yolo it pre close today and almost suffer from a fucking stroke from the anxiety of the weekend wait. +It's 2020 and they're charging you a maintenance fee and a high trade fee, if you want to trade overseas stocks you'll also be slapped with a hefty FX fee. Oh have i mentioned that their ISA has a very limited stock offering? I remember calling them asking to buy CD projekt in 2018 after 10 minutes on of being transferred they said that it's not available at this time. + +It's 2020 are they really relying on high net worth's and the elderly to keep them afloat? +The ATH back in April was just 4k more, but this trend up has been a lot more healthy than the last time, the fear & greed index is all green and there's not much FUD going around. + +And the best part is that the Bull will only become stronger when we breach the ATH, that's gonna generate a lot of hype and FOMO again that it might even get us close to 100k, and don't get me started on what would happen if we managed to break the 100k barrier 🤯 + +Sorry guys, I'm just like reaaaally hyped right now and had to vent, this are just my thoughts not financial advice. +This is a genius two-pronged attacked that is going to make life difficult for two different groups for two different reasons! + +Attack #1– hit the DTCC hard. By doing a dividend split the DTCC is going to be handed a limited number of shares (they’ll get theirs after CS distributes shares to insiders and DRS accounts). This puts serious pressure on the DTCC because there’s going to be a ton of people expecting stocks to show up in their account and the DTCC is going to have to find them. (There have been a lot of posts focusing on this scenario— but not on the second prong of the attack.) + +Attack #2– Forcing price action that will trigger margin calls and liquidations. The last 18 months price actions have shown the SHF have price ceilings where margin calls would be triggered. In January ‘21 it looks like it was $500. By March ‘21 it had come down to $350. Their efforts to kick the can and to live to fight one more day have increased their debt, their fees and interest, and have lowered their margin threshold. There was some speculative DD recently that suggested the line may lie to under $200 and may be as low as $150. + +Every time a stock splits the price begins to climb again. So this move is going to result in prices rising— and they won’t have to rise much to begin to trigger margins. If the stock is at $120 on July 18 it will start trading at $30 a share. Juicy right? But that $30 is really 4 for $120. A rise in price to $50 a share is equivalent to $200. And when it hits $75, it’s $300. + + +And this isn’t even considering the effect this will have on options and the ramp that’s going to push prices up. Hedgies are fukd. + +I know there is concern that the system will somehow cheat and screw apes. I think though this move puts multiple pressure points on different parties such that their options are going to be limited. Hedgies need the price to stay low. The DTCC needs to buy shares. Two of our biggest enemies have just been pitted against each other. Both are fukd bcs my price to sell has lots of numbers in it. + +So genius move RC! Hit the DTCC and hit SHF! Buckle up! + +TLDR- the dividend split attacks the DTCC by forcing them to close shorts/buy shares since they won’t receive enough from CS to distribute to the brokerages AND attacks the Hedgies by creating upward price pressure that will trigger margin calls and then liquidations. +Hey guys, just thinking about why this delta is recommended when selling CSPs as part of the wheel? + +If 0.16 delta represents ~ one standard deviation on one side of the stock price would that be an ideal delta? I guess the problem there is you sacrifice premium at low of a delta. 0.3 is about double that but brings in a higher premium? + +I guess I'm just trying to understand why that specific delta is generally recommended. +So with the latest pump in shib it hit a new ath just now. How far is this meme coin going to go? Do you think it has the potential to surpass dogecoin? + +It is currently up roughly 40% today as dogecoin still has not moved at all in months as most coins have recovered and reached new ath. + +I don't hold any shib but I can't say I'm not interested to see where this goes and I'm interested to see if a crazy pump like dogecoin did earlier this year will happen again which would make it take the #1 memecoin spot + +Congrats to anyone who took a gamble with shib + +EDIT: As expected the downvotes come in when you mention shib and don't say something negative about it +Your markets are run by bots. Now your daily threads are too. + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related.](http://discord.gg/2sQBNuM) + +Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a 1 day ban. +So I was doing some big thinking whilst trying to put the children to sleep in the middle of the night. VML is now just better value. There I said it fight me. + +Name one DFS/PFS/resource upgrade/drilling etc. that has ever happened on time. And by time I mean the timeline the company itself and should only really be used as a guide (we all remember mid-april don't we?). Now at the risk of sounding as though I've fallen hook line and sinker for the sunk cost fallacy, I think that the new timeline for commissioning of the plant is within reason based on other comparable companies and the changes in their timelines. It wasn't that long ago they released an announcement reporting that the dense media separator on its own was achieving over 70% concentrated material they still got to commission the rest of the circuit and that number will increase. I don't think true breadth and depth of the work needed for some economic studies/ resource estimates or in this case commissioning/construction are truly understand until you get started. There's no obstacle in the way it's just going to take longer than first estimated get over it. + +I also don't really get the story that management of s*** when I've not seen anyone provide a specific example of Lionhead doing anything the jeopardize the project. + +Geoff leaving was a surprise but a big part of the story going back to two and a half years ago because Geoff and the team are ex-lynas, emphasis on the ex. It was clear then that they're MO is to grow companies, realise value then pass them off and it's done all the time. The guy that built PLS now runs a company doing something with bitchumin. Everybody seems quick to blame Lionhead but this commissioning process was started before they came in and theyve only been behind the wheel for about two months. The interim CEO has 30 years of metallurgy behind him and that sounds like an incredibly relevant skillset for what vital are trying to accomplish don't you think? + +With the markets the way they are and sentiment being down the toilet I think there's a lot of selling happening as a way for retail to take back control because they are easily convinced by others online or can't stomach the losses despite the thesis having soooo much still going for it to succeed or they are simply inpatient. People have been crying for economics on tardiff since when they were still drilling the thing. I also think that an announcement of the bulk sample being delivered would have just been a sell the news event and the movement in share price everyone was anticipating would not have happened. + +I only hold meger 69420 shares so maybe I don't have that much attachment compared to those with much larger holdings but I do not see a single reason to sell. There's a difference between risk and uncertainty. I'm just gonna wait for the update they said they would publish next month and go see what else I can buy cheap. + +Someone tell me I'm wrong with examples I just don't see it. + +TLDR; the plant commissioning is going to take longer than first thought get the fuck over it projects are delayed all the time. + +Nothing has really changed. If you like speculation then you need to adjust your expectations. Nothing goes exactly to plan, it's how the team adapt and solve it. And in this case it's simply more time. +Anguish or opportunity as stocks pullback - + +Remember, long-term investing is a huge part of personal finance. If you are young and have decades to let your money grow, these small pullbacks are to be expected. + +The key is to stay grounded and not lose perspective. 2019 is around the corner, which means new funds are available to put to work for 401ks and IRAs. +First transaction I get, but subsequent large transfers to the same recipient are still held? Why not let me choose the point at which you hold up my payment? You already let me set my daily transfer limit... +Since there is a lot of inquiry into how to get started with algotrading, I thought I'd throw in my own two cents' worth. + +* Studying people will take you further than studying processes. Here is a selected bibliography of biographies that might point you in some inspiring and creative directions: + * "Fortune's Formula" by William Poundstone will give you dozens of ideas for where to start in mathematical trading. Characters include Ed Thorpe, J.L. Kelly Jr., and Claude Shannon. + * "The Man Who Solved the Market" by Gregory Zuckerman will teach you about some of the most successful algo and high-frequency traders -- like Jim Simons -- this planet has seen. + * "A Man for All Markets", autobiography of Ed Thorpe, who had a remarkably inquisitive, incisive, and creative mind which he employed to exploiting opportunities caused by inefficiencies of a variety of sorts. +* Remember that computers are like bicycles for the brain, and the one thing they cannot answer is "why?". Also, you will likely have the same personal problems (and successes) if you do become wealthy. +* In the short term, the stock market is a voting machine; in the long term, it's a weighing machine. +* Do not underestimate the value of small, incremental growth over extended periods of time. Forget the notion of "Get rich quick." Thorpe lived by "Get rich slowly," and consistently outpaced the market for many decades. +* Study information theory, signals & systems, and of course statistics. I've found surprisingly little talk here of viewing the markets as signals in the most general sense. +* Finally, with information as freely available as it is today, there is really no reason you could not be an expert -- if that is your desire. + +Thanks for reading, and I hope this helps someone. Best to you -- scrimshaw\_ + +**Edit:** + +Warm thanks for all the votes, and i enjoyed all of your recommendations. + +Two more books are well worth checking out: + +Mastering Options Strategies, by the CBOE + +Great visual educational tool for those interested in learning about the derivatives market. +[http://www.cboe.com/learncenter/pdf/masteringoptionsstrategies.pdf](http://www.cboe.com/learncenter/pdf/masteringoptionsstrategies.pdf) + +The Millionaire Next Door, by Stanley & Danko + +Full of statistics and wisdom gleaned from beaucoup interviews with wealthy folks. + +[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By08aJi3b331ZFRUc0JvQzlRWnV6TnZGQVR0V2plUQ/view](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By08aJi3b331ZFRUc0JvQzlRWnV6TnZGQVR0V2plUQ/view) +TL;DR, Alpaca's abrupt termination of free Polygon data feeds might be an indication that the latter could have been caught for potentially illegal distribution of market data. + +&#x200B; + +Disclaimer: I do not work for any of the companies mentioned in the post. All my conclusions are based on publicly available information. + +&#x200B; + +When I first found out about the free Polygon data offered by Alpaca, I had my doubts. So I actually spent some time doing research. Now that Alpaca just announced that they will no longer provide free access to Polygon's data feed. I think it's time for me to share some of my findings. + +&#x200B; + +1. Where did the market data come from? + +First let's take a look at the US stocks trading volume by venue: [https://markets.cboe.com/us/equities/market\_share/](https://markets.cboe.com/us/equities/market_share/) + +We can see that the most of the exchanges are owned by the Big 3: NYSE, Nasdaq, CBOE (BATS & EDGE). On top of that, Investors Exchange (IEX) offers market data for free, along with some more recently and smaller exchanges. + +In order to access the market data, one could either directly subscribe to each exchange's proprietary data, or from the SIPs (Securities Information Processor), which consolidate the market data from different exchanges. + +Currently, there are 2 major SIPs for US equities: + +[CTA](https://www.ctaplan.com/index): Administered by NYSE, which covers Tape A and Tape B stocks. + +[UTP](https://www.utpplan.com/overview): Administered by Nasdaq, which basically consolidates all Nasdaq listed stocks' data. + +&#x200B; + +2. What are the market data distribution policy? + +Here is sample data redistribution fees schedule from [CBOE](https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/US_Market_Data_Product_Price_List.pdf). + +We can see that the subscriber needs to declare: + +* Internal distribution vs External distribution +* Display usage vs non-display usage +* For each data recipient: Pro vs Non-pro + +&#x200B; + +3. How much would it cost to distribute data like Polygon's? + +Since Polygon appears to be distributing SIPs data, we can find the CTA & UTP fee schedule in the reference. But for simplicity I made a simple table: + +&#x200B; + +[The recurring fees are $10,500\/mo + per user fees](https://preview.redd.it/l9cl7kxgyni61.png?width=661&format=png&auto=webp&s=2def25c8701d3d425d0fc81ddfc0116ec3ccef5a) + +Note that the table above shows several per user fees. Let's assume that y'all being honest and declare as "non-professional" users that only use the data for "display" usage. This alone would incur a $3/mo/subscriber fee. + +&#x200B; + +4. Why Polygon might be violating the data redistribution agreement? + +&#x200B; + +A. There is no way Alpaca can legally offer the "free" Polygon feeds. + +Why? It's simple. Every distributor of the market data must **directly** sign the agreements with the exchanges, which also means the same fees, see table above, would apply to Alpaca. + +Now, tell me, how is it possible to deposit as little as $1 with Alpaca to get the full feed, without Alpaca bleeding money like the California High-Speed Rail Project? Considering that Alpaca is responsible for all the above fees, including at least $3/mo/subscriber? + +&#x200B; + +B. The "non-display" charge + +According to CTA's [policy](https://www.ctaplan.com/publicdocs/ctaplan/notifications/trader-update/Policy%20-%20CTA%20Non%20Display%20with%20FAQ.pdf), Examples of Non-Display Use are, but are not limited to: + +* Any trading in any asset class +* Automated order or quote generation and/or order pegging +* Price referencing for algorithmic trading +* ...... + +By definition, every Alpaca's client is an algo trader, so the usage should be treated as non-display. Now let's go back to the previous table. The total non-display should be $9,500/mo **per subscriber**. + +Well, but I don't recall paying $9,500/mo. My guess is that Polygon basically "sub-licensed" the data to Alpaca, without the exchanges ever knowing, so that no one has to pay the monstrous fees. + +&#x200B; + +C. The WebSocket data? + +So the Alpaca-Polygon deal seems shady, is Polygon's own data legit enough? + +After inspecting the CTA [policies](https://www.ctaplan.com/policy), it appears that by steaming the market data, the recipient would need to pay indirect access fee as well, which is $3k/mo for CTA and $500/mo for UTP. + +Again, from Polygon's offering, I failed to see how the business can be sustainable and legitimate at the same time. + +&#x200B; + +Conclusion + +I am not a lawyer and I have no access to Polygon's agreement with the exchanges or Alpaca. I am only making educated guess based on the publicly available information. There are so many popular API data services that were later found to be distributing data illegally, which ultimately hurts algo traders like you and me. + +BTW, I am not defending the exchanges. I think their pricing is BS and I hate them for essentially monopolizing the market data business. [https://www.reddit.com/r/algotrading/comments/lndax9/nasdaq\_nyse\_sue\_sec\_to\_block\_market\_data\_overhaul/](https://www.reddit.com/r/algotrading/comments/lndax9/nasdaq_nyse_sue_sec_to_block_market_data_overhaul/) + +But I do want to have a legit data service which I don't have to fear being terminated with only 6 days of notice. + +&#x200B; + +References: + +^(CTA pricing:) [^(https://www.ctaplan.com/publicdocs/ctaplan/notifications/trader-update/Schedule%20Of%20Market%20Data%20Charges%20-%20January%201,%202015.pdf)](https://www.ctaplan.com/publicdocs/ctaplan/notifications/trader-update/Schedule%20Of%20Market%20Data%20Charges%20-%20January%201,%202015.pdf) + +^(UTP pricing & policy:) [^(https://www.utpplan.com/DOC/Datapolicies.pdf)](https://www.utpplan.com/DOC/Datapolicies.pdf) + +^(NYSE pricing:) [^(https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/data/NYSE\_Market\_Data\_Pricing.pdf)](https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/data/NYSE_Market_Data_Pricing.pdf) + +^(CBOE pricing:) [^(https://markets.cboe.com/us/equities/membership/fee\_schedule/byx/)](https://markets.cboe.com/us/equities/membership/fee_schedule/byx/) + +^(NASDAQ pricing:) [^(https://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=DPPriceListAll)](https://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=DPPriceListAll) + +^(CTA policy:) [^(https://www.ctaplan.com/policy)](https://www.ctaplan.com/policy) + +^(NYSE policy:) [^(https://www.nyse.com/market-data/pricing-policies-contracts-guidelines)](https://www.nyse.com/market-data/pricing-policies-contracts-guidelines) + +^(CBOE policy:) [^(https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/Market\_Data\_Policies.pdf)](https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/Market_Data_Policies.pdf) + +Edit: + +There is only one way to find out - Let's call them up on Monday. + +Alpaca: [info@alpaca.markets](mailto:info@alpaca.markets) + +Polygon: [https://polygon.io/contact](https://polygon.io/contact) + +NYSE: [https://www.nyse.com/contact](https://www.nyse.com/contact) + +Nasdaq: [datasales@nasdaq.com](mailto:datasales@nasdaq.com) + +CBOE: +1 212 378 8821 + +&#x200B; +BEPRO due diligence + +I finally got around to making a more thorough DD post for BEPRO. + +Value proposition: + +1. A plug-and-play codebase for anyone to create their own prediction market, gambling, or esports betting platform on any chain (Binance, ETH, moonbeam, etc) with minimal time to develop. +2. Because BEPRO doesn’t take a rake on earnings, it bypasses a lot of regulatory issues that have messed with other platforms like Betfair, further reducing barriers to entry for would-be market makers. +3. It aims to create a community-based contract infrastructure and marketplace that connects clients and developers and compensates those developers in BEPRO. Paraphrasing [Rui](https://youtu.be/-B6jXLL5tp8?t=819): “BEPRO is currently working behind the scenes on Polkamarkets/Moonbeam, Exeedme, and elsewhere, so that real people are currently using it. Once we understand the product-market fit and how to create and scale it, we will create the marketplace to connect clients and developers. The future is developers. If you build for developers, it’s just a matter of time.” +4. In summation, while most of us would look at what BEPRO is doing and say, “man that’s a really cool-looking platform, and I can see a ton of value in reducing barrier to entry for people who want to create this type of market,” the real value-add is connecting clients and developers, allowing clients to have their problems quickly solved and allowing developers to choose what they want to work on and be compensated for the value they add. + +Social: + +1. Before last week, there were only 2 BEPRO videos on YT, both over a year old. +2. In the past week, 13 YT videos have been added totaling \~75k views. +3. 6500 members of the BEPRO telegram, up 1000 in the last week. +4. [Twitter](https://twitter.com/bepronet?lang=en) followers has increased 25% in the same timeframe. +5. The number of holders on [Etherscan](https://etherscan.io/token/0xcf3c8be2e2c42331da80ef210e9b1b307c03d36a#balances) has doubled in the last two weeks. +6. Despite all this, social [mentions](https://app.talkwalker.com/app/page#/FREE_SEARCH#cid=aec7e247-f91d-45a5-ba2b-b059e997682f&co=project&activePageId=1&data=eyJyIjp7ImEiOnt9LCJpIjoiRlJFRV9TRUFSQ0giLCJzIjpbeyJhIjp7ImlkIjoia20yZjhkZ2ZfNWltbTh2MzBhMW45Iiwic2VsZWN0ZWRUaW1lIjoiZDcifSwiaSI6IlFVSUNLX1NFQVJDSF9NQUlOIiwicyI6W119XX19) are miniscule (2.5k in the last week), which says that this coin hasn’t even begun to take off. + +Market cap and categorical comparison: + +BEPRO’s market cap is $12 million (no new coins issued this year, so no chance to be diluted in 2021). Just by itself that tells you that this is a small cap with moon potential, but this doesn’t even scratch the surface of why BEPRO is a huge buy. + +In addition to having [DeFi](https://www.bepro.network/post/defi-bepro) applications, BEPRO’s main plays are in the gaming, gambling, and prediction market spaces. Below is a discussion of each (using Coingecko categories as my source, FYI). *Overall, the argument I’m trying to make is that SOMEONE in this space is going to moon, and there are no choices to me that look like a smarter investment option than BEPRO to be that moon.* + +***The gambling category*** has a combined market cap of $500 million. This is a fraction of the cost of a single, increasingly obsolete casino on the Las Vegas strip. That tells you this category is massively undercapitalized and poised for huge growth. Who will capture this growth? All options with current market cap greater than BEPRO: + +1. Funfair: $205 million market cap. Sells its technology to online casinos. Has a solid value proposition, but only focuses on casino-style gambling, and is Etherium-based only as opposed to cross-chain like BEPRO. +2. WINk: $178 million market cap. This is an example of a gaming and gambling platform that would have been better off using BEPRO’s API than trying to develop in-house. I mean look at this website. So mediocre. +3. Decentral Games: $50 million market cap, disgustingly bad website in terms of visual appeal, also only focuses on casino-style gambling. +4. Exeedme: $34 million market cap, already partnered with BEPRO and using their API. (as an aside, their telegram has a fraction of the daily activity of BEPRO’s despite having more members). +5. In summary, the market is undercapitalized, the competition is either single-chain, only focused on casino games, visually disgusting, or already partnered with BEPRO. This constitutes a huge opportunity for BEPRO. + +***The prediction market category*** has a combined market cap of about $500 million as well, but it has far fewer competitors; it only has 4 coins currently, none of which are BEPRO. I think Gnosis ($226 million market cap) is the closest competitor to BEPRO in terms of their value proposition: they allow you to use their infrastructure layer to create your own prediction market app. Gnosis is single-chain, has a ho-hum website, and is still destroying the competition in this space. If anything, this is proof of concept for BEPRO. + +***The gaming category*** has a combined market cap of $200 million. This is obviously massively undercapitalized as well and poised for substantial growth. Who will capture this growth? Options with current market cap greater than BEPRO: + +1. Decentral games: $50 million market cap. Discussed in gambling, but to recap – just look at their website. +2. REVV: $49 million market cap. a utility token used exclusively for motor sports games – not a direct competitor at all. +3. XED: $34 million market cap. Uses BEPRO +4. Chain Games: $31 million market cap. a very cool platform, similar to what you can create in a day using BEPRO, even if you don’t have any coding experience. If anything, this is proof of concept for BEPRO. +5. Crowns: $24 million market cap. Native token of seascape network. Seascape network is a platform similar to what BEPRO allows developers to easily create, but they don’t list their leadership anywhere in their white paper, their branding/website design are pretty weak, they focus more on NFTs, they are months away from launch, and they focus their value proposition on gamers using their platform, not developers. In short, they are in no way direct competition for BEPRO. +6. In summary: the market is undercapitalized; the competition is either weak as hell, not really competition, or already partnered with BEPRO. + +Obviously I'm shilling this coin or I wouldn't have made a DD post about it, but I feel this lays out pretty well a lot of reasons for you to DYOR and decide if this is a project you want to back. I don't think this is a short term moon shot, but I do think it has potential to grow in value over the next year to easily 100x current price. The thing about any moonshot is that there has to be a reason why it's currently valued so low. For BEPRO, that comes down to three reasons: + +1. It isn't on a tier one exchange (this is on the [2021 roadmap](https://www.bepro.network/post/roadmap-2020-2021) for H1) +2. They are not actively marketing and are instead focusing resources on development +3. While they have several big partnerships and clients, they have not yet launched the final and most important of their value propositions (#3 above). + +If you want high reward, you have to accept high risk. To me, the risk is that they haven't yet launched their dev marketplace. Personally, I think this is offset by the tremendous potential of the project, the vastly undercapitalized nature of the markets in which they're competing, the lack of great competition, and the leadership and partnerships. But of course, DYOR. I have been trading crypto for an embarrassingly short amount of time, and yesterday when I made coffee I forgot to put the pot under the drip, so don't assume I'm smart just because I put 1,000 words on a page. +I trade stocks, options, and sometimes crypto. + +But what are the advantages to trading forex? Why do you do it? + +I read that it’s more volatile and offers more leverage. But at the end of the day, one the things I enjoy about trading stocks is analyzing companies and the economy. + +So, in that sense, forex seems really dry and dull to me. + +What am I missing? +I just noticed my paychecks were tiny. My employer fixed it moving forward, but now I have like $5k extra in my 401k instead of in my pocket - not a huge deal but I would rather have the cash as I am saving up for a house down payment. My employer is saying it is too late to do anything about it other than fix the issue moving forward. Will I face any penalties or repercussions depositing such a high percentage of my paycheck? They only match 5% and my 401k has lost money this year. I have worked here for years and not sure why it changed recently but I have always done 5% +My son is returning home from uni & starts work in his new career in September. + +My wife wants to charge him rent and secretly put that in an account for when he moves out as a surprise. + +I am not so sure, so suggested he lives rent free so he knows what money he has. + +Anyone have any experience of this first world problem? + +Thanks +I'm a 22M that's been coding since I was 10, lined up a software development job out of HS, in ~3 years became SDE II at Amazon. Total compensation went 90k-115k-125k-260k not including retirement contributions. In total I saved ~$400k, investment growth (happened to almost perfectly time a trade into small value AVUV from VOO which helped a lot) brought me up to my current net worth of $660k. + +I got fired from Amazon a few months ago basically because I'm a garbage and defective human being that procrastinates everything to comical lengths thus unable to get any work done. I've looked back and realized I deliver negative value by working while personally feeling like shit for doing so, so I'm retiring. I've been trying some other jobs and work arrangements like folks suggested, but the same issues destroyed me every time even trying to work 3 hrs\wk so fuck it, I'm done. + +I moved to LCOL and my expenses are staying well within my $28k\yr target. It's pretty easy since all I want to do is play video games and read webtoons, I literally haven't stepped outside in months lol. + +[Here's the expense breakdown](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/330538905072041994/1037921166666506250/Screenshot_20221103_212234.png) + +All utilities are included in my $825 rent payment, so that's stable. The internet here is pretty great value IDK why, but the $15\mo phone is because I switched to Mint mobile now that I've stopped ever going outside. + +I burn $600\mo on food because all of it is delivered from restaurants. I'm the laziest person ever if that wasn't obvious yet. + +All my gaming stuff I have rn totaled about $2000 when I bought it 2 years ago, with a 1660ti and i7-9850h which look like they'll handle most stuff coming out for another 3-5 years fairly well. I also got a Galaxy S22 for $700 which is supported for 5 years. I amortize all that to ~$500\yr for a reasonable electronics budget. + +The $1250\yr for vacations and $250\yr for clothes is just the average from my adult life, really I'll probably spend less going forward considering I didn't enjoy any of those vacations a whole lot. Healthcare is the most unknown, but according to ACA estimators it should be between free (Medicaid) and $300\yr depending on how much capital gains I realize. + +Maid service is only $80\mo because my standards for cleanliness are low enough that I only have it every 6 weeks. Actually at one point I went over a year without cleaning my place at all, only after moving and noticing my allergies? mysteriously disappear did I realize I should spend a little on this if possible lol. + +Those with good mental math probably noticed $28k is more than 4% of $660k, and the 4% rule in the first place is quite risky considering how long of a retirement I'm looking at while not even qualifying for Social Security. I explain why it's fine and why I'm really following a 3% SWR [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/xodxgx/daily_fi_discussion_thread_monday_september_26/iq1fep0/). + +Even including those attempts to find a bearable job that kept reviving my procrastination, self-loathing, pathological lying, etc the past months since Amazon fired me have been enjoyable...pretty sure they're the longest contiguous time I've been glad that I was born. I finally got time to end my 5 year break from StarCraft 2 and reach Grandmaster rank again (with all races this time :) and to start playing Factorio. I can't remember having as much fun as trying to survive a marathon deathworld, and I haven't even tried any mods yet. My webtoon backlog has also kept growing somehow despite reading dozens of chapters every day. I was scared I might get bored but yeah that's nowhere in sight, I'm finally just happy and excited 🥳 +There’s a lot of experienced and skilled folks here and we’d love to learn what strategy you use/works best for you. Us beginners are scouring the internet trying to piece together a strategy and I thought having a centralized strategy playbook might help us test/paper trade it to quickly find a favorable one. + +(If this is against any rules or not value add, please go ahead and remove) + +Thank you! +I want to clear up the considerable confusion that is floating around +about NITs and UBIs and EITC. Let's do this properly, just once, +so we can refer back to it later. + +Acronyms: + +* UBI is *universal basic income.* A lump-sum grant to all individuals (maybe all adults, maybe with adjustments for kids, but the basic idea is a lump-sum grant to all) + +* NIT is *negative income tax.* If you fall below some threshold income, you get a subsidy. The subsidy usually phases out as income rises. + +* EITC is *earned income tax credit.* A wage subsidy. + +tldr: **In terms of mathematics and economic incentives, a NIT is approximately equivalent to a UBI. By contrast, EITC is qualitatively different in terms of its effects on incentives.** + +To make the math simple we're going to work with a nice, linear tax rate. +Similar comments apply to nonlinear taxes. Just substitute "tax" with "tax schedule" everywhere. + +Warning: In economic terms, everything here is partial-partial equilibrium. I'm looking at +the effects of these policies on the household, and specifically the +budget constraint. I am not looking at four specific general equilibrium effects. First, any UBI, NIT, or EITC will shift the post-tax distribution of income, which might be important. Second, any UBI, NIT, or EITC must be paid for, so in a proper analysis you have to analyze UBI/NIT/EITC jointly with the entire tax system. Third, I'm not looking at any short-run / "demand" effects. Fourth, I'm holding labor demand fixed. None of these effects matter much for the specific issues we're going to be looking at below. + +Now we can begin! + +**UBI and NIT** + +A **UBI** is usually framed as, + +* Everyone receives $X per year after taxes. +* So, Income = (1-t)\*Pretax + UBI (eq1) + +A **NIT** is usually framed in a slightly more complicated manner. Let's do +it slowly, in three pieces. + +* Define a cutoff income. Call it a "standard deduction" if you wish. +* If you make more than the cutoff, then you deduct the cutoff from your +pretax income and pay taxes on the remainder. So Income = pretax - t\*(pretax-cutoff) +* If you make less than the cutoff, you pay no taxes, and in addition you +get some fraction of the difference back. Income = pretax + k\*(cutoff-pretax) +* If you earn exactly the cutoff, then nothing happens. You keep your pretax income. + +Okay. We can rewrite NIT income as, + +* above: income = (1-t)\*Pretax + t\*cutoff (eq2) +* below: income = (1-k)\*Pretax + k\*cutoff (eq3) + +Notice that those formulas look awfully similar to the UBI formula. +Compare (eq1) with (eq2) and (eq3). You could easily define +"UBI=k\*cutoff." And if t=k, then the NIT really truly *is* a UBI. In general, +a NIT is a UBI with additional flexibility in the low income range. + +This leads to the following proposition: + +1. *To a rough approximation, a NIT is the same thing as a UBI. However, a NIT +has some additional flexibility that a UBI lacks.* + +Remarks: + +* Holding the tax schedule fixed for the moment, +a NIT has two parameters: the cutoff and the kickback rate. +A UBI has only one parameter: the level of the UBI. +We can more easily introduce nonlinearities (k != t) in a NIT setup. +Some policymakers might want to have that +additional flexibility. + +* If we allow for a fully nonlinear tax schedule, then any NIT can be converted +into a UBI and vice-versa. The two are mathematically identical because +the nonlinear tax schedule absorbs the differences between the two policies. +(Of course, that's cheating a little. A nonlinear tax schedule +can absorb nearly any proposal in public finance.) + +* The NIT kickback acts as an implicit tax. A higher kickback rate will reduce +the incentive to work. If the kickback rate is 100%, then everyone below +the cutoff is brought up exactly to the cutoff: you have a classic welfare trap. +By contrast, the lower the kickback rate, the less generous is the welfare +system. You have to optimize on that tradeoff. + +* UBI by itself doesn't discourage work, because it doesn't affect the +implied tax rate, but be careful: that intuition might disappear in general equilibrium, where the level of the UBI partially determines the tax rate. + +* Either you give Bill Gates his UBI, or you let him take a standard +deduction, which reduces his tax bill by the amount of the UBI. The two are economically identical. If one of those is +palatable to your political tastes but the other is abhorrent, +then go ahead support one policy over the other. Just make sure you see +your psychiatrist about your cognitive dissonance. + +* If you don't let Bill Gates take a standard deduction, then you either +introduce sharp discontinuities in the tax function or you add additional +(smooth) implicit taxes in some income range. This is identical to the +classic analysis of benefit phaseouts. + +* Again, to emphasize, you can perform the same analysis with a fully nonlinear, progressive income tax. Even when you do that, NIT and UBI will turn out to be similar structurally. + +Bottom line: These are nearly identical policies, and you should not support +one at the expense of the other at this stage. Sure, if at some point in the +future we're debating real legislation, then we can look at the fine nitty-gritty +details of NIT vs UBI and how they interact with the rest of the tax code. +But at this stage, if you support one, you should also support the other. + +**EITC** + +EITC is a wage subsidy. So if WL is wage income, then EITC looks like + +* income = (1-t+EITC)\*WL + +for sufficiently small WH, and there's an implicit phaseout as income rises. + +You could combine it with a UBI if you like: + +* income = (1-t+EITC)\*WL + UBI + +Notice that EITC modifies the tax wedge, while UBI is only a wealth effect, at +least in partial equilibrium. + +Combining NIT and EITC would appear to have weird incentive effects. +Focus on incomes below the cutoff: + +* income = (1-k+EITC)\*WL + k\*cutoff + +and you have to be careful because the kickback rate and the EITC +end up working in opposing directions. A NIT with large kickback +discourages work by increasing the implied tax rate; an EITC encourages +work by reducing the implied tax rate. Maybe there's a way to neutralize +the disincentives of the kickback by modifying the EITC, but that's a little +too close to "fine-tuning" for my taste. And you still have to worry +about general equilibrium undoing all of your plans. + +Another feature to highlight is that, as usually proposed, both UBI and NIT +are operative when you earn zero income; an EITC requires you to work +to receive any benefit, so has a discontinuity at income=0. + +I hope this was helpful. + +Hey guys, + +Just a reminder to always ring to get a better deal. My car insurance was due and came in at $620 which is not overly excessive but why pay more. Anyway, I looked online and found much cheaper ones and rang up my insurance provider (RACQ) to tell them. They were able to match the price instantly over the phone bringing my insurance down to $480. $140 saved. I even got a lower excess and kept all my other benefits and coverage. + + +To be honest they didn't even ask which company, or for evidence of the quote and only took about 10minutes. +The original and official TIKI Token with 10% BNB Redistribution 💰 + +HOLD $TIKI, EARN BNB. + +TIKI is the biggest BNB reflection token and the only one with auto-claim feature. Every hour, your BNB rewards are being automatically sent to your wallet. No need to claim, no need to keep track on time to claim and no need to connect to any website or dashboard. 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If you work for an MFO, please disclose that.\] + +# About Me + +I'm in my 30s, categorized as UHNW with a $30m+ investable portfolio but don't have anywhere near the capital to build out a Single Family Office (I think around $150m+ would start to make sense for that). I am currently evaluating whether or not to engage with a Multi-Family Office vs sticking with a DIY strategy. (\*Note: I love and contribute to r/fatFIRE separately but am using a throwaway for anonymity here. Happy to verify with mods if that would be valuable to the sub.) + +# My Current Understanding of MFOs + +My current mental model of an MFO is as follows: I pay an AUM fee (.5% - 1.0%?) in exchange for comprehensive financial oversight of all my assets including investment planning, asset allocation, Private Equity and Real Estate sourcing / access / execution, liquidity management, asset protection, tax planning and avoidance, accounting, behavioral coaching, philanthropy advice, family dynamic help, legal structuring, on-call legal advice, etc. + +PRO: Single point of contact for an increasingly complex financial life. This did not seem necessary at $10m, but somewhere around $20m things got complicated. Typical service providers, accounts, policies, tax strategies, online portals, etc. have seemed to grow exponentially in complexity (and are now breaking down) at my current net worth and lifestyle. The amount of time I now spend trying to optimize "simple" financial tasks when sums are in the millions of dollars is staggering and unpleasant. + +PRO: Constant set of eyes to optimize my entire legal, tax, and financial well-being. Again, above $20m-ish, there seems to be a whole new world of strategies that is hard to learn by DIY. Particularly given an ever changing legal and tax world, long term this is a blind spot for me unless I devote part-time hours for the rest of my life. + +PRO: Access to pooled alternative investments, particularly Private Equity and Real Estate that I find difficult to gain access to otherwise. + +PRO: Access to slightly superior rates and terms across all financial instruments, i.e. someone is always negotiating for extra basis points on every loan, line of credit, private fund, etc. + +PRO: Downside protection + Wealth Preservation: Wide-ranging and comprehensive behavioral protection against me doing something very stupid at some point. + +CON: COST and portfolio drag. All of this comes at a cost and that is basically the one big con I see here. Assume a portfolio of $50m and a blended fee of 1.0% AUM (maybe this is high? Please share your experience). This is going to cost $500,000 per year and presumably will continue to increase as the portfolio grows. + +# Questions + +My core questions are as follows. Please answer any or all where you can be helpful! + +1. FEES: For a full service MFO as described above, what AUM fee were you quoted? How much were you able to negotiate down, and where did you ultimately settle? What other fees were involved? +2. EXPECTATIONS: Where did your MFO overpromise and underdeliver and vice-versa? Was anything different than what you expected? +3. FREE TIME: Did an MFO actually reduce complexity and free up time in your life? Or did it add more complexity? +4. AFTER TAX RETURNS NET OF ALL FEES: How do you think your portfolio performed relative to a simple 3-fund portfolio, a roboadvisor, or some other DIY method? +5. QUALITY OF EXPERTS: Did you feel you would have hired better quality accountants, advisors, lawyers, etc. if you had spent the time to hand select them and build your own team? Or did the MFO attract very high quality people? +6. OVERALL VALUE: Subjectively, is / was an MFO worth it to you? +7. (ANTI-)RECOMMENDATIONS: Are there any firms you would like to recommend or warn others about? \[Note: If you don't want to share publicly, please DM me and I'll keep it in confidence\] +8. ANYTHING ELSE: Am I missing the forest for the trees? What are my blind spots? What other questions should I be asking? + +# Thank You + +Thank you SO MUCH in advance for reading this far and considering sharing your advice. I am trying hard to make a well-informed decision on an uneven playing field. Hopefully this can help me and others in the future who go through this same scenario. +I inherited 4 properties from my parents. I’m in my twenties and have zero family or friends familiar with rental properties and land-lording. One is a triplex so it’s technically 6 units total. + +I took major loses over the last 2 years because of tenants who didn’t pay and used the memorandum to their advantage. I’m young and a female so I know the tenants I inherited weren’t taking me seriously and didn’t think I’d do anything about it. I’ve been working on evictions which have been successful this far. + +They are all paid off so I only worry about property taxes and insurance. I already have an LLC open for them. I have a bunch of repairs I need done to have the units up to my standards. My parents didn’t do many upgrades when they are necessary. I want to get this done ASAP because everyday my units are empty I am losing money. I have always been interested in property. I’m from south Florida so you can just imagine the market here and I know this is something I can handle, I just don’t know where to start and want to have an idea of what it takes before hiring a property manager if necessary because I want this to be my passive income on the side of my career which I’m still deciding on. I don’t want to be fucked over by someone managing my properties so I’d rather do as much as I can to learn and see if I can take care of them myself. I’d love to be a real estate agent but Miami’s market is oversaturated with agents so I’d probably move away if I wanted to pursue it. I refuse to sell, my mom left me this for my future I don’t care how much of a sellers market it is atm so I need to fix this mess soon. + +Any books or resources to help me learn? Instagrams? YouTube? +Also curious if Airbnb is something I should consider or does the amount of work because of the quick turnover outweigh the profits? +Should I get a property management or real estate license just so I have the education necessary to run this as best as I can? + +Edit: I am at work so if I don’t get to the comments that’s why. I appreciate all the feedback in advance and will be responding soon. +I was curious as to the status of this one and notice that today they had an update to it saying no objection. I haven't delved into it yet (should really be working), but maybe some apes with more wrinkles than I can take a look at this. + +[https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/occ/2021/34-91491.pdf](https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/occ/2021/34-91491.pdf) + +EDIT: based on other posts with more clarifying detail, it looks like this one just makes sure that we get paid. I'll go back to lurking and checking on the other rulings now. +Back in July 2021 , I placed an order with Best Buy for an iPad and Apple Watch. Order shipped and marked delivered, however, we never received it. Reached out to BB , they confirmed it was not delivered and they would refund as it was no longer in stock. Few weeks go by , no refund. Chat in to BB again , told refund is coming. After a month of waiting , I call BB and am informed it was delivered and the people I spoke to earlier were wrong and there was nothing they could do for me. + +I filed a dispute with my credit card. Provided them our chat history , information on how our cameras show no delivery , and photo evidence that the house that is shown in the couriers photo is not our house. I am told that visa will have an answer for me within 90 days and if I don’t hear back from them , it means I won the dispute. + +I never hear back from them so I assume all is well. + +However yesterday I get an email from my credit card saying that I actually lost the dispute and they are sorry. + +I am beyond confused about this and have requested additional information as I provided them with so much proof that I did not receive my order. + +Is there anything left I can do ? I never would have ordered online if my area wasn’t still on lockdown at that time. It was my only option available and now I’m left with a huge dent on my credit card. +Welcome to the Daily General Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +*** + +Thread guidelines: + +- Please refrain from discussing non-Ethereum related tokens here. You are welcome to discuss altcoins in the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread. +- All [sub rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/) apply here so please be familiar with them. + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Find the latest Altcoin Discussion thread in [this search listing](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/search?q=author%3Aautomoderator+title%3Aaltcoin&include_over_18=on&sort=new&t=all). + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +Gamestop millionaire donates games to children hospital. + +Gamestop millionaire pays for a kids surgery. + +Gamestop millionaire pays the rent of her 80 years old neighbour. + +Gamestop millionaire saves foster animals + +Gamestop millionaire construct a shelter for the homeless... get used to it, because this will be the news about what apes will do post-MOASS and how they'll talk about us. We're not like them (Kenny and friends) and time will show. +The coin market just crashed as much as 40% in some popular coins and 25% drop in the main coins. This all started at almost exactly at midnight EST. So this leads me to speculate that someone was margin called today (or the day before) and had until midnight tonight to get the funds. Midnight comes and they must of not had the funds and got liquidated. If this is true I think moac might have just started and next week will be a blood bath. +It's been bugging me, hitting a spot in my brain where patterns that don't fit pop out and seem to wiggle a little - why is RC so focused on Bed, Bath and Beyond as a stock? + +There are other tickers in the market that are being targeted by SHF and aimed at cellarboxing, for sure, so what's different about BBBY? + +I dug into it and BBBY is somewhat unique in one aspect - it doesn't use Computershare as a stock registrar, it uses AST (American Stock Transfer, historically, but now branded as AST financial). AST financial is privately held and a rapid adopter of technology, as noted here: [https://www.astfinancial.com/about-us](https://www.astfinancial.com/about-us) + +So, who own's AST? It's owned by Equiniti, a PE-backed firm that was a rollup of firms by Siris Capital back in 2020. PE firms invest in rollups when they think they can either create innovation between the companies or that the companies are likely to create a sum greater than the parts by coming together, then selling the entity. I can see they are investing in several elements that would be critical to a functioning marketplace for a tokenized stock platform - private company issue management (2018), Proxy automation for shareholder votes (2019) and Astrella, a stock platform for private companies. + +What they are missing is a marketplace with transparent bid/ask pricing and ownership transfer management in that marketplace. That's what it looks like Loopring and GME are building based on the Github code. + +So, my speculative brain fits the pieces together like this: + +1. GMErica, Inc. acquires Equiniti to own the share registry platform and the private company platform +2. BBBY, as one of the only retailers issues by AST as a share registry, agrees to move shares to the NFT platform integrated in the GME nft marketplace +3. BBBY recalls shares as GME recalls shares to move to the new marketplace. This takes away the criticism of the nft marketplace not being a real market for stocks as it only has GME in the marketplace +4. BBBY squeezes like a mofo as does GME, causing other firms to want to move to nft stock trading + +I think it's essential that the stock marketplace cannot be the home to just one company and I think BBBY is a candidate and as a result, either GME is going to buy Equiniti in a private transaction or Siris Capital is about to own one of the most valuable platforms in history. + +TL;DR BBBY isn't a distraction for GME, it's the first company other than GME to tokenize shares to blockchain in the nft marketplace. +They’re cutting further to maintain price stability, but it’s causing them to loose market share like crazy to competitors like US shale producers. + +https://twitter.com/stuartlwallace/status/1145232557841272833?s=21 +I know that there is a large difference in emotion when real money is on the line. I’m asking because I’m currently 14 years old and in the coming years I want to try becoming a day trader. If I start by researching about the stock market and experimenting with paper trading know will it be worth if I try trading with real money in the next couple years? +I am interested in people's thoughts/experiences on gaining/maintaining/losing personal connections on their fatfire journeys. + +Quickly about me - early 30s, not fatfire but well-positioned. Started off exceedingly poor being raised by one parent with a severe mental illness. Been joking recently that I've gone from the lowest cost of living city in the U.S. to the highest. + +I have started to notice recently that a lot of my old friendships are starting to deteriorate and I'm starting to suspect it may be due to the vastly different positions me and my friends are in. I don't think its envy or jealousy per se, but perhaps a little bit of shame from those people that they feel they haven't accomplished much and don't have a strong path forward. The friends that I do still talk to seem to be doing at least moderately okay, and the ones that won't return my calls have seen better days. + +As you climbed into higher percentiles of wealth, did you experience the same thing? Did you find it easier to start consorting with people of a similar socioeconomic background? Do people get over this over time? +8%/$9K of my salary 21/22FY went to HECS + 5%/$6K CPI was applied. With CPI projected to hit 7.7% EOY, $8.5K will be added to my HECS this FY. I will contribute the same amount as last FY ($9K) but only be able to wipe $500. This is also effecting my borrowing ability for a home loan etc. +Anyone have tips on how to tackle this… I.e. is it worth writing to a minister? + +Thanks! +https://support.zerodha.com/category/trading-and-markets/trading-faqs/articles/yes-bank-shares-lock-in + +This seems to fly in the face of common sense. WTAF is going on? +Aditya Birla Mutual Fund has launched a new fund offer for ABSL Nifty-50 Equal Index Fund. + +The index comprises the same stocks listed in Nifty 50. In the Nifty 50 Equal Weight Index, the difference is the socks are given equal weightage. Each stock is given a 2% allocation. + +So if a stock surpasses 2% automatic profit booking and that would be added to NAV. Is it worth investing? +I pay 15k for an GMP (3A Me + parents) and I lately found out that they don't cover cancer or mental illness treatments or meds. I suffer from OCD and ADHD (I have been off meds since 2020 when my condition got better but its again coming back) so need a plan that does cover it and also cancer just to be future proof. Please do suggest some. +I'm curious if people are adjusting their strategies based on the link below. Main assumptions are that the 4% rule is outdated for people who may be having a 50 year retirement window and some deep dives into asset allocations both around equity and international exposure. + +https://investornews.vanguard/fueling-the-fire-movement-updating-the-4-rule-for-early-retirees/ +&#x200B; + +[https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2022-05-04\/is-stock-market-rigged-bill-hwang-arrest-is-start-of-trading-crackdown ](https://preview.redd.it/iv4cew4yohx81.png?width=1023&format=png&auto=webp&s=5b728a4aa3ffa6c623b6f5e1455a2269184fd4c6) + +&#x200B; + +"***All of Wall Street should pay close attention. The Hwang case marks an upswing of federal investigations into a slew of suspected trading abuses. Three other broad inquiries have emerged in recent months to examine so-called block trades, short sales, and well-timed wagers. They all center on the same question: Are markets rigged***"? + +&#x200B; + +This article speaks to the shift of regulation/enforcement for Wall Street; particularly the aggression with which cases are pursued, as well as the expediting of these inquiries. + +In the case of Bill Hwang, what I find interesting is how he was apprehended on April 27, 2022. 48 hours prior, Hwang's legal team met with prosecutors, where they apparently thought they were talking their way out of criminal charges. On the day Hwang was taken into custody, his legal team thought they would be having further discussions with U.S. investigators, instead, prosecutors filed a sealed indictment for Hwang and CFO Patrick Halligan to take them into custody. + +&#x200B; + +The article says that the current administration has apparently spent the better part of the last year essentially "laying the groundwork" for a more aggressive stance against white-collar crime, with a bevy of policy changes; some made public, some not. + +SEC Head of Enforcement Gurbir Grewal had this to say on the matter; + +• “*There's a perception that there are two sets of rules*” + +• “***We want everyday Americans to have confidence when they invest in the market. They should have confidence knowing that there's a dedicated group of professionals to deal with new threats, traditional frauds, making sure that their retirements are safe***” + +&#x200B; + +When speaking about the 13-month case, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said “***This is exactly the kind of criminal case that the Department of Justice should prioritize***” .... “***And we will continue to do so".*** + +&#x200B; + +Liz Davis--Former CFTC Chief Trial Attorney and former DOJ Counsel to the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Matters--is quoted as saying “***Investigations are moving faster, subpoenas are being issued earlier, and there’s an increase in penalties***”. + +# EDIT: I failed to mention that if prosecuted, Hwang is looking at 11 felony counts, including racketeering, and the possibility of life in prison. + +&#x200B; + +https://i.redd.it/9svjyskishx81.gif + It has been a very bearish year for crypto. So many catalysts of bad press, discouraging people from discovering or staying in the industry. + +You know it is true, over the past year hackers stole about 1.9 billion dollars in crypto and about 2.8 billion were rug pulls. An issue well documented in our industry and something many have felt personally. + +Still, institutions and users continue to invest in cryptocurrency, because, apart from the hopium, this new technology is still in development and the potential of the market is [predicted](https://crypto.com/research/2021-crypto-market-sizing-report-2022-forecast) to be large. Confidence that the market will grow in the future. + +I am still investing, and am optimistic that in the next two years there will be a new bull run, but am not investing as much as during the bull, haha. +I hope to bring you solid hopium. Some notable big cryptocurrency investments: + +\- Crypto.com invests €150 million (US$145.5 million) in France to fund its regional operations + +\- GEM Digital Invests $50 Million In ParallelChain Lab's Mainnet Development + +\- GEM Digital invested $135 million in Velas to develop their ecosystem, this is more than the market capitalization of the project which shows that they have full confidence in this project + +\- Representatives of J.P. Morgan and LRC Group will join Ownera's board alongside participating in the company's $20 million raise + +\- Crypto and digital bank MinePlex secures $100M in funding from GEM + +\- Moon Mortgage lands $3.5M investment to provide crypto-collateralized mortgages +and more that you can verify by doing some research. +All this shows that investments in cryptocurrency continue in spite of the negative state of the market. + +For me this shows once again that the cryptocurrency market is not just coins that do not do anything, but a real market with a product market fit that will be more clear as the industry matures. +What gives you hope in the industry? +Hey guys! This is the fourth week publishing some of my screening and analysis. Thanks for the comments and feedback on my previous posts, I hope this continues to be useful for you and me. + +**Overview:** + +I'm screening around 250 different tickers each week to identify those with potential to profit off of a put credit spread. The initial filtering is done based on 8 criteria and values I have listed below. After that I look to the daily chart, IV data, and premiums to see if anything tickles my fancy. If you have any suggestions/comments feel free to let me know, I believe strongly in constantly evolving the process! Suggestions of new securities to check out are welcome also. + +**Goal:** + +Open a put credit spread on an underlying that I believe will stay level or increase in price prior to expiration. + +**Filter Criteria** + +I'm trying to find securities that are generally trending upwards in a steady manor. Ideally they're down from 3 days ago, pulling back toward the SMA20, and ready to bounce slightly and continue the general upward trend. Liquidity and IV both should be relatively high and ideally no earnings calls coming up during the duration of the trade. If all 8 of these criteria are met they will be given a grade of "A", if 7 of the 8 are met they will be given a "B", if 6 are met they get a "B-", and so on. All securities that are graded as a "B-" or better will then be investigated further. It is important to keep very strict criteria, these don't guarantee profit but they identify securities that I personally believe fit my strategy and risk level most closely. + +1. Underlying Price: $50+ +2. Underlying 3D trend: Negative +3. Underlying Price relative to SMA20: +/- 5% +4. Underlying Price relative to SMA50: Above SMA50 +5. RSI: <70, not overbought or close to being overbought +6. ATM Implied Volatility: >50% +7. IV Rank: >50% +8. Options Volume: >30,000 contracts/day + +**Trade Attributes** + +1. Spread: $5 or $10 depending on the upward trajectory and underlying price +2. Credit Target: at least 1/3 width of the spread, for $5 spread aim for \~$1.66 credit. This is straight from Tasty Trade guidelines +3. DTE: 30-45 days (ideally monthly expirations, not weekly. Monthly generally has more volume) +4. Sold Put Delta: \~30 +5. Earnings: None during trade duration + +**Exit Strategy** + +* Immediately set a GTC order to close the position at 50% profit +* Depending on the situation (especially DTE) I'll try to manage losses but typically not looking at this until I'm within 15 days of DTE or something crazy happens like a pandemic +* If holding until expiration I ALWAYS close the position at $0.01 instead of allowing it to expire. This is just safer and avoids any assignment shenanigans with one or both legs. + +**2/28 Results:** + +* Total on watchlist: **259** +* Grade A: **0** +* Grade B: **1** + * DKNG +* Grade B-: **13** + * BIDU, ABNB, UAL, BA, DIS, UBER, KSS, LVS, DAL, AMAT, LRCX, WDC, NCLH +* **DKNG** looks pretty good this week. IV is rising, we just bounced off the SMA50 pretty solidly and 3 big red candles in a row. MACD is flat-ish which indicates steady rising. I'm a little hesitant because RSI isn't strong but that's mostly because everything got rocked last week. 4/16 PCS with 55/50 strikes would get you 150 in premium right now. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/alm0u5upeil61.jpg?width=3099&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eedbffc734a0463e18617cacc53fe97a6a6e06d6 + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/az9uiqrqeil61.jpg?width=2807&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=46805a2de97b335942fd36b66f2bcca8f770c3b9 + +* **BIDU** is my favorite pick this week. I did a separate post [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/thetagang/comments/lsj80b/pcs_screening_and_analysis_week_of_221_part_2/) when I originally started looking at it and the support around $256 is holding well. 4/16 expiration date with PCS 240/230 strikes would get you 350 in premium right now with a POP of 61% and POP50 of 73%. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/nlxcgmlseil61.jpg?width=3134&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d32ce13b2f49e2f078eed48cefe14c7c41eaf278 + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/20decgkueil61.jpg?width=2818&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df9869fe3ff08f37eab47af7cfacaf57b572e70d + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/6qea7dcveil61.jpg?width=1845&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f07d51c8cbf5000ee78dc2b5a76455fa5d51a7bc + +* **ABNB** looks ok, IV is low and RSI is trending down so with better options this week I'm passing on this +* **UAL** IV is too low to even consider, also it recently overshot well beyond the SMA20 and RSI is trending down. I think we'll go lower before going back up here or even maintaining current levels +* **BA** IV is extremely low and prices are trending sideways right now so I'm out +* **DIS** Chart looks great, with news coming that theme parks are starting opening up again I think there's potential to continue riding the SMA20 upwards, however, IV is pretty low so there are better options this week +* **UBER** Can't break above the SMA50, not touching this one +* **KSS** Chart looks great, earnings were great. IV is a little low but if you're going for a safer approach than what I've suggested previously then this is potentially a good option. You won't be getting 1/3 width of the spread credits but you'll get a higher POP +* **LVS** IV is rising which is nice but price recently shot past SMA20 and SMA50 and is correcting now, not steadily rising so I'm out +* **DAL** is interesting, chart looks like it could be good in a few days to get a better looking RSI. Low IV makes it hard to justify the risk +* **AMAT** has a good chart, low IV again makes it hard to justify the risk +* **LRCX** I actually like as a long term play but with a price of $500+ and low IV, it's definitely not worth the risk of the PCS +* **WDC** similar as others, chart looks good but IV is low +* **NCLH** IV is low and it's retracing after shooting past SMA20 and SMA50. RSI is trending down too. + +**Summary** + +Ok, so last week was rough for a lot of folks so I'd like to reiterate that you should be diversifying your strategies as well as your specific holdings. This week only 14 stocks made a grade of "B-" or better and DKNG jumped from B- last week to B this week. A lot of travel/entertainment tickers made the list too which is interesting: airlines, hotels, casinos, theme parks, and cruise lines. I'm going with BIDU this week, pending position details are listed below which I'll update when I get filled. + +I mentioned an AMZN IC that a few people mentioned they entered. Let me know what your current plan is, I know the strike prices I mentioned put you ITM right now but with RSI so low and the market craziness last two weeks I could see it recovering. + +Market trends indicate some interesting days/weeks ahead. **SPY, IWM** and **DJI** look like they're ready to get back to the uptrend after some turbulence, however, **QQQ** and **NDX** have been getting absolutely smashed. Tech stocks have been the "go to" based on IV and upward trends so a lot of options traders have been affected by this recent down turn. My take on this is that we're going to see a recovery in tech stocks and QQQ/NDX in the next week or two. A healthy pullback with overall market trending up so I'm not panicking. **VOLQ** and **VIX** both spiked up a good bit last week but ended with a big red candle. Spikes in volatility are good for IV and options pricing so hopefully we get some opportunities here for more PCS. + +**Pending Positions** + +* None + +**Open Positions** + +* PCS on BLNK 3/19 expiration 45/40 + * Credit: $2.03 + * Max P/L: $203/$297 + * Potential Return/Collateral: 40.6% + * Last underlying price: $38.24 + * B/E: $30.13 + * DTE: 12 + * Notes: This is still looking like absolute garbage after last week. I'm looking at rolling this week if I can get decent strikes but if not I'll just take the loss and release the collateral. I think if I had taken the MACD and RSI a little more seriously I would have avoided this from the start. Lesson learned. +* PCS on TSLA 4/16 expiration 690/680 + * Credit: $3.60 + * Max P/L: $360/$640 + * Potential Return/Collateral: 36% + * Last underlying price: $597.95 + * B/E: $686.40 + * DTE: 46 + * Notes: TSLA got rocked again this week. RSI is super low and we still have 40 days until expiration. I'm holding this for a while. It's TSLA it has to recover, right?? +* PCS on BIDU 4/16 expiration 220/210 + * Credit: $3.25 + * Max P/L: $325/$675 + * Potential Return/Collateral: 32.5% + * Last underlying price: $241.16 + * B/E: $216.75 + * DTE: 40 + +**Trade statistics** (nothing to populate but I'm keeping this in here so I don't forget it on the next post) + +* Wins: 0 +* Losses: 0 +* Win %: 0.0% + +**FAQ** + +* Why use a put credit spread, why not a cash secured put? + * The underlying securities that I'm tracker are not necessarily ones that I would prefer to own long term. This specific strategy centers around identifying securities that will hold their value or increase within the next 30-45 days + * Limited downside risk if I'm wrong, I'm not evaluating these securities to potentially hold longer term + * PCS let's you play with the big boys! Companies like AMZN or TSLA require a ton of capital to be laying around for CSP that I personally do not have +* Why only PCS, what about other strategies? + * PCS was just the first strategy that I put together this analysis for. CSP and IC are also a major part of my overall strategy and I encourage diversifying strategies +* Where are these criteria coming from? + * Don't re-invent the wheel! Most of this criteria is coming from Tasty Trade guidelines. They have way more knowledge than I will ever have in regards to options trading which is why I trust them as a starting point. + * I will tweak the values slightly based on specific conditions or differences in risk management that I have from them. I encourage you to do the same +* Why sell at 50% profit instead of waiting until 100% at expiration? + * A la TastyTrade, due to theta decay and potential underlying price increase I'm looking to close out 50% profits within the first \~15 days of the trade. Theoretically this allows me to collect 50% of profits 3 times within the targeted 45 DTE + * I don't *always* cut and run at 50%, if I'm confident in the position I'll let it keep going +* What tools do you use for filtering and analysis? + * Google Sheets for the initial filter + * [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JEq9rtzUO8zNw\_cfcg01vd2lNzfipCJSiB4C8P7DhUw/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JEq9rtzUO8zNw_cfcg01vd2lNzfipCJSiB4C8P7DhUw/edit?usp=sharing) + * [Tradingview.com](https://tradingview.com/) for charts + * [Barchart.com](https://barchart.com/) for options data and earnings dates export + * [SwaggyStocks.com](https://swaggystocks.com/) for IV analysis + * TastyTrade for setting up my trades + +&#x200B; + +Edit: Added BIDU position that was filled +I've been trying to swim and stay above water and nothing is working. I'm starting to drown in third tunnel that I'm having a hard time seeing light at the end of... +Here is the list: + + 0x00c12ff00b7b2340a006e8d7f91ef42b5c3ec48f: 100 ETH (used 0 ETH so far) + 0xfb6494df0cf00f566feba0f2389ea16c4838e290: 250 ETH (used 249 ETH so far) + 0x5b8d84105a7a1c34ed556e835a37be4d6c535463: 275 ETH (used 275 ETH so far) + 0x00085d09967848b3878467669388811515739a52: 100 ETH (used 0 ETH so far) + 0xc6090117186ae093f528689927e0c6b4738fb291: 650 ETH (used 650 ETH so far) + 0xe93c3f5548e6967046c56aadea1a8a9afa90c33e: 650 ETH (used 650 ETH so far) + 0x3d95674e5a52b39b5f9a3633c88690de9585fcc6: 500 ETH (used 500 ETH so far) + 0xe547f9d6cf793d197dab8cf4f2a8c8c7f9ba63b8: 500 ETH (used 500 ETH so far) + 0x9d61fe8c9c766be8a12d2405da18797059a59036: 350 ETH (used 350 ETH so far) + 0xad02aee7353c4d5c35a05725aba811d4ea88ae4a: 350 ETH (used 350 ETH so far) + 0x005fac7a59e2008acc2c8e132faa8dde606ed0cb: 1000 ETH (used 1000 ETH so far) + 0x007c5b29b40ed7fd691b0cd2430751f9e4831697: 2000 ETH (used 2000 ETH so far) + 0xeb68aa2764b4a9a943658b2e61db4c902b2ebf85: 7693 ETH (used 7692.99 ETH so far) + 0xa65e9fec4f892ef6e9fe3888ed9b0eb6aab1f0fd: 6000 ETH (used 5999.05 ETH so far) + 0x2840c1162114780f3b617b030621022571c2bcb0: 25000 ETH (used 25000 ETH so far) + 0xfe5fb336166cc6e55af9ae922ebc952f3de42327: 25000 ETH (used 25000 ETH so far) + 0x2d0efca5e73e90c7707931678dfaef38c068ac10: 1500 ETH (used 1500 ETH so far) + 0x00e3fd9efefafdd1032b2540c02d45aa68c3d587: 5000 ETH (used 5000 ETH so far) + 0x00f1ca994227a6ed2fdc86f68a7cd72f95fd873a: 680 ETH (used 680 ETH so far) + 0xcc89405e3cfd38412093840a3ac2f851dd395dfb: 500 ETH (used 500 ETH so far) + 0x00d3b51fe558ee09c3ba4f9a3eb10053f855b2eb: 11757 ETH (used 11757 ETH so far) + 0x008fdad031b1236c58561477a585d7ce7df834c4: 550 ETH (used 550 ETH so far) + 0x0080cdc66a5a0d17745de6e12fbc5fecb6b5460a: 3000 ETH (used 2999.9 ETH so far) + 0x00ac1c84d1d0a2eaf6e8f504c7c96e6e82cb6333: 30000 ETH (used 29999.9 ETH so far) + +I have been looking a bit at the source code for the Status ICO. When you send ether to the contract you either end up in the buyNormal() function or in the buyGuaranteed(). buyNormal() enforces a maximum gas price of 50 gwei, but buyGuaranteed() does not. + +The list of guaranteed buyers and their associated limits have been set beforehand by calling setGuaranteedAddress(). This function also emits an event GuaranteedAddress(). I created the above list from those events. I haven't checked yet how many of those buyers have already made use of their limits. + +If you are a 'normal' buyer: The contract definitely enforces 50 gwei maximum gas price and also rejects your transaction if you already sent another one less than 100 blocks ago. So if you feel like 'trying again', you should probably switch to a different address or wait 100 blocks. + +**Edit**: I updated the list with amounts that each address made use of. Looks like it's mostly done - so from now on it's even playing field regarding gas prices and anything over 50 gwei won't work. +I haven't heard from him since he got banned and the whole "Citadel Coke Break" footage blew up. It also appears his phone was disconnected at that time. + +We were chatting a bit last week about how the footage went viral, but I haven't heard from him even after I checked in on him [yesterday](https://imgur.com/a/4eT2KQm) + +If you're wondering why those last two messages are green and not blue, so am I. I had a good connection when I sent those and was absolutely connected to WiFi as well. This is rather unusual for him as he normally responds within the day at the latest, and we'd been communicating daily beforehand. + +Drone Guy, if you're out there, and you're reading this, I hope you're okay. You're the best damn drone pilot in Chicago, you've got balls of steel for posting that footage on your personal Youtube and reddit account, and a good friend. I hope when all this is over we can have a drink on the moon together and you can tell me what happened after you went off the grid. + +It sounds morbid, but I would also like to make [this](https://imgur.com/a/92Uxn1f) text public. For those of you wondering how I know Drone Guy, I was his navigator and lookout, not a good enough one though I suppose... +For those who don't understand why low volume is fucking amazing for us go read some DD. + +This is a fucking powder keg and the match is being lit.....HODL FOR THE BOOOOOOM !!!!! +From [one of my posts a while back](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/svl80n/were_in_2008_on_repeat_ill_show_you/) I wanted to show the newer apes and those who didn't see it the first time. How we got here and how it looks eerily familiar. + + + [Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Bear Stearns created](https://www.deepcapture.com/2010/04/goldman-sachs-john-paulson-and-the-hedge-funds-that-pumped-and-dumped-our-economy/) self destructing CDOs to crash the market in 2008 + +> In a civil suit filed Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Goldman Sachs with fraud for helping hedge fund manager John Paulson create collateralized debt obligations that he had secretly designed to self-destruct. That is, Goldman Sachs, at the direction of Paulson, hand-picked mortgages that were certain to go bad, and stuffed the mortgages (or rather, “synthetic” derivatives of the mortgages) into collateralized debt obligations that temporarily masked the true value of the loans. + +> Goldman isn’t the only bank that created these CDOs. Deutsche Bank, UBS, and smaller outfits, such as Tricadia Inc., perpetrated similar scams. All told, well over $250 billion worth of these  “synthetic” CDOs were sold into the market in the two years leading up to the financial crisis of 2008. Indeed, there is a distinct possibility that a majority of all the CDOs sold during those two years were deliberately designed to implode by hedge fund managers who were betting against both the CDOs and the financial system as a whole. +&nbsp; + +Here's [what they were doing](https://www.deepcapture.com/2010/01/john-paulson-and-the-greatest-pump-and-short-fraud-ever/) + +> An example of a particularly sordid scheme, orchestrated by hedge fund billionaire John Paulson, was discovered some time ago by David Fiderer, a blogger for the Huffington Post. The information in Fiderer’s blog is rather incriminating, and, of course, the mainstream media is not on the case, so I think it bears repeating. + +> As Fiderer explains, Paulson asked the banks to create those CDOs “so that they could be sold to some suckers at close to par. That way, Paulson’s hedge fund could approach some other sucker who would sell an insurance policy, or credit default swap, on the newly minted CDOs. Bear, Deutsche and Goldman knew perfectly well what Paulson’s motivation was. He made no secret of his belief that the CDOs subordinate claims on the mortgage collateral were close to worthless. By the time others have figured out the fatal flaws in these securities which had been ignored by the rating agencies, Paulson could collect up to $5 billion. + +> “Paulson not only initiated these transactions, he also specified the terms he wanted, identifying which mortgages would be stuffed into the CDOs, and how the CDOs should be structured. Within the overall framework set by Paulson’s team, banks and investors were allowed to do some minor tweaking.” + +&nbsp; + +The only guy to go to jail, [was running from this](https://www.deepcapture.com/2009/01/strange-occurrences-and-a-story-about-naked-short-selling/) and turned himself in (this story includes Jim Cramer) + +> Evidence suggests that Bernard Madoff, the “prominent” Wall Street operator and former chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, had ties to the Russian Mafia, Moscow-based oligarchs, and the Genovese organized crime family. + +> And, as reported by Deep Capture and Reuters, Madoff did not just orchestrate a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. He was also the principal architect of SEC rules that made it easier for “naked” short sellers to manufacture phantom stock and destroy public companies – a factor in the near total collapse of the American financial system. + + + +[Part two](https://www.deepcapture.com/2009/10/on-rolling-stone-penson-financial-the-mafia-and-naked-short-selling/) + +> Things become all the more weird when you consider that regulators and law enforcement do almost nothing to stop naked short selling, even though a growing number of prominent people – everyone from U.S. Senators to George Soros – insist that criminal naked short sellers helped take down Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and the American financial system. Then there’s the weird fact that anybody who tries to shed light on this weird state of affairs is quickly subjected to smear campaigns that are…weird. + +&nbsp; + +By 2011 the FBI is saying publicly its still a problem and they're capturing regulations. + +> [They may be former members of nation-state governments, security services, or the military. These individuals know who and what to target, and how best to do it. They are capitalists and entrepreneurs. But they are also master criminals who move easily between the licit and illicit worlds. And in some cases, these organizations are as forward-leaning as Fortune 500 companies.](https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/speeches/the-evolving-organized-crime-threat) + +> This is not “The Sopranos,” with six guys sitting in a diner, shaking down a local business owner for $50 dollars a week. [These criminal enterprises are making billions of dollars from human trafficking, health care fraud, computer intrusions, and copyright infringement. They are cornering the market on natural gas, oil, and precious metals, and selling to the highest bidder.](https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/speeches/the-evolving-organized-crime-threat) + +> These crimes are not easily categorized. Nor can the damage, the dollar loss, or the ripple effects be easily calculated. It is much like a Venn diagram, where one crime intersects with another, in different jurisdictions, and with different groups. + +> How does this impact you? You may not recognize the source, but you will feel the effects. [You might pay more for a gallon of gas. You might pay more for a luxury car from overseas. You will pay more for health care, mortgages, clothes, and food.](https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/speeches/the-evolving-organized-crime-threat) + +> Yet we are concerned with more than just the financial impact. These groups may infiltrate our businesses. They may provide logistical support to hostile foreign powers. [They may try to manipulate those at the highest levels of government. Indeed, these so-called “iron triangles” of organized criminals, corrupt government officials, and business leaders pose a significant national security threat.](https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/speeches/the-evolving-organized-crime-threat) + +&nbsp; + +And these days we've got Citadel [playing games with Goldman Sachs](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/qdhi14/the_trio_of_crime_citadel_goldman_sachs_and_bny/) who was the center of 2008 and [is still being sued over it.](https://www.reuters.com/article/goldman-sachs-lawsuit-idCNL1N2ST1UU) + +> NEW YORK Dec 8, 2021 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc must again face a class action by shareholders who said they lost $13 billion because the Wall Street bank hid conflicts of interest when creating risky subprime securities before the 2008 financial crisis, a judge ruled on Wednesday. + +> U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty in Manhattan rejected Goldman's claim that its general statements about its business, including that client interests "always come first" and "integrity and honesty are at the heart of our business," were too generic to mislead investors and affect its stock price. + +&nbsp; + +.... Do you remember [what came back in 2019 a few months before the secret $4.5 trillion bailout?](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-02/hedge-funds-resurrect-cdo-trade-this-time-they-say-it-will-work) + + +> [Out of the $4.5 trillion in loans for Q4 2019, the bulk of it went to Goldman Sachs (103 instances), JPMorgan Chase (197 instances), Deutsche Bank (200 instances), and Citigroup (143 instances).](https://tokenist.com/fed-finally-identifies-banks-received-4-5t-q4-2019-repo-program/) + +&nbsp; + + +Now we're currently in a situation [where Moody's is refusing to downgrade defaulting companies to prop up the place](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/s6hlww/moodys_is_the_one_seemingly_lagging_behind_in/) even going as far as [upgrading Citadel](https://i.imgur.com/jGrjr5F.jpg) in the middle of all this. So that insurance won't have to pay. + +&nbsp; + +*** + +Change of topics, rehypothecation - 2008 to now. + +> [LibertyView Capital Management Inc. of Hoboken, New Jersey, owned by Lehman's Neuberger Berman unit, told investors on September 26 it had suspended "until further notice" attempts notice" attempts to calculate the value of its funds. LibertyView was not included in the Sept. 29 sale of Neuberger to Bain Capital LLC and Hellman & Friedman LLC.]( +https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/lehman-hedge-fund-clients-left-cold-as-assets-frozen/articleshow/3551534.cms) + + +> PricewaterhouseCoopers, Lehman's bankruptcy administrator in the U.K., where its European prime brokerage was based, doesn't know how much money is at stake. [PwC said last month it's trying to recoup about $8 billion in cash that Lehman's parent company allegedly withdrew from its European unit before the collapse. It will take weeks, if not longer, to sort out the mess, according to PwC.](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/lehman-hedge-fund-clients-left-cold-as-assets-frozen/articleshow/3551534.cms) + + + +&nbsp; + +> Oak Group used Lehman's unit in London because it allowed the fund to borrow more than US prime brokers, James said. Operating under different regulatory requirements, European prime brokers have been more generous than their US counterparts, sometimes even within the same parent company, said Michael Romanek, principal at Rise Partners Ltd., which arranges financing for funds from London. "A lot of US managers would rather deal with Europe than New York," said Romanek. "Rarely do you see it go the other way." James's account had pledged equity securities as collateral that Lehman then lent to other investors under a practice known as rehypothecation. It's the fate of that collateral that worries many Lehman hedge-fund clients. + + + +&nbsp; + + +Read that again! These guys rehypothecate shares on top of [internalizing orders with PFOF](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/q67qrl/is_citadel_really_is_trying_to_madoff_20_with/) (Madoff) + + + +> James's account had pledged equity securities as collateral that Lehman then lent to other investors under a practice known as rehypothecation. It's the fate of that collateral that worries many Lehman hedge-fund clients. + +&nbsp; + +Then... 2009 + + +> MR. NAGEL: On behalf of Citadel Investment Group, I'd like to thank the Commission and the staff for the +opportunity to be here today. At Citadel, we have over 19 years of experience as an active securities lending market participant. + +> And to support our private fund and market making businesses, we've built infrastructure that allow us to deal directly with the primary sources of securities loans, supply and demand, rather than rely entirely on intermediaries. Based on this experience, we believe that a well-functioning securities-lending market benefits all investors. + +> [Owners of securities can generate additional income or obtain financing by lending securities. Securities +lending also contributes to tight bid-offer spreads and market liquidity by enabling the orderly settlement of short sales.](https://www.sec.gov/news/openmeetings/2009/roundtable-transcript-092909.pdf) + +> At the Commission's May Short Sale Roundtable, I +explained Citadel's view that short selling benefits all investors and our economy by promoting liquidity and price discovery, and serving as a risk management tool for investors. + +> While the securities lending market has made great strides in recent years, we believe there is still +substantial work to be done before the securities lending market can reach its full potential. Despite its growing size, the securities lending market remains relatively opaque because there is little centralized collection or dissemination of loan pricing data. + +> Many securities loans are still bilaterally +negotiated between market intermediaries on the phone or by email and each party to a securities loan generally faces the credit risk of the other party for the duration of the loan. + +> Until recently, no centralized venue existed where borrowers and lenders could readily find each other and transact directly + +&nbsp; + +> In the U.S., margin regulations allow a customer to buy securities and they can pay for half of it and borrow the other half from their broker dealer. The portion of the securities that they don't pay for when they buy the securities -- the piece that they've, in effect, bought on margin -- the broker dealer is allowed to use those securities to help raise cash to replenish its own bank account for the money its lent to the customer. That term is rehypothecation -- I'm sorry, it's a very long word -- but it means basically to borrow securities in this case. + +> And the broker dealer can take those rehypothecated securities, those securities that were bought on margin, and pledge them to a bank to borrow money to replenish its cash supply, or it can lend securities to another party, and by doing so it replenishes its cash supply + + +That last part is important, the list of prime brokers/custodian’s that [Citadel has access to](https://imgur.com/a/67S62yU) means they could weave one giant web with themself/VIRTU + + +&nbsp; + + +Here's [Citadel's 2019 financial statement,](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1146184/000114618420000006/CDRG_StmtFinCndtn2019.pdf) saying this. + + +> Collateralized Transactions +The Company enters into reverse repurchase agreements, repurchase +agreements and securities borrowed and securities loaned transactions to, among other things, acquire securities to cover short positions and settle other securities obligations and to finance certain of the Company’s activities. The Company manages credit exposure arising from such transactions by, in appropriate circumstances, entering into master netting agreements and collateral arrangements with counterparties. In the event of a counterparty default (such as bankruptcy or a counterparty’s failure to pay or perform), these agreements provide the Company the right to terminate such agreement, net the Company’s rights and obligations under such agreement, buy-in undelivered securities and liquidate and set off collateral against any net obligation remaining by the counterparty. + + +> During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company had reverse repurchase and repurchase agreements with Citadel Securities Institutional LLC (“CSIN”), an affiliated broker and dealer, and Citadel Securities Swap Dealer LLC (“CSSD”), an affiliated swap dealer (Note 6), and non-affiliates. Securities borrowing and lending transactions are collateralized by pledging cash or securities, which typically include equity securities and are collateralized as a percentage of the fair value of the securities borrowed or loaned. Reverse repurchase and repurchase agreements are collateralized primarily by receiving or pledging securities, respectively. + +> Typically, the Company has rights of rehypothecation with respect to the securities collateral received under reverse repurchase agreements and the underlying securities received under securities borrowed transactions. As of December 31, 2019, substantially all securities received under securities borrowed transactions have been delivered or repledged. + +> The counterparty generally has rights of rehypothecation with respect +to securities collateral pledged by the Company for securities borrowed by the Company. The counterparty generally has rights of rehypothecation with respect to the securities collateral received from the Company under repurchase agreements and the securities loaned from the Company to such counterparty. Also, the Company typically has rights of rehypothecation related to securities collateral received from counterparties for securities loaned to those counterparties. + +> The Company monitors the fair value of underlying securities in comparison to the related receivable or payable and as necessary, transfers or requests additional collateral as provided under the applicable agreement to ensure transactions are adequately collateralized. + + +&nbsp; + +Here's [Dennis Kelleher talking about rehypothecation during the GameStop hearing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chogYSWCA24&t=802s) calling it "a house of cards" + + + +&nbsp; + +ELIAPE: + +They call a bank and get a margin loan, half the securities they get with it can be rehypothecated. They, have those agreements with themselves. So they get one loan, and then get the same share multiple times, giving themselves money in the process. + +> > During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company had reverse repurchase and repurchase agreements with Citadel Securities Institutional LLC (“CSIN”), an affiliated broker and dealer, and Citadel Securities Swap Dealer LLC (“CSSD”), an affiliated swap dealer (Note 6), and non-affiliates. Securities borrowing and lending transactions are collateralized by pledging cash or securities, which typically include equity securities and are collateralized as a percentage of the fair value of the securities borrowed or loaned. + + +One can use it to 'fulfill' naked shorts, one can use it to short the ticker, one can use it to sell at market, not on a dark pool to crash the price. + + +All they need is a shady bank, or 5 to help them. Bank makes a kickback for how many places buy it, they don't care that all forms of Citadel are using it to crash the price in the name of "liquidity" + + +> In the U.S., margin regulations allow a customer to buy securities and they can pay for half of it and borrow the other half from their broker dealer. The portion of the securities that they don't pay for when they buy the securities -- the piece that they've, in effect, bought on margin -- the broker dealer is allowed to use those securities to help raise cash to replenish its own bank account for the money its lent to the customer. That term is rehypothecation -- I'm sorry, it's a very long word -- but it means basically to borrow securities in this case. + +> And the broker dealer can take those rehypothecated securities, those securities that were bought on margin, and pledge them to a bank to borrow money to replenish its cash supply, or it can lend securities to another party, and by doing so it replenishes its cash supply + + +They also can all use the same share as collateral for more loans, to do it again + +&nbsp; + + +*** + +New subject, naked shorting. + +2008, the SEC [admitting it's happening and issues new rules.](https://www.sec.gov/news/press/2008/2008-204.htm) + +> Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 2008 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today took several coordinated actions to strengthen investor protections against "naked" short selling. The Commission's actions will apply to the securities of all public companies, including all companies in the financial sector. The actions are effective at 12:01 a.m. ET on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008. + + +> New Short Selling Rules + +> "These several actions today make it crystal clear that the SEC has zero tolerance for abusive naked short selling," said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. "The Enforcement Division, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, and the Division of Trading and Markets will now have these weapons in their arsenal in their continuing battle to stop unlawful manipulation." + +&nbsp; + +[It currently is possible through Canada](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/suvxgc/hot_potato_through_the_tunnel_under_the_border_a/) well, guess who [has Canadian companies](https://imgur.com/a/4sbeJCq) + +&nbsp; + +And then [this happens and the SEC hides names](https://www.natlawreview.com/article/sec-brings-naked-short-selling-case) + +> on May 19, 2021, the SEC charged a broker-dealer (“BD”) with violating the order-making and locate provisions of Regulation SHO.[1] Regulation SHO regulates short sales of securities and, broadly speaking, is aimed at minimizing naked short selling, failures to deliver, and other practices. + +> According to the Complaint, the BD mismarked 96% of a certain hedge fund’s short sale orders of two separate issuers’ stock, totaling more than $250 million, as “long” or “short-exempt.” This mismarking allegedly generated $1.6 million in brokerage fees to the BD. The effect of the mismarking was that the hedge fund was able to sell the securities short even though it already had a short position in the securities and did not borrow or locate additional shares to sell short. + +&nbsp; + +Well [look who has been sued for that situation before](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/qd27v5) and there's a lawsuit from 2017 [detailing what bullshit their algos actually are](https://imgur.com/a/xfpedtI) + +&nbsp; + +*** + +Craziest part about this? + +[Citadel's money is mostly foreign](https://imgur.com/a/sroliPP) + +Now let me remind you [what Hester Peirce](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/rl2bfw/hester_peirce_the_other_dissenting_commissioner/) and [Elad Roisman](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/rkuxnd/elad_l_roisman_is_suddenly_leaving_the_sec/) of the SEC were protecting. + +> [As a law firm representing a number of clients actively involved in markets for swaps +and securities-based swaps, we appreciate the opportunity to comment on selected issues raise by +the proposed rules issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the "CFTC") and the +Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC," and, together with the CFTC, the +"Commissions") that define key terms used and exemptions provided for in Title VII ofthe +Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010](https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-39-10/s73910-88.pdf) + +> ***Non-U.S. Governments and their Agencies Should be Excluded or Exempted.*** + +> The Commissions' final rules should exempt or exclude non-U.S. governments and their +agencies from the definition of "swap dealer" and "major swap participant." Many such entities +enter into interest-rate, currency and credit default swaps to manage their currency reserves and +domestic mortgage and related securities portfolios. Agencies potentially affected include +central banks, treasury ministries, export agencies and housing finance authorities. The volume +of such transactions is substantial and may well exceed the levels proposed in the Commissions' +definition of "major swap participant." + +> We do not believe that Congress intended the requirements of Title VII to apply to these +entities, many of which are active participants in the swaps markets for legitimate governmental +purposes. To require non-U.S. agencies to register with the Commissions as swap dealers and +major swap participants would produce an incongruous result and would represent both an +unwarranted extraterritorial application of U.S. law and an unacceptable intrusion on the +sovereignty of foreign nations. + +> While it may be unlikely that any non-U.S. government or any of its agencies would meet +the definition of swap dealer, they are unquestionably significant participants in the swap +markets. Under the proposed rules, they could face the prospect of registration with the +Commissions, reporting sensitive financial data to a foreign, !.~. U.S., government regulatory +authority, and business conduct rules designed for commercial entities. + +&nbsp; + +*** + +You think this is bad? [Citadel internalizes treasury orders too](https://imgur.com/7vEp7KK.jpg) that's probably not good when [Citadel is 7 of 8 of the clearing members](https://i.redd.it/qcsfdlq0by471.png) for treasuries + +> [Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), is the leading provider of trade comparison, netting and settlement for the U.S. Government securities marketplace. FICC’s Government Securities Division (GSD) was established in 1986 to provide automated comparison and settlement services, risk-management benefits and operational efficiencies to the Government securities industry](https://www.dtcc.com/clearing-services/ficc-gov/centrally-cleared-institutional-triparty) + +&nbsp; + +Oh wait, the FSOC told us it wasn't good. Right after the sneeze, (which they state there was a $1.1B Backtesting deficiency days before) [they say the treasury market suddenly lost liquidity](https://imgur.com/a/P3qYrOl) + +&nbsp; + +*** + +Now we ask, why are these things not showing up on anyone's books? + +Well [BNY Mellon holds them in Brazil for you](https://imgur.com/2uTQgH9.jpg) and we know they are American based holdings as [BNY's ADV form says they have ZERO foreign clients](https://imgur.com/a/s9uoeHA). + +Maybe you're asking yourself how this could happen, [well, Goldman has been there too](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/q50q3j/was_bny_mellon_taken_over_by_goldman_from_the/) and BNY [didn't exactly care before](https://i.redd.it/4rsmlzn90vu71.jpg) + + +&nbsp; + +Final food for thought [look at the VW squeeze over the 2008 crash timing](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/scgfs5/spy_vs_volkswagen_during_2008_crash_on_daily/) with all your new knowledge. +Jim Simons (founder, Renaissance Technologies) is probably the most successful hedge fund ever. Simons, an award-winning mathematician that used his skills to decipher Soviet codes for the NSA during the Cold War, founded Renaissance in 1982, a private investment firm based in New York with over $15 billion under management. According to Bloomberg, from 2001 through 2013, the fund’s worst year was a 21 percent gain, after subtracting fees. Medallion reaped a 98.2 percent gain in 2008, the year the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 38.5 percent. The fund has averaged a 71.8% annual return, before fees, from 1994 through mid-2014. The fund has been closed to outside investors since 1993 and is available only to current and past employees and their families. + +The fund uses [mathematical models](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baum%E2%80%93Welch_algorithm) to profit from statistical arbitrage carried to the limit and executed extremely well. Basically, portfolios of long and short positions are created that hedge out market risk, sector risk and any other kind of risk that Renaissance can statistically predict. The extreme degree of hedging reduces that net rate of return but the volatility of the portfolio is reduced by an even greater factor. The standard deviation of the value of the portfolio at a future date is much lower than its expected value. Therefore, with a large number of trades the law of large numbers assures that the probability of a loss is very small. In such a situation, leverage multiplies both the expected return and the volatility by the same multiple, so even with a high leverage the probability of a loss remains very small. + +But the most important factor to ensure its success is to trust and follow the model, even when it adverse situations happens, since not everything can be modeled: + +“At the end of a 10-year run, it was clear to me that this gut wrenching business of fundamental trading . . . you know, if you are doing fundamental trading one morning you come in and you feel like a genius. Your positions are all your way. “God I’m really smart. Look at all the money I made overnight.” Then the next day you come in and they’ve gone against you, and you feel like an idiot. We were pretty good at it, but it just didn’t seem to be a way to live your life. + +So by 1988, I decided it was going to be 100% models. And it has been ever since. Some investing firms say “Oh we have models” but what they typically mean is that we have a model which advises the trader what to do. If he likes the advice, he’ll take it, and if he doesn’t like the advice he won’t take it. Well that’s not science. You can’t simulate how you were feeling when you got out of bed 13 years ago when looking at historical simulations. Did you like what the model said or didn’t you like what the model said? It’s a hard thing to backtest. + +So if you are going to trade using models, you just slavishly use the models. You do whatever the hell it says no matter how smart or dumb you think it is at that moment. And that turned out to be a wonderful decision. So we built a business 100% based on using computer models, starting with currencies and financial instruments, gradually moving into stocks and finally into anything liquid that moved.” + +Below is a great lecture that Jim gave at MIT World in 2010. The video below starts at 29:50, where Jim mentions the text above. I highly recommend watching the whole presentation (Jim enters at 10:50 mark). + +Enjoy! + +https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SVdTF4_QrTM + +The 741 stuff has been all the rage for months. As it was unfolding, with the two tweets, the speculation was intense. Since, it's turned into some serious tin foil hit shit. + +One thing that struck me as weird is how everyone was waiting for the third tweet to hit at 7:41...instead it hit at 7:51: + +&#x200B; + +[Take a closer look guys...](https://preview.redd.it/38s07z9p8bt71.png?width=586&format=png&auto=webp&s=b7680d7855cc211feffab9ea5f14f50b1acba225) + +&#x200B; + +[Here is the 741...once everyone was good and looking for it...then we got a 7:51 tweet.](https://preview.redd.it/nfobxm6v8bt71.png?width=717&format=png&auto=webp&s=781e8d067dbb843d908309fccb1cbfed3dcb8e92) + +Reading through these definitions for terms that appear in Section 741, I stumbled across this little section, defining what "Customer Property" is. Considering liquidation is on the table for brokers that don't actually have our shares, this definition likely holds some importance. + +&#x200B; + +[Standing out is the Section 751 link...](https://preview.redd.it/mlawojbd9bt71.png?width=624&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd73c940edc31c68200c9e7b4ce8d27e74a2e814) + +Surprise, surprise... + +&#x200B; + +[As opposed to Street name securities?](https://preview.redd.it/cf7wrowj9bt71.png?width=715&format=png&auto=webp&s=bfa0446e036d7d93015bf5d9c3b416151ffe9223) + +Could use some wrinkle brains here. Perhaps this has already come to light? I don't recall anyone making a big stink about 751, so that's the connection I'm trying to decode. + +Anyone familiar with Chapter 7 code that can help us understand how the treatment of Customer name securities might be different from other Customer Property? + +I'm no expert in legalese, but this next section reads like Customer Property claims are simply pooled with all the other claims and doled out in a priority that might not be favorable or add up to the total value of the Customer claim... dunno? + +&#x200B; + +[Seems like this indicates shit end of the stick if the brokers go belly up?](https://preview.redd.it/pem46nnmbbt71.png?width=657&format=png&auto=webp&s=2c714ac796021b5ed9135f0156b167d18bc482a8) + +&#x200B; + +HALP??? + +&#x200B; + +Edit: + +Source site: [https://www.usbankruptcycode.org/chapter-7-liquidation/subchapter-iii-stockbroker-liquidation/](https://www.usbankruptcycode.org/chapter-7-liquidation/subchapter-iii-stockbroker-liquidation/) +How do you see today's big jump both in Europe (+7%) and in the US (+2%)? Is it the beginning of a turnaround and rally or could it be a trap? The bull news today is that Europe seems to have enough natural gas to make it through the winter even if Putin would cut them off. + +However there are still alot of negative signals. **For those into TA**, if you look on a daily chart you can see that we are still in a negative trend, that we still have lower lows and lower highs which normally indicate more pain is to come. The jump today doesn't change that unless it is sustained. **We also are still firmly below 200 moving average for all indices.** + +Also, tomorrow we'll get more **CPI inflation data** which most likely will be even higher than last month and next week the 16th the Fed will do its first rate hike with many to follow given the high inflation. + +Given the high energy prices the risk of **stagflation** becomes very real. Stagflation means the combo of high inflation with slower growth. The Ukraine war and sactions will add to inflation and **supply chain issues.** +On February 21st I called chase wire fraud department to make a claim because I had seen two wire transactions I did not authorize. One of $8,000 and another of $1,000. The next day February 22nd, I went into chase and signed a affidavit titled “unauthorized signatures or forged item declaration”. + +On March 14, I called chase to get an update on why things were taking so long to get resolved. They told me I had called and answered authorization questions. That confirmed I knew the person. However, I never called chase on any of the days they are disputing about. I don’t know the person. I never authorized the transactions. March 15, I went to a Chase and spoke to a branch manager. He said someone was going to contact me and to send him my telephone records. March 19, someone by the name of Angela called me back but I couldn’t answer. When I was able to call back she left in her notes that she would call me back which she never did. On March 22, I called again but they kept telling me the claim was closed. April 5, I sent over the papers again because they didn’t receive them the first time I sent them. + +April 14, I went over to chase again and sent the papers again. They finally received the papers and on April 26, I was told my claim was closed again because they didn’t have enough proof to identify my situation as a fraud. They kept telling me I was a victim of scam but that’s false because I wasn’t tricked into clicking a link or sending the money. I never created this wire and I don’t know who did either. My account was hacked and this person knows all of my information. Chase just let the funds go knowing there was a claim and freeze on that money. Someone called and was able to give my account number and all the information they needed. Chase doesn’t want to cooperate with me after sending a police report, my phone records, an FTC report and the affidavit they had me sign. If anyone has gone through this or has experience dealing with these situations, please help! I am a full time worker and student. I have to make ends meet. I have to pay rent, school, and other bills. I need chase to give me my money back. Can anybody advise me, please! +I saw a post in this sub a few days ago from a person in the air force seeking advice on how to fat fire. I believe the person was 20 and in the air force and wanting to use their GI Bill for a finance degree. I can't find the post and didn't have time to respond when I first saw it. I was in the military and am on pace to retire at 45. In the event you lurk here, this is my response... + +Define FATfire to yourself and know what is realistic. I consider my net worth and projected net worth at my goal retirement date (45) to be FATfire, but for some it may be more like...chunky or curvy fire. If you want 10m+ by 45 while living like Charlie Sheen..probably not happening without serious windfall. if you want say 3m and are willing to make a few lifestyle sacrifices..that's possible. + +I was in the Navy from 2006-2012 and that was a critical chapter in my FATfire story. Investing, getting a degree, getting a good job and getting married put me on pace for \~3m at 45. Veterans have an opportunity many of our peers don't: we can go to college for free, we have skills and veteran status for decent jobs in the interim, and we can save a lot of our measly salary while enlisted. When I enlisted we were asshole deep in 2 wars and Daddy Bush was generous..so the signing bonuses were plentiful and deployment pay was awesome. Here's a summary of what I did: + +* **Saved most of my salary** (no joke, roughly 70% of what I made). lived and ate on base. didn't own a car. bases tend to be in HCOL and unsafe areas so l stayed on base. +* **I sought professional advice**. my mom accidentally opened my bank statement about a year into my navy career and was shocked at my balance. Bless that saint of a woman, she urged me to go to a financial advisor if I was saving that kind of money. I did. found a fee based advisor far away from a military town (this is crucial - military folks are targets as most are, frankly, morons) +* **Used my benefits** to get a degree afterward. Information systems, wound up a software developer. I like it, it pays well and there are a lot of jobs in my home LCOL state. +* **Married well.** This may sound comical, but I'm serious. By marry well I mean..someone with discipline who shares your goals and vision and will be a partner in getting there, not a roadblock. Yes, my husband makes good money, but the most important thing he brings to the table is his commitment to our budget and goals. +* **Bought a cool apartment in an up and coming city.** This was just luck, but it's part of my story so I mention it. Bought a place in my home city that needed aesthetic updates and a new HVAC system. sold it 4 years later for more than double what I bought it for. bought a nice bottle of wine with the profit and invested the rest. + +Those 5 things were game changers. 6 years of service, a 60k signing bonus, and 2 deployments later I put away about 155k, before interest, while in the navy. I don't think you should expect to be able to sock that much away, as the signing bonuses and deployments aren't what they were in the days of "WMD's". I also invested in unique economic circumstances (or at least, unique to my lifetime so far) and having money in the market when it started improving was critical for really growing my net worth. Obviously, this is not an opportunity you have, but I think with discipline and playing your cards right, and maybe a lucky break you can do it. A few things I'd do different/recommend... + +* **Stay enlisted in the reserves.** I kick myself sometimes for not doing this. I'd be a few years away from a nice little Uncle Sam funded pension just for babysitting 1 weekend a month (and I'd get a paid weekend away from the family!). I had done 2 deployments though and never wanted to see sand or smell another marine again so I didn't even consider it. If it's a decently peaceful time, you may consider it when the time comes. +* **Consider a career that builds on my military training.** A lot of colleges will consider your military training and give you credits. I could have been done with school in 2 years instead of 4. Could I be making more money? Probably depending on a few things like specialty and location, but I'm happy in my post-military career and that's not something I take for granted or put a price on. But it's worth considering more closely than I did. + +That sums it up! + +Good luck and thanks for your service. +#Recap + +Etherdelta is a decentralized exchange based on smart contracts. + +It has been bought by Chinese investors, who doesn't quite seem to understand the nature of ED. + +Shortly after this, the DNS was hacked. People who traded using their private key got their wallets drained. + +After this they launched an ICO "EDT". It has been criticized as a cash grab with no real utility, and even being a scam. I prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt, but the evidence is piling up. For example, they [used the icorating logo without actually having been rated by them](https://np.reddit.com/r/EtherDelta/comments/7n19pf/icorating_wants_to_be_off_etherdelta_scam/) (which according to @etherdelta was a [misake](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:kMEUXkPElacJ:https://twitter.com/etherdelta/status/947379571707412480%3Flang%3Den+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=se), but I'm not sure how it could be). + +The team is Terry Liu (CEO) and Luna Sun (CMO). Joe Zhou (FirstBlood) is listed as an advisor. There are two other characters mentioned in the ICO, but I haven't actually seen them anywhere and don't have any proof that they exist or how exactly they advance the plot. + +Terry announced that [token listings will now have to escrow 1-3% of the project's total market value as EDT](https://web.archive.org/web/20180104011156/https://medium.com/@terryliu_71238/in-order-to-protect-etherdelta-users-and-investors-benefit-we-have-decided-that-during-the-bd33464dbca0), (later removed in favor of [a longer post with the escrow starting at 0.1%](https://medium.com/@terryliu_71238/etherdelta-listing-policy-announcement-49c8ed4ff1f1)). + +#In the last couple of days + +@etherdelta twitter account has been suspended. + +The ico-page (https://crowdsale.etherdelta.com/) is no longer up. http://crowdsale.etherdelta.live/ seems to work, but all images are broken. + +Luna ([@EtherdeltaL](https://twitter.com/EtherdeltaL)) is following and tagging phishing-accounts such as @etherdelta_, @EtherDeItaRep3 and @etherdeIta (capital "i", not "L") on twitter (credit to /u/Evie2433 for making me aware of this). Luna hasn't warned about or distanced herself from them. This could also be the explanation why @etherdelta was suspended (tweeting phishing links or tagging/retweeting content from phishing accounts). + +In a [conversation with @POWtoken](https://twitter.com/POWtoken/status/955342382513340416) [and @James_Nguyen212](https://twitter.com/James_Nguyen212/status/955419345747836928) she's saying Joe is in control of the platform that she paid Zack for: + +"This may be a clever scams" + +"We need to take back our power, or ask for zack to terminate and cancel the sale and purchase agreement." + +"As a buyer, I have been deprived of platform management." + +"Zack platform to sell to us, but give Joe management platform." + +"no. I don't think zach to leave" + +Joe, who denied being their advisor as stated on the ico page, is likely just being used as a scapegoat. + +Lunas account was later turned into private, while sanitized from strange comments including these ones, although leaving quite a lot of unprofessional comments like "maybe u like to eat very much" and some of the accusations about Joe are still there. I captured some of them that I recommend you read through for the unintentional comedy. Unlike the EDT token, these are gold: + +&nbsp; + +[Insane comparisons to BNB and food](https://i.cubeupload.com/13Z1U5.png) + +[Tagging some phishing accounts](https://i.cubeupload.com/zUKcHo.png) + +[Gets warned that she's been tagging phishing accounts, and then does nothing about it](https://i.cubeupload.com/Lwtrtw.png) + +[Gets warned that she's been tagging phishing accounts, answers "Ok", and then does nothing about it](https://i.cubeupload.com/E0oNzI.png) + +[Calling out for Zack/"Zake" to explain things for them](https://i.cubeupload.com/8ua2oQ.png) + +[Insinuating that there might be "clever scams"](https://i.cubeupload.com/XJLJA0.png) (now deleted) + +[Joe denies being their advisor](https://i.cubeupload.com/bsp2nj.jpg) (credit to the user "Arseniy" in the Telegram group. The original post is deleted now, although Joes answer isn't) + +[Luna says she has a video that confirms Joe is lying](https://i.cubeupload.com/zufHSU.png) + +[Luna attacks seemingly innocent dissatisfied customer for being on Joe's payroll](https://i.cubeupload.com/SiPDp6.png) + +&nbsp; + +Luna seems to be the closest thing to an official twitter account ATM, which is alarming considering the outrageous things she writes. According to what I believe to be the closest thing to an official telegram group she's a "fake account", and also their "official page" ([yup, you read that right](https://i.cubeupload.com/5hqGM4.png)). The admin there also said that the guy asking for comments about Joe's denial being an advisor was "[picking at straws](https://i.cubeupload.com/RhYRAY.png)". + +&nbsp; + +Addition: +Arseniy turned out to be /u/freeatnet (the creator of /r/ForkDelta). I recommend that you read his comment below and use ForkDelta in the future. + It’s been a few months that I have been scrolling and studying new DApps. I was just making my DYOR and a new concept has captured my attention. + +The project in question is [Amnext](https://amnext.xn--io-pka/). Initially I was intrigued by the name that literally is an abbreviation of “I am the next “. I started an investigation on the project and discovered a cutting-edge feature that I have never heard of, the concept of **Lifetime Lottery Ticket.** + +I am not a lottery player and even though I do not believe in gambling, I was very impressed by Amnext and its innovation in this field. + +**The main features of Amnext are:** + +* *Lifetime Lottery Ticket* +* *No-Loss Lottery* +* *Staking Rewards* +* *Referral Rewards* +* *Rewards in AMC by depositing in Prize Pools* +* *Doxxed Developers* + +# Lifetime Lottery Overview: + +The **Lifetime Lottery** follows an easy but smart procedure. Once a user buys the lifetime ticket the funds are sent to the **Amnext Staking protocol**, it will generate Interest. + +This is where the magic happens. The interest produced is accrued to the to the lifetime jackpot depository which allows users to **keep their lottery tickets forever** without the necessity of putting in money repeatedly to participate on the drawing of the next lottery. + +In simple terms, the money used to buy the tickets **does not become the jackpot** as it happens in classic/national lotteries but it is used to generate the interest, which will form the jackpot and allow **the birth of the lifetime ticket!** + +# No Loss Lottery Overview: + +**Another unbelievable concept** inside the Amnext ecosystem is the **No-Loss Prize Pools.** + +The members can deposit funds in different stable and well-trusted Tokens like **BNB/CAKE/USDT.** + +The amount deposited follows the same workflow similar to the lifetime lottery protocol. The Tokens deposited are invested in one of the most active and secure platform of the Binance Smart Chain, **Venus a Lending and Borrow** Dapp that permits the invested tokens in Amnext to generate the interests which form the jackpots. + +Instead of the lifetime lottery, you can remove your investment whenever you want and accrue AMC tokens as a simple staking system. There is also a **bonus that is added to the jackpots,** the fabulous **LootBox;** a fair amount of AMC tokens that is provided by the tokenomics logic of the project. + +# My Review + +The confidence of the doxxing team is amazing and **should sell itself early enough**. I advise you to join the **telegram group** to connect with the community of developers to clarify any doubts you may have. I personally believe that the project has a lot of potential and will be for sure a **long-term DeFi application!** + +Website: [amnext.io](https://amnext.io/) + +Telegram: [https://t.me/amnext\_official](https://t.me/amnext_official) +Pretty self explanatory \^ For me, it was my strategy had about 50 % win ratio, did a bit of back testing came across the concept of seasonailty (how certain days are rigged and just are bound to hit Stop Loss ) excluded those days win ratio went to 70-80% + +Like wise, whats the signle biggest thing that increased your win ratio / made you profitable +8+ years of working at my 9-5 career job while also working on side income projects during my spare time, along with budgeting and saving as much as I could. One step closer to FIRE! Big thanks to everyone on this subreddit who I've learned from throughout the years. +Just read a post about how the NFT marketplace will help companies like Nike and Rolex provide proven authentication for the products that they sell. IMO this thought process will eventually trickle down to everything that isn't a consumable good. + +Consumers will start to demand and be willing to pay a premium for all sorts of things knowing that if they ever decided to part with them, there will be a safe and secure way to sell these products and not have to worry about scams on sites like eBay or Amazon. + +Amazon will essentially be left for consumable goods like paper products. I know when I'm done with my toilet paper, no one needs to NFT that... + +Amazon will lose out on many sales as the brands of the products they carry will have to move to this new, high demand marketplace for authenticated products. +Source: https://twitter.com/AmichaiStein1/status/808407221616918528 + +and Trump's tweet: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808301935728230404 + +Does anyone here have access to the kind of data that could prove or disprove that someone sold a significant amount of shares before Trump's tweet? +Hello all - thank you all for the wonderful help on my last post about security and safety: [https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/va1ay9/help\_how\_do\_you\_stay\_safe\_i\_have\_a\_public/ic05f5m/](https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/va1ay9/help_how_do_you_stay_safe_i_have_a_public/ic05f5m/) + +I not only got wonderful advice, but made a few like-minded friends there. I really appreciate the community and am glad one of my peers recommended it. + +**Is anyone here also obsessed with self optimization, health optimization, longevity, etc.?** + +**If so, what are your hacks, investments that drive the most ROI? Assume budget for this is $250,000+ per year, though it can stretch up.** + +**The wilder, wackier, and less known, the better.** + +Here are mine: + +1. Concierge doctor & medical practice, on demand +2. Annual full body diagnostics and scans (Clarification: MRI, NOT CT) +3. Misc treatments like cryotherapy, cosmetic surgery (Clarification: I understand some people find this controversial, but this is part of my regimen), and a high end personal trainer + +I am familiar with Dr. Peter Attia, Dr, Patrick, etc. +Everyone says that "if only i had spent more on X coin when it was X price!" but they forget that a lot of them would have sold early. + +so those of you who have held Eth from last January or before, how did you resist selling when it went to 20 dollars but crashed back down to 10? or how did you resist selling at 300 dollars? I'm interested in the resolve it took to hold. + +What was the process? I'm in a similar position right now with another coin which i think is going to have an ETH kind of run, but you never really can tell for sure. + +I initiated a lumpsum investment into 3 MF schemes at 2:27 PM on the 18th of March each for an amount that is low enough to be transacted via UPI through Kuvera. (Canara Robeco, Axis and Kotak - all equity MFs) + +I get a message early morning the next day from Canara Robeco that the allotment has been made against my folio for the 18th March NAV. Great! + +I make sure to verify the allotment, sure enough its there all day on the 19th March up until I sleep. + +Wake up this morning on the 20th of March to find out that apparently my older allotment in Canara Robeco has been rejected and I also get a message that I have been allotted the 19th March NAV for the Kotak investment and the Axis one is still pending. All of this on a day the market is not open. The current state of NAV allotment is absolutely ridiculous. I have so many questions and I don't know whom to blame here. + +SEBI? For the ridiculous rule of allotment when the funds hit the AMC account which does not go hand in hand with the 3 PM allotment cut-off at all.Kuvera, maybe? I've already made a support ticket to find out why this may have happened. Awaiting response.Canara Robeco? I find it extremely unpleasant that an allotment was rejected after being accepted? When am I supposed to get the refund on this?Kotak? + +Is there something I'm missing here? In hindsight I should've made the investments through the AMC websites separately but that doesn't mean all of this isn't an issue. Looking for what can be done in this case from the more experienced investors here.. + +Edit 1: As much as this post may seem like I fret over returns, that's really not what this is about. I would've had the same questions if it was a day when the markets went up and not down like they did on 18th March. + +Edit 2 : Kuvera cut-off is 2:30 PM. Even then, my investment was made before the cut-off for the day. However, as highlighted by Kuvera, the issue could be that the order time was 2:27 PM but the UPI transaction time could have been after 2:30 PM (or before), in which case I agree that I should get the 19th NAV. + +Edit 3 : I just had a word with a Kuvera employee. While I wasn't blaming Kuvera because I was unsure what went wrong, they are helping me have this resolved with the AMCs with their escalation team working on finding out the reason for this case and driving it to closure. All the scenarios were also very well explained over the call and I appreciate them taking the time to do this over a weekend. I will be updating the thread over the current status and likely be creating another one when things are resolved if this one gains enough traction. + +Edit 4: I just got the allotment from Axis MF. The transaction date is 18th March but the NAV is that of 19th March. Which again is very weird. All the three transactions now have discrepancy. I also went back to my bank app to check my UPI transaction time and it appears it is 2:28:29 PM which is within the cut off. The only reason I mention the exact time is because every second will matter in this case to conclude which NAV I should be getting, this was conveyed to me by the Kuvera employee over the call. +You guys I can't believe this is my life right now. I just moved to a new city with a higher cost of living two days ago. The day before I left I applied for a job doing basically the same thing I've always done (admin) but at $19 an hour. I honestly didn't think it was real. I got a call the same day I applied and we scheduled an interview for the day after my move. I almost didn't go because it seemed too good to be true but I said screw it. It is a legit company and the guy who interviewed me was awesome! After my interview he called me not even two hours later to offer me the job! I am in tears right now. This is the greatest Christmas gift I could have hoped for :) +Bassically the title. I know this sub LOVES Realty Income. I'm curious of those who know a lot more about the stock, what is your opinion of the company in 30 years from now? +I am so overwhelmed. I don't know where to start. So much contradicting advice. + +\- I just read Rich dad , poor dad - what do people think of this book. It left a sour taste in my mouth +Asking for a friend - transferring from USD in an American bank account to EUR in a European bank account. + +Have heard IB or Wise - does anyone have any experience with this? Thanks for the help! +HYPE TRAIN NEVER STOPS BABY + +&#x200B; + +CHOO MUTHAFUCKIN CHOOOOOOOOOOO + +&#x200B; + +This whole "Monday is going to be a boring day" sentiment is lameeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Who ever pushes this narrative is poopin on parties. EVERYDAY IS A GREAT AND EVENTFUL DAY WHEN YOUR INVESTED IN THE GREATEST COMPANY IN THE WORLD! Sure, the artificial price may not move a whole lot, OR IT WILL!!!! We don't know, there could be some thicc juicyyy fuckin DD dropped on our smooth brains. NO ONE KNOWS. Maybe a fire meme pops up, or the 2 gentlemen we all love some much make some tweets for us to try and "decode". So, + +Please, + +Enough of the mindset, and keep the hype goin. + +Party doesn't stop here at our favorite subs. + +Good Day, Bad Day, Red Crayons, Green Crayons... doesn't matter. We all just personally love the stock and we love what we are all experiencing and seeing unfold in front of our eyes. + +Have a great weekend everyone! Hydrate, eat healthy, workout, kiss your significant other, walk your pets, play with your kids, do whatever you wanna do to be happy, but don't lose the HYPE! + +Edit: love all the positivity in the comments everyone <3 + +Edit 2: you all are awesome! Thanks for all the support, but keep you awards/money for a post that adds value or more moon tickets! + +Edit 3: thank you for making my first post ever to "hot" y'all are awesome ❤️❤️❤️ + +Edit 4: seeing this got so much love, I'm considering maybe doing a weekly hype post into the weekends? Is that something you all would like? Let me know in a pm or something and I'll do it for you all 😁 if not, I still had a blast with this one and talking to lots of you who commented. If I didn't respond to you, I'm sorry but you didn't go in noticed! +Halfway through babypips course, I decided to open a demo account of £3000. + +Today I placed my first trade. I used EMAs and trend lines to analyse. + +Price looked like it was starting to reverse. I noticed my 10ema and 20ema were becoming close and a crossover was looking likely plus the price also broke resistance. + +Although I probably should have been more patient and allowed price to bounce and the crossover to happen I just wanted to place my first trade. + +I used a risk ratio of 3:1 and set my tp 30 pips above buy price and sl 10 pips below buy price. + +I used a lot size of 0.38 so I could only risk 1% of the account with a 10 pip stop loss. + +This was probably a fluke and my strategy wasn't thorough enough to predict the uptrend continuing but hey it was exciting to see my first trade hit tp. + +I think I could have modified my sl during the trade to make it risk-free whilst also altering the tp to continue riding the trend and maximise profits. However, I had a plan and stuck to it. + +let me know your thoughts :D + +https://preview.redd.it/jjcqx2qj4w351.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=6f6c3de91391ca8f7e976be136ac42700194d493 + +https://preview.redd.it/diwa2y9p0w351.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&s=18f955a3d1255688e46b45fdd63343df4a9b9487 +I have been lurking this sub for a while and I see a lot of memes and stupid gains but no one talks about what they do, how they do it and so on. + +How can I be like you guys? What do you look on a company? +In 2016 my co-worker told me that his friend and his friend's dad bought a few million shares of TPAC and it was going to go to the moon. I had never invested in a penny stock before that, so I bought into the hype and thought maybe I, too, could go to the moon. I bought 3 million shares at .0013 and watched the thing sink to .0001 over the course of the next year. Then it sat dormant for about three years. Seemingly out of nowhere, it started getting volume again recently and today I sold all my shares at .0006. Feels good to finally be rid of it. +Hi r/personalfinance. I’d like to share my success story about recently asking for and receiving a raise. + +I currently work in an account executive/outside sales position in a medium size, international company (1,500+ people). I was hired and trained straight out of college, which is extremely out of the ordinary for my type of position (most similar outside sales entry level positions are 5+ years experience). During my final interview, I was asked to name my salary expectations. I asked for 50k (which to 22 year old kid, sounded like a lot at the time) and they happily obliged. I received a 3k increase after successfully completing training and another 5k of the course of the next 3.5 years or so. I should also note that I get reimbursed fully on all gas receipts, cell phone, and a 6k per year taxable auto allowance. I also receive a yearly bonus that has usually been about 1 month of salary. My W2 showed 72k in taxable income last year. + +I have been extremely successful and have worked very hard to build my own account base in my job the past 4 years. My company and direct managers are very pleased with my progress, they think I’m a hard worker, and I always get great reviews. The real problem is my salary or bonus is not based on commission. I’m salaried with a profit sharing bonus that is based on how well the company (not the individual salesperson) does. + +This past year I did very well based on all measurable metrics. I knew that if I really wanted a raise, the time to strike was now. The past 1 or 2 years, I had been approach by several headhunters. I’m not really looking for a change of scenery as my current industry is consolidating, there are financial woes, and I’m well liked and really like my current work/life balance. However, I couldn’t ignore the numbers they were throwing out. The last recruiter to contact me told me the salary was up to 90k + benefits depending on experience (with a min of 3-5 years experience in my current role). 58k vs 90k is quite the discrepancy. + +During my last review I mentioned to my direct manager that I was unhappy that our bonuses/salary is not based on how we do as individual sales people. I also mentioned the fact that I had been approached several times by headhunters. I reiterated that I really enjoy my job and want to stay but asked if there any way to have a review. He said that he would get the message over to HR but wouldn’t promise anything. All salary decision must be reported to HQ in Asia for their decision. + +Less than a week later I was told that the president of the US would be in town for unrelated business and he would like to talk to me. We met and had an hour long discussion. I was able to really get him to relate to me, I shared with him the cost of living in Los Angeles, how I really enjoyed working with the company and would like to continue to grow there, and how I felt my number were incredible good. He just was put into his position about a year ago, so he had no idea how much we all made. + +He told me that there should be no problem getting an increase for me. All my managers think I’m very hard working, I get very good result, and I always get very high marks on my appraisals. He asked me to name a range and I asked for a bump to the 70-75k range (12-17k) increase. He told me he would send a request ASAP to the global VP who could decide on these matters. + +Less than a week later (!!) HR called and informed me that they had agreed to a 14k increase to 72k per year (25% of base!). In return, I gave them a commitment to stay for 3 years. As I mentioned before, there’s a lot of turmoil and consolidation in the industry, so it’s a good time to stay put and ride this out. I felt great that my managers went up to bat so fast for me and my company likes me so much they gave me a huge increase and wants to tie me up for 3 years. I’m also eligible for all future scheduled raises and I’m in a higher bracket for the year profit sharing bonus. + +All in all I went from 58k salary to 72k salary effective this month! On top of the other benefits and bonus, I’ll be making at least 90k per year which I’m so excited about! I was very hesitant and nervous to ask but I thought that I deserved it. I lurked this sub for good advice constantly so I wanted to share my story of good fortune! Thanks to everyone for reading, let me know if you have any questions! + +That’s right, DFV is the new face of GameStop’s NFT marketplace. The deal has been in place since he went dark last year. They’ve asked him to go dark until launch, which is now imminent. It’s no *cohencidence* that the video of him at the theater surfaced last week. GME is about to drop the bomb and get our titties jacked to the max. This week is going to be big. +Hear me out! + +I know the economy is heading for a crisis, so it's likely people are not going to be able to afford meals and drinks out. + +My personal situation is that I'm stuck in a toxic relationship, I haven't been able to work for over 2 years as I have 2 children under 2 and was extremely unwell before the first one was born, and I received a big inheritance at possibly the most inconvenient time, preventing me from being eligible for any benefits or government assistance with housing. + +Now the area of the UK that I live in has a housing crisis, I can't find anywhere to rent, and if I could, it just depletes my already massively depleted inheritance, which was supposed to buy me a house. I can't buy a house because I haven't got enough to buy one outright and I can't get a mortgage due to not working for a while. + +But I can buy the lease on a pub, which comes with a campsite, a lot of land and a big 4 bed apartment. + +My logic was even if I wasn't making a profit in the pub/restaurant, as long as it covered costs, I would effectively be living for free as well as providing my kids with a huge amount of outdoor space that we wouldn't be able to afford otherwise. +The campsite is also guaranteed to make money given its location. + +It seems to be my only way out of my awful relationship and household without all my inheritance literally going down the drain, unless of course, it will still go down the drain. + +Edit: +Hey, thanks everyone that commented (apart from the mean guy, that was a bit uncalled for and unnecessary!). + +I think I've got my answer really. + +The place is super tempting because of the accommodation and land and campsite etc but in order to prioritise my children it's not likely viable for me personally. + +I can't keep up with the comments now and have started getting error messages when I try to reply, but honestly thank you to everyone who took the time to lay out their thoughts and experiences for me. + +Back to the drawing board, one foot in front of the other. + +Cheers everyone! + +Sorry, EDIT 2 - y'all need to stop assuming my gender! I'm the female. And yes my kids come first. Good day! +Was having a conversation with my mate who has recently moved out of his parents house and found a place to rent with his girlfriend. He was asking what the best way to bring up a prenup with his girlfriend because apparently after 2 years of living together you can be considered as a defacto relationship. I question him why he wants one and he said he loves her and everything but wants to insure himself financially because he makes more than double what his partner does and has $110k in assets while his partner is in debt. + +How would you/did you ask your girlfriend/wife for a prenup and when do you do it to insure all your past, present and future assets? + +Edit: I've shown him this reddit thread and he has said thank you for everyone's feedback. He said, $110k in savings might not seem like much but it took him a lot of effort to get it. He also said he has accepted a $200k/yr job which he starts in the new year, so his wealth should grow much faster and the salary difference from himself and his partner will get even wider. +Your markets are run by bots. Now your /r/Asx_bets daily threads are too. + +Read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) people[.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +[Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX\_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. You have been warned.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) + +Automoderator may provide "Guidance" for Lazy and zero effort posting. + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related.](https://discord.gg/EKU2tVBp9u) +Your markets are run by bots. Now your Weekend threads are too[.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +Read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) people. + +[Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX\_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. You have been warned.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related.](https://discord.gg/wsNDGTf5QH) +Your markets are run by bots. Now your daily threads are too. + +&#x200B; + +This thread is for plans and thoughts prior to the market open period. + +Maybe use this time to read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) [.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +&#x200B; + +Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. [You have been warned](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share). + +&#x200B; + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related](https://discord.gg/ywAGqfUAQE). +Hey guys, so the wealth is put away in an index fund making more in dividends than I'll ever need. While the capital grows (or doesn't. I can wait). + +what schools/degrees/courses whether offline or online resources can I indulge myself in if I have a ton of free time. I really love learning everything and anything. I am just looking for ideas on how and where to best spend my time learning cool stuff. + +For instance, I have tremendous appreciation for graduate schools but I don't want to be stuck doing menial slave work for an advisor. So, what paths have the best RoI for learning/education without much hassle? + +EDIT: Thank you, everyone, for your time and input. I appreciate it and I will save the entire page for my future self. Have a wonderful day. +What are some ways to "invest in yourself" where the expected return is way higher (maybe) than what you'd get by literally investing the money instead? + +One basic example I have in mind is "hire an executive coach", but I'm hoping for more ideas. +If you own a company and take a huge salary, you’ll pay 37% in income tax on the bulk of it. Sell stock and you’ll pay 20% in capital gains tax — But take out a loan, and these days you’ll pay a single-digit interest rate and no tax; since loans must be paid back, the IRS doesn’t consider them income. Banks typically require collateral, but the wealthy have plenty of that. + +Ok. I understood but how do they pay those loans back without employment income or selling stocks? +# Ok retards listen up. Been seeing lots of degens writing small DD pieces of bullish or bearish shit. Y'all need to read this cos this is the whole fucking thing. + +this is also basically my magnum fucking opus so upvote retards. Dont give me awards, legit go buy a powerup membership for a year. Cant tell you to buy shares because we gonna get closed down by SEC somehow. + +im also not some fininacial advisor or whatever just read this and make your own conclusions degenerates. Im not fucking liable lmao but i am balls deep 125 shares @ 19 average now, its literally all I have on this earth. + +TLDR: GME DD sumarized, Margin wont affect longs the same way as shorts right now. Dont buy shares on margin though and get ready to supply collateral regardless. Short interest is up and some smart retards are on our side. Read the post to raise your IQ from 8 to 9 though. **🐻 🌈s mega fuk and even posting high level bear shit to scare us.** + +Compulsory 7 rockets so you autists dont start having a seizure or something: + +🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 + +Basically been seeing posts about "blah blah margin this, short interest this, WS to clever blah". Going to split this post into distinct sections but im no english degree so dont expect any bear bloomberg level shit or something + +# 1. GME is a fucking steal regardless of squeeze. Buy now or be left on a dying planet while we head to alpha fucking centauri. + +So basically everyone here knows about Ryan cohen and his horsemen of the apocalypse coming to steal melvins lunch money. This man bought apple stock in 2017. Hes fucking rich. Hes also an eccommerce wizard, taking CHEWY from a measly 100k co-founded company to a $4 Billion company in 2017 at which point he sold it to petsmart or something. Its now valued at $40 Billion, granted anything eccommerce now gets money thrown at it like a stripper in a high flying strip club or some shit , so dont listen to me, so it may well be a bubble. Regardless the thing grows its revenue like bacteria doing binary fission on agar jelly 🚀🚀🚀🚀. + +THEY SELL FUCKING PET FOOD. the market for that is like what? $1?. Gaming is going to the moon and is basically recession proof because of how cheap game is compared to other things for how much you get out of it. Any bears saying that Gamestop cant compete with digital or with amazon. Ryan cohen already slapped amazons head in with a no name brand. Hell fucking do it again. About digital everyone here already knows, microsoft deal, Ryan cohen also mentioned the possibility of having "Digital game exchanging" or something, image below. + +[Online trade ins. It says online.🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀](https://preview.redd.it/2ba9j5d2zvb61.png?width=414&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b6f3f26c3588fdb8cc779aee8a3b1ce42859f33) + +He also mentions streaming, digital content etc and aside from all the digital stuff wants GME to move to a community centric structure where big stores operate with VR centres, Internet cafe, table games like Dungeons and dragons and 40k (rapidly growing somehow will boom post covid) and as we now might know due to this post: + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kypuyb/gme\_dd\_buildapc\_kiosks\_coming/](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kypuyb/gme_dd_buildapc_kiosks_coming/) + +BUILD YOUR OWN PC KIOSKS. This is the literal smell of money. Go to your Gamestop to build your PC with your kid? Gamestop is already the goto place wher your parents go to get you your latest digital fix so now they can go build PC's and it cant go tits up? + +**Now for some pussy boomer talk (aka fundametals or something).** + +The expected Q3 EPS was -0.84$ or something close to that. The actual loss was -0.53$ but boomzoids only talked about the revenue drop. No shit sherlock its closing all its dead weight stores. + +In the holiday report I will talk about a bit more below, 11% of stores were closed and revenue dropped only 3%. Comparitive store sales increased nearly 5%. They cant get enough consoles to sell so expect the momentum to carry on for the whole year I expect. Eccommerce is up 300% over holidays. In Q3 they reported 800% to date. In 2020 Gamestops eccomerce went up 24x. YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT. Online sales now account for \~33% of Gamestops sales now. This is literally gold dust for ryan cohen. + +We are still trading at 0.38 P/S at this price. The average P/S for the SP500 is 2.753. Massive upside on these two numbers alone. + +Burry got in this for the MOASS and the intrinsic value. At the time intrinsic value was like $22 and this will pump up as RC takes it to new heights. + +GME in Q3 somehow halved the expected loss. Big Bad Boomer sherman somehow didnt fuck it up that bad by saying "omnichannel" at the speed of light. Yes the revenue dropped 30% but thats covid for you. As the PC kiosk post above shows GME now sells small items basically so fast they have to have fake stock lmao. The new console cycle always spikes the share price sky high too, as youll see in a crayon drawing later. The potential revenue that this console cycle brings in could be huge. Biggest ever is potentially a true statement and Gamestop sells every fucker they get. Combine the fact that they share game pass ( a massive hit) revenue from the xboxes they sell, something no other retailer has, revenue could be sky high. + +Now I know you autists are starting to develop short term dyslexia or something but keep reading. This could be the most important piece of shit you read in your life. How do you think I feel? My brains overheating just trying to write coherent sentences. + +Holdiay report was a bear trap imo, saw people saying the decrease in revenue was bearish blah blah blah. Lies. Comparitve store sales rose 5% and thats with some towns having like 4 gamestops. When the leases dont get renewed and these stores get liquidated (Also in Ryan cohens letter) they can just get this influx of cash and pay down debt and invest in logistics and marketing and new growth. Gamestop realistically needs like 1/2 the stores they have now and just need to improve efficiency. + +[https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/349890](https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/349890) this article the messiah himself wrote. In it he states: + +>At Chewy, we had maniacal discipline when it came to how we spent money. The company-wide culture of frugality came from his example. Free cash flow was our unwavering governor of growth. We grew Chewy from $200 million in sales in 2013 to $3.5 billion in 2018 while spending only $130 million in capital, all of which went into opening distribution centers across the country and acquiring new customers. + +Maniacal. Thats all I need to say. The guy is going to get to mars before papa musk and he wont even break a sweat. When FCF starts to catch up to WS expectations every analyst who donwgraded them is gonna get ditched and upgrades will start to happen. + +So in the heading i said its a steal. That implies some future higher price target right? Well here is my guess for a conservative price target based on the information above and also some more I probably forgot cos im a retard. + +&#x200B; + +[The difference is where share price looks to be and where market cap places us is due to difference in outstanding shares \(another reason shorts are fuk\)](https://preview.redd.it/dehiug393wb61.png?width=1552&format=png&auto=webp&s=f198773c36d5109382eb2beba6fade3c059121df) + +>The difference is where share price looks to be and where market cap places us is due to difference in outstanding shares (another reason shorts are fuk) + +This alone means if for not inflation adjusted terms we reached 9.8Bn or whatever the crayon chart says we should reach: + +9.8/2.48 = \~3.95 3.95 \* $35.5 = \~$140. The share price now to reach old mkt cap is $140 fucking dollars. Thats a 4 bagger from now. It gets better. + +from [statista](https://statista.com) : + +>Considering the **annual inflation rate in the United States** in recent years, a 2.24 percent **inflation rate** is a very moderate projection. + +If we take 2.24% inflation, the this share price target in todays money means we should reach $182 because of $140 \* 1.0224\^12, = $182 in adjusted. Thats more than a 5 bagger. basically we could see $10 GME price from short manipulation and buying more is basically a lottery ticket! + +I really dont understand the bear thesis. The only bear thesis ( short term this one) was that margin would affect longs more but I looked at it on ortex and its basically bullshit. Buy shares with cash though dont use margin. Own your piece of GME dont borrow it. Bears just spout "DigITaL" or "BlOCKbuSTER" so much Ryan tweeted a shit emoji at them. All the bears think theyre clever. What the fuck makes those guys special? How are they different now than the ones from $2, or $4, or $10. + +**Bears are betting against:** + +Ryan fucking cohen, buisness legend CHEWY from 100k investment, now 40 billion + +Michael burry, Investing legend, predicted the housing crisis and is in GME since april + +u/DeepFuckingValue , the new WSB god chad, now basically a whale + +Reggie Fils-Aimé, gaming and buisness legend, former COO of nintendo + +Senvest, a mega fund thats actively managed + +Norweigan sovereign wealth fund + +Fidelity, Vanguard and blackrock own this shit and are never selling they literally dont give a shit + +All of WSB has now formed a shield wall against the bears + +Microsoft gave GME highly discounted azure deals and free office use for all employees and a revenue sharing agreement. Bears are stupid if they think MSFT didnt vet GME. + +&#x200B; + +Some valid bear thesis left now (the only ones left) ----> Ryan Cohen dies. + +# 2. Now some analysis on the short squeeze and some technical data on puts and calls and ortex data. + +Ok everyone on here and their cat, dog, bedbugs and wifes boyfriend knows about the squeeze. Jimmy chill aka cramer even talking about it. Gamestop is literally the most shorted stock of all time and space. The squeeze makes every autist salivate because its basically free money while cucking big money out of like what 1% of their fund. + +Although I know all you cucks hate shares, and hate holding, if the squeeze doesnt happen selling is probably the most retarded thing anyone could do. Its literally buy high sell low and you fucking disgust me. STONK ONLY GOES UP. + +This squeeze is so monumental that its been sucking sharks in like fresh blood. Most of the funds where shorting this from 30-15 dollars before this year so they didnt really care. It all changed with 2 people. u/DeepFuckingValue and Dr. Michael Burry. These guys are as OG as it gets with GME. I think u/DeepFuckingValue may have even sniffed this trade out before the legend himself. Since then funds will have churned this through their rules and started jumping on this train. Ive been in since $13 with 125 shares. If I had more money Id be buying but im just some stupid student ok. Im merely a medium for this money made information. + +**The stats for this stock now short wise are, from ortex:** + +*Concrete* short interest as of 31 December 2020: **71 Million**. + +*Estimated* short interest, *January 11th data:* (This isnt predicted, this is from data in flow, has margin of error) : **77 Million** + +Short shares on loan 7 days ago: **50 Million** + +Short shares on loan *now* (This breaks the bearish margin calls affect longs more thesis): 54.2 Million + +% of known float short: **147%** as of 31 December 2020 + +% of know free float on loaned shorts: **108%** as of January 11th. + +Some [guy](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kyocql/updated_potential_holdings_of_gme/) on here took into account extra buying on wednesday, Institutions, Burry, RC's extra 7% and WSB ownership (something so stupendously retarded no serious firm will do it) that float on short could be in the 100s of %. Total short float now I would say could be **200-400%** if the numbers are correct. This pisses on all other short squeezes. Some countries ban shorting above 100% cos of how autistic it is. + +The recent hike in interactive brokers available shares is probably a mix of sell off on friday (remember some guys are now buying lambos with GME money. If they held they could buy 10), calls exercising and puts being covered and brokers ditching the shares. Nakedshort even reported 5 million naked GME shorts on friday. This is bullish as fuck because the best the shorts could do on a red market day was **-10%**. + +Gamestop is still on the SECs threshold list for 27 days now. + +[This shows naked short selling and downwards pressure hasnt capitulated](https://preview.redd.it/xsetax08pwb61.jpg?width=1083&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=172439b81f509ba01ed3e6489671d6f009298e84) + +Need rockets 🚀 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀: + +Ok so now if WSB owns an estimated 6-8% of the stock and we all know to move over to cash accounts now to avoid margin calls, we should be minimizing longs getting margin called. Every bear on stockwits is a clueless cuck who spouts "blockbuster" and these guys dont even know what margin even is so my bet is the colossal **54 Million** shares short on loan are gonna be affected by the margin calls more. Why? Because every long on margin is in the green, and now a true zealot/extremist/autist for ryan cohen so will supply their account with collateral to avoid margin call. Shorts are in the massive red zone. How do I know you ask? + +Ortex data from Jan 4th 2021: + +[This is the data from ortex for short interest for Gamestop for Jan 4th](https://preview.redd.it/urqb3c3zbwb61.png?width=1152&format=png&auto=webp&s=d874cd908bad7fe3e8aa4486b5a294f5c1d5724e) + +So this shows for jan 4th the estimated short interest is 66.98 Million shares. From the exchange reported 71 Million on december 31st this makes a lot of sense because the share price fell from \~21 to \~17 so shorts took profits. The shares on loan arent for longs too. This is all purely short data, and 47M shorted at $17 this shows. + +These shorts are in a circle of hell we cant comprehend and makes satan scared. + +🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 + +Now for the data for this week: + +&#x200B; + +[Ortex short data for Jan 14th for Gamestop](https://preview.redd.it/5ryumpl1dwb61.png?width=1152&format=png&auto=webp&s=fb80c09e1be7b2f36f6d3745983cef4ce2b2df9b) + +SHARES ON LOAN HAVE GONE UP. BUT 87% OF LOANED SHORTS WHERE SHORTING AT SUB $20. + +Cost to borrow is also up, estimated short interest is up to a cataclysmic amount. + +Longs on margin need to supply collateral, but we are in the massive green zone, shorts are underwater. Margin calls will ravage the shorts and sting the longs. We also have the uptick rule in place until the end of the day, so shorts can only short on the way up. Im not saying itll happen but this shit is skewed in our favour big time. we need to 💎[🙌](https://emojipedia.org/raising-hands/)💎[🙌](https://emojipedia.org/raising-hands/)💎[🙌](https://emojipedia.org/raising-hands/)💎[🙌](https://emojipedia.org/raising-hands/)💎[🙌](https://emojipedia.org/raising-hands/)💎[🙌](https://emojipedia.org/raising-hands/)💎[🙌](https://emojipedia.org/raising-hands/)💎[🙌](https://emojipedia.org/raising-hands/). + +🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 + +**Seen a lot of talk about Gamma hedging and delta.** + +You realize that the fucking bankers and brokers dont understand gamma hedging right? That shits up their with the black-scholes equation and feynman-kac solution. Forget about it. The retards claiming to understand it are either payed by hedge funds or lose money. The guy who took out outs thinking options exercising and gamma hedging would lead to a collossal sell off on friday lost money on his puts because **no one** except some quants in a goldman sachs server room know this shit. The idea is simple about neutral delta on options that people take out, but the simple system interacts with every other thing in the stock market, and wow who couldve guessed it, like nearly any other element of the stock market predicting something by the day is nigh impossible. That guy talking about Gamma , Delta and margin calls is on weeklies. Hes no more autistic and equally retarded as all of us. Hes a chill guy though so dont berate a fellow brother. + +**Now weve established the likelihood of longs getting margin called is far smaller than shorts, on to the options distributions** + +**Two images now: Top one is before the end of the 15th, the other one is after market close:** + +&#x200B; + +[This shows the suspected melvin puts \(51000 contracts, 5 Million shares, rolled up from july, strike price $24\) and lots of big ITM calls.](https://preview.redd.it/t8odq9btgwb61.jpg?width=821&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=61bb8a66e0ed83f0315921c295d1851a3c20c6c0) + +🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 + +[This shows the big put contract didnt get rolled over and the big ITM calls got exercised on friday. Large puts are underwater big timem while calls are in the big tendy zone.](https://preview.redd.it/3nqb33f0hwb61.jpg?width=675&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9dc83f542dcc3565ae0424121146101b73cf0083) + +These two graphs, show before market close and after. As we can see the massiver 51000 put contracts didnt get rolled over and the chances that those were melvins july puts rolled up is very high. They expired worthless. Lots of calls are printing big time while huge amounts of puts are worthless and bleeding money. + +Something else we can extrapolate from the charts is that massive options trades are not present on the scale we saw before (tens of thousands). + +🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 + +We are seeing a discrepancy in the number of puts/calls opening up at the higher prices with calls gaining fast. This could show that some funds are now becoming optimistic on the long or short term prospects of gamestop. There are also more puts than options and if we assume this for shorts vs longs on margin (without even taking into account that all shorts are borrowed shares and pay interest further bleeding cash) then shorts are likely on more margin than longs. + +Regardless fellow autists my main point is two show that the bears are underwater and the bulls are flying high with regards to options. + +**Now lets compare this possible squeeze with others.** + +Bear in mind this is the most shorted stock of all time, but differences in free float change the share price differently. + +Kodak went from **$2.16 to $33.2** + +Volkswagen went from **\~200 euro to nearly 1000.** + +Overstock went from **\~$21 to $123** + +Blue apron went from **$2.31 to $18** + +Ive been seeing some estimated that 1 million shares is roughly a dollars move in share price. This maths is about to be pretty autistic so bear with me degnerates. + +$1 now is 2.81% of the share price. Everything in the markets is exponential and based on percentages. So if we assume a full squeeze of ortexs estimated short interest (This assumes no sell off and no new shorts, new shorts can be positive or negative depedning on when in the squeeze they happen) **$35.5 \* 1.0281\^77 = $299.** GME to moon. 🌑 . + +This shit can happen. Hold on. + +**GME has squeezed and been manipulated before and it always happens around the console cycles. Shorts never win and they wont win now.** + +&#x200B; + +[This post right here I found months ago and got me in the squeeze from the honourable and valiant u\/Uberkikz aka Rod Alzman](https://preview.redd.it/4ysv7bzclwb61.png?width=1199&format=png&auto=webp&s=27ac6ac58b6366f81b53fa75966733b8a8d61d3c) + +Basically the crayon chart shows green (outstanding shares) orange ( short shares) purple (Market cap) and cyan (Share price). In 2006-2008 the share price rose in tandem with short interest ( Like now ) Until console releases when you can see an abrupt squeeze happend mooning the share price. + +This happend to a degree in 2013 with the xbox one but worse conditions for the company and a worse console launch lead to slow short covering but the share price still mooned. + +Now we get to the best part. History is repeating itself for the third time and the shares sold short are literally higher than the outstanding shares, which have been decreasing since 2010. Short shares are also at the highest point ever and GME hasnt had a brighter future, well ever. Ps5 and Xbox Series X. are the two most hyped consoles since the Ps2. This is setting up the foundations for massive price movements weve never seen before. This shit has literally never happend, ever. Uncharted waters and we are the captain. + +**For the insurmountably retarded autists who think that the squeeze has happend look upon this and despair:** + +[**https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kwpf6k/gme\_gang\_there\_hasnt\_been\_a\_short\_squeeze\_yet/**](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kwpf6k/gme_gang_there_hasnt_been_a_short_squeeze_yet/) + +IHOR IS A MEGA WIZARD + +Ihor I quote: + +>**A long-buying tsunami ... is the primary factor for the price move** + +Ihor Dusaniwsky is managing director of predictive analytics at S3 a firm similar to ortex. He told bloomberg that the squeeze hasnt happend yet and that this was long buying. If someone knows this shit its him. He was talking about the tesla squeeze in january 2020. He has access to resources we can only imagine. Barrons cut his comment that the squeeze hasnt happend yet out it was that fucking bullish. All the media ramming down "Short squeeze has happend" down peoples throats because bears are fucking scared. + +The bots on stocktwits spamming bearish sentiment should show how rattled they are. + +Edit: **You fucking degens just enlightened me that cramer pump is real, funds are ruminating over the long weekend, and stmmy bills pumps stonks and that stimmy bill buys many an xbox. See you at andromeda! Also more rockets.** + +Edit\*\*: Some autists thought lottery ticket was misleading so instead, gauranteed lottery numbers!\*\* + +Edit 3: [RYAN FUCKING COHEN TWEETED](https://twitter.com/ryancohen/status/1350877969816956934?s=20) THE HOMIE JUST TWEETED. PEANUT EMOJI. HES 1) NUTTING 2) SAYING 35 IS PEANUTS 3) GIF SAYS THERES A CHANCE, SHORT SQUEEZE IMMENINT HOMIES + +Edit 4: [Amazing post here](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kzbzhe/gme_warning_bears_are_among_us_tuesday_is_bullish/) showing that unlucky prize guy was wrong like I said. Ihor also talked about the hypothecation agreement. + +Edit 5: This is true and I forgot to add + +>from u/[luncheonmeat79](https://www.reddit.com/user/luncheonmeat79) via [/r/wallstreetbets](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets) sent 2 minutes ago +> +>There’s also the chance of a ratings upgrade. Moody’s and S&P have GME at B3 and B-, which is rated “highly speculative”. Ratings are reviewed every quarter, and a review might be due this month (i.e. this coming week or next). Good chance that the agencies might upgrade GME to a B2/B, or even better to the next higher band (Ba/BB). + +Edit 6: We are scraping 42 in frankfurt. Granted its low volumes but pre market should open at these prices I think? + +**Conclusion: Buy shares with cash not margin. Hold shares forever unless RC dies (Shame hes a cybernetic demigod), Melvin bad, Shorts fuk, 🐻 🌈 posting bearish shit are doing weeklies for the second time after they expired red on friday, GME to $200 without squeeze, Ryan cohen a god, GME is still a value play, Good luck have fun.** +So we’re all sitting here waiting. Checking the ticker from premarket until after the after hours trading is done, switching to Reddit to see what the latest DD or meme is, then we set the phone down only to pick it up again five minutes later. + +To anyone on the outside, I know I probably look like an anxiety ridden mess... and yet, I haven’t felt this calm in YEARS. + +I’m not exaggerating, either. I have a stressful job that I love, I’m raising two girls that are mine by love and not blood, and I love paycheck to paycheck. My daily stress levels have been through the roof pretty consistently for several years now. + +Yet, despite this, I feel calm. + +Zen. + +Reassured. + +I���ve read the DD, I’ve spent the last four months obsessing, and I’ve reached a point where dips and red crayons don’t phase me. + +Money is no longer an issue. This is going to happen, eventually, and I’ll be able to provide the best life for my family. I’ll be able to do the job I love not to pay the bills, but because I want to be there. + +There is no doubt in my mind, not anymore. I am unshakable in my belief that this is going to happen. + +Thank you. To all those who crunched the numbers, for everyone who made the memes that made me laugh, to everyone who raised their fist in solidarity, THANK YOU. + +Our lives will be forever changed, and with that, we will change the world. +Mod team. If we have been promised anything since the formation of this sub, it is transparency. So why, every time there is something happening within the mod team, you all act like you are sworn to secrecy? + +From Pink’s post today, it seems clear that she does not feel free to talk about an incident involving the mods. + +My inferred understanding of this incident (through re-reading her post) is that Pink had concerns about another mod possibly having become compromised. She took those concerns to the mod team and was met with dis-respect if not open threats. + +She is now stepping back because of that pressure. + +Fuck that noise. You are OUR mod team and I am assuming that you have put procedures in place for whistleblowing. Here is what I want: + +1. Superstonks written policy and procedure on whistleblowing, including protective mesures for whistleblowers. + +2. Superstonks written policy on hearing about, suspecting or recognizing a corrupted Mod and a timeline on how they will be dealt with. + +Seriously, this is no fucking joke. Show us your professionalism and transparency. + +Edit: I am being accused of being a shill, spreading FUD, gotten a few more suicide prevention reports and a zillion downvotes. It’s all good. We’ll get transparency or more crafted “press release” style answers and whichever we get, I will be holding my GME until I can smell the cosmos from my driver-side window. + +Edit 2: Comments are being deleted faster than I can respond. I logged every comment made and the ones that agree with a need for transparency are disappearing. If you have commented and then had it deleted, please message me. + +Edit 3: To whoever is awarding me “Snek” awards twice a second… thanks for spending your money here and not on shorts! +FTX is the biggest collapse of a corporation since 2008 and [the CEO responds with a 1 word tweet stating “what.”](https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX/status/1591989554881658880) + +This comes after $10 billion+ in lost funds, [a suspicious hack on a Friday night](https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/12/business/ftx-hack/index.html) and [reports of SBF attempting to flee](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/former-ftx-ceo-sam-bankman-fried-planning-escape-to-dubai-report/articleshow/95489919.cms). + +It was also revealed that [”FTX had a secret “backdoor” built into its accounting software by SBF.”](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/12/1-billion-to-2-billion-of-ftx-customer-funds-missing-report.html) This route was used to move assets in the billions of dollars without triggering alerts to staff and external auditors. + +Crypto markets will never be the same as the fallout of FTX is rising worries among legislators +Hey guys, my brother and I decided to open a new youtube channel, hopefully we can share some of our investing knowledge. In the video below we talked about Peter's claim, where he thinks investors could beat professionals by investing in things they have information of from their day to day experience. + +Would love to hear what you guys think about Peter's claim. I Would also love to hear personal stories of succesful investment ideas you found by using this method. + +https://youtu.be/S6FUqWjcUFU +This due diligence analysis looks at one possible scenario involving the potential break up of the Rite Aid corporation that projects a return of more than two times (2X) the closing share price of $24.78 on Friday, March 12th, 2021. + +The Rite Aid (RAD) corporation consists of two (2) business units: + +1. The Retail Pharmacy business currently generating approximately $16 billion in annual revenues. +2. The Prescription Benefits Management (PBM) services business known as ELIXIR, currently generating approximately $8 billion in annual revenues. + +One possible scenario for unlocking the value of RAD involves the sale of the Retail Pharmacy business and Rite Aid brand. What is left is the ELIXIR PBM organization. Here is an estimation of how such an approach might play out: + +* In 2018, Walgreens acquired 1,923 Rite Aid stores for $4.4 billion in cash. That represents an average price of $2.275 million per store. +* Should RAD seek a buyer for its Retail Pharmacy business, it could sell its 2,450 remaining stores as well as the Rite Aid brand. Despite the fact that many of these stores are located in highly attractive locations (CA, OH, MA, MD, NJ, NY, PA, VA, etc), let's discount the average value of each store by 20% (compared to the average price-per-store paid by Walgreens), and arrive at a relatively conservative estimate of $1.8 million per store. +* At a average price of $1.8 million per store, RAD could reasonably generate proceeds of $4.4 billion with the sale of the entire Retail Pharmacy business, including the 2,450 locations and the Rite Aid brand name (assigning no good will value to the brand). +* The remaining RAD organization essentially consists of a PBM branded as ELIXIR and a net amount of cash on hand of +$1.2 billion, assuming that $3.2 billion of the Retail Pharmacy sale proceeds are used to pay down the entire existing long-term debt on the company's books. +* ELIXIR's projected sales for RAD's fiscal year 2021 (ending February 2021) are approximately $8 billion. During each of the past four (4) quarters, RAD has reported ELIXIR's year-over-year growth rate to be in the range of 23 - 29%. +* ELIXIR's projected EBITDA for fiscal 2022 (begining March of 2021) will likely be approximately $200 million. Once again, I am taking a conservative estimate, and basically considering that a business that has grown 23 - 29% each quarter for the past year, will suddenly see little to no growth in the upcoming year. +* With only 55,000,000 shares outstanding today, the $200 million EBITDA generated by ELIXIR translates to roughly $3.60 per share in earnings. Using a highly conservative PE multiple of 8, a stock price of $28.80 results. However, the cash-on-hand of $1.2 billion (from the sale of the Retail Pharmacy business after long-term debt payoff) produces additional value of $22.00 per share, resulting in a stock price value of more than $50 per share (which is more than double the closing share price of $24.78 on Friday, March 12th, 2021). +* The newly created company, ELIXIR, would be well-positioned for growth in the small-to-mid-size opportunity segment of the $400 billion per year PBM industry. With a net $1.2 billion in cash, that future growth could be achieved both organically as well as through acquisition. + +In conclusion, this analysis indicates that the conservative value of RAD today is $50 per share, well above the current share price being attributed to the organization by the market, which is just under $25 as of Friday, March 12, 2021. + +The purpose of this post is not to suggest that a breakup of the Rite Aid corporation is the best strategic path forward. (I personally believe that the company has the potential to generate a price per share north of $100 in the next 12 - 24 months if it keeps the entire organization fully in tact.) Rather, the purpose of the post was to reveal the hidden value locked within RAD that is clearly being overlooked by the investment community, by analyzing one possible break-up scenario. +Back when Warren Buffet came up with this saying, people were rather uneducated on the stock market, they were greedy when stock's were going up and fearful when they were going down, causing them to sell and buy at the worst times. + +These days it seems everyone knows this quote and has this knowledge, and everyone is buying the dips, everyone is being greedy when the market is going down or is supposed to go down, like july 28th. Now the masses are doing exactly what Warren Buffet would suggest to do, no one is fearful it seems and every investor knows to invest when the market is going down or is "supposed" to. + +How does everyone buying when stock's are falling, instead of everyone selling out of fear affect the market? How is it recommended to act? It's as if this quote is saying: "Do the opposite of the masses", but it doesn't make sense to just flip it. I'm quite the newbie in stock market investing so please share your thoughts +Now I'm not saying don't sell cash secured puts, I'm saying don't hold the cash after you sell the puts. Instead, use that cash to buy near NAV SPACs. + +For those who don't know, SPACs are blank check companies whose purpose is to bring a private company public via reverse merger. The important thing to know for this strategy, though, is that the money raised by SPACs is held in trusts. When a SPAC finds a company to merge with, shareholders get to A) vote in the merger, and B) are able to redeem their shares for cash at NAV (net asset value). For almost all SPACs, NAV= $10 + a small amount of interest that accumulates offer the life of the trust. + +This effectively creates a hard price floor of $10. While they can and occasionally do fall below this, it is rare and the share price never stays there for long. During the crash in March, some went to like $9.50, but pretty much all recovered back above $10 within a couple weeks. + +So, the point of all this is that near NAV SPACs have extremely limited risk. If I buy a spac at $10.20, my maximum downside is 2%, if that. On the other hand, their upside is limitless. One was up 15x from $10 at once point. This makes SPACs the perfect cash park. + +By buying SPACs with the cash you were using to secure puts, you expose yourself to the daily potential for 20-30%+ gains if you get lucky and a merger is announced while you're holding a specific SPAC, with the aforementioned marginal downside risk. + +If you get assigned on your puts, you can simply sell the SPACs you bought and wheel the assigned shares like normal. Maybe you lose a few dollars on the SPACs here and there, but usually you'll make a small profit, and occasionally you'll make huge profits. Some weeks you'll make more money from theta gains, some it'll be SPACs, but the point is you'll be earning from both as opposed to just one, all without really increasing your risk levels. + +This strategy technically uses margin buying power, but your cash balance always stays positive, and you aren't charged margin interest. + +Disclaimer: not a financial advisor + +Edit: r/SPACs is a great resource and the mods generally do a great job + +Edit2: it appears this strategy won't work with all brokers. I use Webull (options level 3) and it works exactly as I described without being charged any interest for margin, and there's the added benefit of 0 options fees (and that's really for everything $0). +As a new options trader, today was very valuable experience for me. I had heard some of the "rules" from more experienced traders but didn't really grasp why they were guidelines until today. + +* Weeklies are risky because of the short time horizon. Big swings are hard to recover from. +* Closing out winners at 50% is a good idea because the longer you go, the riskier it gets that you'll have a big swing and wipe out your profits with not enough time to recover. "Letting winners run" is dangerous. +* Being delta neutral can help you hedge your portfolio so that when one side goes down the other side goes up. But you can still make money if the market stays in a certain range as long as you're relatively good at picking stock directions. + +Edit: Wow, my first ever awards. Thanks internet peeps! +Fucked up and bought something I didn't understand, decided to stick with it and keep buying on the way down. Have invested 8k over the last few months sitting at an average price of $12.77, currently down 40%. Annotated graph to show where I bought in. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/iyjlc7piem291.png?width=1134&format=png&auto=webp&s=b850139a9055b241fc01caf25ae39d0c5afaff41 + +I still don't know much about the company other than its price is somewhat tied to the price of crypto. Not too upset about the loss as I'm still young and new to investing, so I'm considering it a cheap lesson in the long run. Stock is still really volatile so I'm not sure what to do now though. I don't know much about crypto but I'm fine with holding on to some of my GLXY regardless of what happens. When I bought in a few days ago my plan was going to be to baghold but now I'm thinking I might want to take out some of my position. I'm considering selling half my shares and buying TEC since that has been down the past few months as well. Still open to holding forever though because I'd be fine loosing all the money as well. What would you guys do? +Seeing a lot of chatter all of a sudden. Must be a hive mind thing. I've been ringing this bell literally for months, and I want to clear the air. + +**Here's the deal ... Sears started to squeeze along with GameStop back in January. It wasn't the only one. I suspect that's because, like GameStop, Sears and many others are massively shorted and in probably all the same ways. This is evident in the short volume, SEC FTD reports, and price action in late January/early February.** + +The difference between the Sears and GameStop is that this has been going on with GameStop for years, whereas this has been going on with Sears (and others) for decades. Pretty much since the advent of electronic trading in the 70s, when shorts no longer needed to physically borrow shares, but could instead just locate. + +Everyone keeps talking about the fundamentals of Sears. Bankrupt. About to be dissolved. Nothing of value. Forget dying brick and mortar ... Sears is a dead brick and mortar. Any of this sound familiar? + +So sure, Sears is a shell. But none of that matters. All that matters is the stock market is (suppose to be) a game of balanced ledgers. And if shorts must close, I suspect Sears shares will do something spectacular. + +I've asked this several times over the past couple of months in comments and posts ... but I'll ask it again. If Sears is a dead company and doesn't matter, who is working so hard to consistently short it (check out that borrow fee rate!)? + +https://preview.redd.it/8mslv7c8g3l71.png?width=1224&format=png&auto=webp&s=16db866c721a8ecd71aaad6c820b9326fbbe742d + +[Yesterday's action ... that's about $150K in short volume ... who is bothering with this, and why?](https://preview.redd.it/3pztc3s8g3l71.png?width=1028&format=png&auto=webp&s=53876e588197e8b59a1fb6ab7588eff61542487e) + +Here are a couple (okay, more than a couple) of links with more of my thoughts about the situation surrounding Sears, the GME connection, and what I think is really going on with this market. Sorry for this post to being all links, but I've spent hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of words on this topic over the past few months, much of which has never really been seen. Shillbots like me. Strike that. They love me. I sometimes wish I could see all my down votes as a single number. I often feel like I must be the most controversial poster on Reddit, all because of $GME. + +You may have already seen some of these. If so, keep digging. I've organized these to tell the story as I've watched it unfold. I hope you like red pills and going down rabbit holes: + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/pfb50u/scared\_of\_the\_everything\_squeeze\_just\_turn\_off/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/pfb50u/scared_of_the_everything_squeeze_just_turn_off/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/oyw840/something\_about\_sears/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/oyw840/something_about_sears/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ndaad2/dd\_saturday\_special\_robinhood\_citadel\_options\_and/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ndaad2/dd_saturday_special_robinhood_citadel_options_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ndfn0t/dd\_saturday\_special\_robinhood\_citadel\_options\_and/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ndfn0t/dd_saturday_special_robinhood_citadel_options_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nwozc6/gamestop\_and\_its\_connection\_to\_843\_short\_interest/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nwozc6/gamestop_and_its_connection_to_843_short_interest/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/perwpj/ryan\_cohen\_eddie\_lampert\_patrick\_byrne\_dan/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/perwpj/ryan_cohen_eddie_lampert_patrick_byrne_dan/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nvfwtd/is\_rsuperstonk\_stealth\_deleting\_content\_mods\_know/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nvfwtd/is_rsuperstonk_stealth_deleting_content_mods_know/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/o6ebh0/i\_have\_been\_closely\_monitoring\_robinhoods/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/o6ebh0/i_have_been_closely_monitoring_robinhoods/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +[https://bit.ly/3mX7l5q](https://bit.ly/3mX7l5q) + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nll8qr/this\_is\_what\_panicked\_shortcovering\_looks\_like/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nll8qr/this_is_what_panicked_shortcovering_looks_like/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/oz0aw5/paging\_ftds\_you\_have\_a\_call\_at\_the\_front\_desk/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/oz0aw5/paging_ftds_you_have_a_call_at_the_front_desk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +**Edit #1: I'm not the only ape on the case. This post is worth a look:** [https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/pgt7kz/okay\_this\_could\_be\_literally\_nothing\_but\_i\_found/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/pgt7kz/okay_this_could_be_literally_nothing_but_i_found/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +Edit #2: Changed "zero sum" to "balanced ledgers." +I did (and do) want to do a PhD but I've had a number of people tell me that my profile isn't suited for one, including a former professor. + +Unfortunately it does seem that way - my profile doesn't have any of the 'features' that are required for admission in a good program. + +Therefore, I think I will be following the non-PhD route - I was wondering how many of you have taken that route and how you're doing right now. Mostly in terms of your job profiles, the kind of work you do everyday, and job satisfaction. +The invoice just shows up as "Office Visit". I called the billing number on the invoice to ask about it, and they told me to call the Doctor's Office. I called the Doctor's office, and they told me to call my insurance company. I called my insurance company, and they told me to call the Doctor's office. + + +The second time I called the Doctor's office, they told me that there was a "new patient charge" that was "significant", but they would not tell me how much those charges were. They also said that I was billed for 4 different things, but would not give me any details about what those things are. + + +It seems suspicious that they won't give me any information. I also think this "significant new patient cost" is suspicious - I have never heard of this before. If I was charged for 4 different things, shouldn't they appear on the invoice? + + +Is there a way to dispute these charges? I don't even know where to begin. +I'd like to address a certain post on the front page where OP, a self proclaimed pro options trader, loses 100k from GME options. I'd like to do a quick deconstruction of what OP did very, very wrong. + +According to OP, ITM options were purchased on June 1st with the expiration date of November 12th. Why did OP buy a weekly expiration date back in June instead of 11/19 monthlies? Who knows, but [here's a visual representation](https://i.imgur.com/wGDS7oP.png). + +The white box shows time of purchase to expiry, the top of the white box is approximately the price of GME when OP purchased the options contracts. As you can see, if OP would've sold within a week of purchasing the options their options would have printed. Instead, OP got greedy. + +OP should've sold at the peak, but OP got greedy. + +OP should've sold when GME announced the share offering, but OP got greedy. + +OP should've sold when the price quickly dropped and option contracts were affected by [IV crush](https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/what-an-implied-volatility-crush-is-and-how-to-avoid-it-2021-07-09), but OP got greedy. + +OP definitely shouldn't have let their options slowly lose value over 5.5 months of time decay ([theta](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/theta.asp)), but OP got greedy. + +OP didn't get burned by GME options trading, OP was burned by poor decisions. Options are not for HODLing, they're for leverage and applying additional pressure on SHFs. Nobody is making anyone buy options, feel free to buy, hold, DRS if you aren't comfortable with options, but please stop spreading options FUD. + +Seriously, check out u/Gherkinit and Houston's stream for more info. + +https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBplxmTCXhg +Let me know if this isn’t the right sub and I’ll move the post. + +I read that only about 2 million people in the UK have a stocks and shares ISA. I found that to be extremely low. + +I imagine that a big chunk of people will have money in the stock market through their workplace pensions but that decision is automatically made for them by their employer unless they opt out. + +So when there is the ability to personally opt in to investing by contributing to a S&S ISA why do so few do it? + +How did you get into investing? +Been living in a property I own, but am moving 3 hours away for a new job. I don’t really like the idea of being a landlord from that far away, so I’ve been considering the idea of a rental management company. Seems the average fee they take is around 10% of rent, which would pretty much give me negative cash flow, especially after factoring in maintenance costs. + +I’ll be making enough to afford losing money on the rental each month. I’m trying to avoid selling as I don’t want to lose exposure to the real estate market, I don’t have any near term plans to buy property in the new city I’m moving too. +Hi, I’m a complete newbie. I’m curious, how much should I have saved if I’m getting into real estate investing. Like obviously the down payment but what else should I expect to have saved up before I start looking. + +If I’m looking at 150k houses and plan on doing an FHA loan (house hack if I can), how much should I realistically save up? Accounting for down payment, closing costs, unexpected expenses or emergency fund, vacancy fund etc. I wanna get a ball park so I can start setting some goals. + +I have lofty goals and I need someone to level with me and tell me what I should have saved so I don’t do something stupid lol. + +I was looking at 150k houses and was like “well I can afford that down payment” but I know it’s going to be way way more then that before I even see a dime of any rental income so I really need someone to bring me back to reality lol. + +Edit: I am also only looking at houses I would be able to afford on my income without any rental income. So other than mortgage and insurance what unexpected costs of home ownership should I keep in mind? +As landlord I recently signed a lease for 2 girls to live in a property. I knew 2 kids would be there as occupants but now they moved 2 adult men in there as well. 6 people total. I feel like I’ve been lied to and disrespected. There’s late night fighting, and now they’re overloading the electrical panel resulting in expensive repairs and there’s even a guy living in the laundry room meant for storage. So far I’m looking at not renewing their lease.....in 8 months... I’m in NJ and there’s no rent control so I think that means I could raise the rent an astronomical amount. I’m pretty sure they violated their lease and are disturbing the peace. Working things out could be an option if they immediately change their ways but I’m not counting on that. All of my other tenants are nice friends and members of a community. No ones ever taken advantage of overstepped until now. What would you do if you were a landlord in the same situation? +So BTC is now a legal tender in the country of El Salvador in Middle America... + +&#x200B; + +My question is: Does this somehow change "globally" bitcoin "tax heavens"...? I mean currently there are ways for people to legally NOT pay taxes on their bitcoin sales - they "just" need to change their tax residency (for 183+ days a year) to a country that does NOT tax bitcoin sales - e.g. - Germany (after 1 year of holding), Singapur, United Arab Emirates, Slovenia, Portugal, Belarus and i think few more... + +&#x200B; + +The problem is that bitcoin is "just" not taxed in these countries (but is still NOT considered a legal tender in these countries)... You still need to move your tax residency to these countries (that means moving into the country for 183+ days a year and rather moving and staying there like 1 or 2 years) (which is not so easy/convenient ... + +&#x200B; + +Does the El Salvador situation somehow change how you can legally pay NO taxes on selling your bitcoin...? Im an European BTW, not an American, so keep that in mind (USA has tougher resitrictions on these things). Can i just go to El Salvador for a "holiday" - few days, sell my bitcoin there for USD or EUR and fly right back to my European country with these USD or EUR (sent them via bank transfer rather) and voilà - i dont have to pay any taxes on my sold bitcoin... Not in El Salvador, not even in my home country (because i sold them in El Salvador, wheres its just "normal money" - legal tender...)... + +&#x200B; + +I got the feeling that its still NOT that easy right...? And i would still need to change my TAX RESIDENCY to El Salvador, correct...? + +&#x200B; + +If its still not that easy and i would still need to change my tax residency, can someone answer my why...? Its like i would go to El Salvador and in El Salvador i would change my EUR to USD and return to my home country... In this case i would NOT have to pay any taxes on the exchange of EUR to USD, correct...? So why is the situation with BTC different...? From the viewpoint of El Salvador, BTC is money, like USD or EUR etc..? So changing BTC to USD is like chaning EUR to USD...? So why would i have to pay tax in my home country for this operation...(???) Is this because BTC is still considered a TAXABLE "good" (or whatever) in my HOME country...? Is this the catch...? Is this where the problems lies...? +* Four classes (10 classroom hours) held in the evenings +* A final exam +* A two-year relationship with a professional financial advisor to establish and manage your personal financial plan (a spending, saving and investing plan) +* Participants are eligible to earn a $1000 contribution to their Roth IRA at the successful completion* of the program (*100% participation in classes and advisor meetings and a passing grade on the final exam) +* Participants agree to provide financial information annually for up to two years in order to track the outcome of the program + +More details: http://tci-foundation.org/3rddecade/ +Hi! . If my husband got his real estate license and I was buying/selling a home without him on the loan/title, could I use him as an agent and pay him the 6% commission that I would have otherwise paid to another real estate agent in CA ? +It's the first time ever I move in with someone. I've always been super independent and on top of my shit with my expenses. + +Now I'm thinking, how do couples manage their expenses? Should we open a joint account or not worth it? Who spends for what? How to keep track of everything (there's going to be a lot of expenses to furnish the place in a couple of weeks), do you recommend splitting everything evenly? + +Thanks for any advice! + +EDIT: I can't believe how many answers this got, thanks a lot everyone, so many good points and things to consider, that I hadn't even thought about. I'm sorry I obviously can't reply to each and everyone of you but thank you for taking the time to reply! +I mostly an option and futures swing trader (thetagang style which is almost oposite, high probability, low reward high risk trading) but been looking into a lot of day trading content in the last 6 months. A lot of content, especially from brokers and prop firms, pushing risk reward ratios 1:2 or higher. + +My beef with this claim is that having a 1:2 is often associated with a claim you only need to be right 33% of the time. However, price movement is not a linear distribution. For example, 68% of the move will be within 1 standard deviation, 95% within 2 standard deviations. If your sizing 1:3, 99% of the move. While you need to be right 1 out 3 times, you're statistically not likely to be, giving an edge to the opposite side of the trade. You we need to have some significant asymmetrical information to be successful in the long run. + +I don't know maybe I'm wrong but just seems fishy how much content out there pushing this misleading material. I just don't see how anyone can be profitable over a large size of occurrences. It just seems to be playing into the hands of market makers. + +I've never heard anyone ever justify why either. I know this is unpopular and am prepared to be roasted. So maybe someone can change my view. +You can see the hackers address here https://etherscan.io/address/0x3f8a37bde9b15b65c82f9cdd00192e0ba36cc5fc + +They are asking to public private key to connect to ED and then automatically transferring all of the funds out. No word from ED yet but the hacker has gotten about $165k so far + +Edit: Verified by ED just now: https://twitter.com/etherdelta/status/943580458616541184 +Hey, I'm 28 y.o. female working part time (salary $30,000 per year) and also having a casual job that lets me earn extra $15,000-$20,000 per year. I also have saved $16,000 for a deposit + +Currently I'm renting a room in a sharehouse. My friend told me there's no chance I can afford to buy an apartment now. + +Can I please get some advice, maybe how to buy a studio or one bedroom apartment in my situation. Thank you +I sometimes go to kids birthday parties and instead of a gift or even just a gift certificate, I'd like to gift them some sort of investment. Maybe a way to start a college fund since I know the family doesnt have much money. Years ago you could just give a US Savings bond. Any ideas? +For anyone feeling like they missed the boat: I bought at every increment between $70 and $660. In January 2018, I warned of the coming crash and wrote to the community here that “Hype had exceeded reality”. So I’m writing now to say that today feels like the easiest it’s been to buy. + +With bluechip DeFi apps like Maker, Uniswap, Aave, Yearn and dozens more that have millions of users and billions in liquidity, Ethereum’s utility is no longer theoretical. The smooth launch of phase 0 further confirms that the future of Ethereum is a matter of when, not if. + +ETH will reach $1,400, then $2,000 and eventually $10,000 and beyond. It might take time, and their will be ups and downs, but this is now an inevitability. +This might be a small regional town point of view, but after spending a few trips to Sydney and Brisbane it's become really obvious that vendors are slapping card surcharges on transactions more now. + +In the past it was always accept that Diners/Amex would have the surcharge (the +2% etc) however Visa and MasterCard kinda went under the radar and EFTPOS/savings would generally not incur a charge at all. + +Only reason why I ask is after shopping/eating out a bit it's interesting to see the the surcharge (99% of the time) is not appearing on the EFTPOS machine but actually on the POS console as an itemised cost before being passed to the EFTPOS which then incurs akward conversations about having that surcharge removed because your paying cash. + +I get that they pass the cost on now and fair enough, but when you do the maths sometimes it's well above the "reasonable" threshold of sorts. Aka 25c on an $8 smoothie when paying by Visa -> Savings account. + +Maybe regional towns where I'm from either haven't caught up yet, or just include said fee into the advertised cost of the product (which is how it should be, seeing as all other costs incurred in producing the product are included). + +Just gave me that annoying plusplus (++) vibe you run into in Singapore. +I finally got my student loans' down low enough to pay off all at once. I have enough saved to pay it all off now and still have some money saved. I have been trying to to get rid of my student loans as quickly as possible. I have been contemplating paying them all off now and was wondering if I should or not. + +I want to start saving for a home/apartment but I feel like I can't truly begin saving while i have debt.Some people have told me to just make the monthly payments until loan is payed off and not worry about it. I am not sure why though. Currently there is no interest on the loan due to Covid. I feel like I should take advantage of this and get rid of it. Does anyone have any advise on this? + +&#x200B; + +EDIT: Thank you for all the great advise. Im still trying to figure out what to do. It seems i need a plan and think about what I want to do. +I know that there have been several theories for why, suddenly, GameStop is declaring how many of their shares are directly registered with the transfer agent, ComputerShare. These include: + +1) Providing an update to Apes on how many shares have been DRS-ed already + +2) Thereby also showing how many still need to be DRS-ed to lock up the float + +3) As a warning to SHFs that the clock is ticking for closing their positions + +One other thing I have been thinking about is basically **why now**? + +It has been publicised previously that companies are not permitted to promote or recommend direct registration to shareholders. The specific rule that prevents this is **DTC rule SR-DTC-2003-02**: + +[https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/34-47978.htm](https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/34-47978.htm) + +Below is the most relevant section of this ruling: + +*Further, DTC states that issuers to do not have continuing ownership rights in shares they have sold into the marketplace and therefore cannot control the disposition of shares already registered in DTC's nominee name by directing that those shares be surrendered to the transfer agent or by restricting their eligibility for book-entry transfer at DTC. DTC contends that attempts by issuers to control their publicly traded securities are improper and may constitute conversion. DTC states that by purporting to exercise the rights of the shareholders, issuers are interfering with the legal and beneficial rights of DTC and its participants with respect to securities deposited at DTC and with DTC's obligations under Section 17A of the Act.* + +*DTC disagreed with the commenters' contention that it had an obligation to take action to resolve the issues associated with naked short selling because those issues arise in the context of trading and not in the book-entry transfer of securities. DTC pointed out that if beneficial owners believe that their interests are best protected by not having their shares subject to book-entry transfer at DTC, then they can instruct their broker-dealer to execute a withdrawal-by-transfer, which will remove the securities from DTC and transfer them to the shareholder in certificated form.* + +A summary of this is: + +* A company loses its say over its shares, the moment those are sold to shareholders +* They cannot, therefore, direct shareholders to directly register shares because this prevents the DTC from carrying out their business +* Only shareholders have the right to ask for shares to be directly registered +* This is even the case if a company is having its shares massively manipulated, for example through naked shorting, they still have to stay silent +* If a company decides to take such a course of action, they are in breach of this rule and can be subject to legal action + +As for why these strict rules came to be in place, it was because of a company called CMKK explicitly directing its shareholders to direct register. There is a great but under-appreciated DD on this by [u/suddenlyy](https://www.reddit.com/user/suddenlyy/), which I recommend you to read if you would like to learn more about this: + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/pr32zj/cmkm\_and\_gamestop\_why\_cant\_gamestop\_ask/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/pr32zj/cmkm_and_gamestop_why_cant_gamestop_ask/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) + +In any case, we have been left now in a situation where companies cannot recommend to their shareholders about the benefits of direct registration. Instead, the speculation is that Ryan Cohen has tried to hint at this through Twitter posts such as **"Cone-Poo-Chair"**: + +https://preview.redd.it/rtii207sto481.png?width=529&format=png&auto=webp&s=650d0439f740bdbec37d060193eeabb5a807644a + +So why now, suddenly, are they boldly stating the number of shares directly registered? This is where my speculation comes in: **I think they want to see if the DTC responds in some way.** + +The wording used in the latest SEC is certainly not a clear directive to shareholders saying "go and DRS the rest!" However, there is a certainly a case to be made for it being at least a subtle hint that GameStop approves of this turn of events... + +https://preview.redd.it/42i59plluo481.png?width=603&format=png&auto=webp&s=8f0edbcd0bcf8f454d4fee7716c07247699b5431 + +This being the case, I am conjecturing that what GameStop is doing is **testing the waters before taking the steps to withdraw from their stock from the DTC ecosystem altogether**. This has been speculated for some time now, since an explicit statement for GameStop potentially doing so in the future was included in the June 9th Prospectus ([https://news.gamestop.com/node/18961/html](https://news.gamestop.com/node/18961/html)): + +https://preview.redd.it/z0cmpn3tvo481.png?width=830&format=png&auto=webp&s=dae7bffc0714d1dcbcf43311f074ab5758ff801d + +Such a move would be quite *radical*, and no doubt be met with an extremely hostile reception and legal responses from the DTC. So it makes sense to build up to this, including through signposting in the form of a 'borderline' challenge of SR-DTC-2003-02, by seeing how the DTC construes the act of stating how many shares are directly registered. + +**TL;DR:** GameStop stating how many shares are directly registered *could* be interpreted as a breach of the DTC regulation preventing companies from recommending this to shareholders. If they are planning to go even further, by removing their shares altogether in the future and moving to a different depository (potentially one they make themselves), this could be a first step to "test the legal waters". +Hey guys, + +So a quick rundown: I’m a recent college grad with a STEM degree who was contacted by a recruiting firm about a year long contractor job for a large software company. Originally the offer was for $25/hr but I talked them up to $30, which I was pretty happy about, so I took the job. + +How recruiting companies work, if you’re not familiar, is that I’m basically a full time employee of the recruiting company, all my paychecks and benefits come through them. The company I actually work for pays the recruiting company a salary for my work, and from that salary I get my $30/hr. + +So my role gives me access to the companies ticket system and one day I was browsing through it and came across my onboarding tickets. It had all the paperwork and contracts between the company and the recruiting company, which included the amount they were paying for me, $45/hr. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to see this. + +I’m not too surprised with this number, the recruiting company has to make money after all plus finders fees and all that. But what I am curious about is how much money I should ask for at the end of my contract when the company wants to hire me on full time (very common and likely). Should I try to get the $45/hr? More than that since I’ll have another year of experience at that point? What do you think? + +Thanks for any help! + +Edit: +Further questions + +How would I go about negotiating? Should I mention at all that I know how much they’re paying the recruiting agency? + +Edit2: +If it helps any it’s an IT role in New England. I have a CS degree but wasn’t having much luck finding a job and I didn’t want to sit around all summer doing nothing so I took a decently paying job in a semi-relevant field. +I’ve been selling OTM puts on large caps, and just ramped it up since a couple months ago. I was able to dodge big drops (NFLX, FB) by not having DTE overlap with earnings. + +All puts are within 20-50 DTE and must be above -15% OTM. DTE does not overlap earnings. Example of stocks I sell are NFLX, FB, AAPL and other tech stocks with relatively low IV. My max loss can never exceed the value of my account (with common shares). + +With a 200k account I calculate I can make 20%-30% passively. I have margin enabled but not used(naked, not cash secured) so 20%-30% does not even include the change in the common stocks I own. And this does not even include the possibility of selling covered calls. + +So my question is why do I get a feeling its too good to be true. What risks did I overlook? Is my criteria above too risky or too conservative? + +HOW IS THE EFFICIENT MARKET FUCKING ME? + + +edit: I see a lot of people wanted me to be careful about the equity positions I use as collateral, as a single move down can not only trigger assignment but also a margin call since the equity amount is reduced. I agree (currently I got 50% in growth stocks, 10% in blue chip, and 40% cash & cash instruments. + +THANK YOU FOR REPLIES. BEEN VERY HELPFUL +My thoughts are that this year will be a tough one for QQQ. Inflation is a real threat, and there is real concern with the feds, which has an inverse reaction to the ETF. We are looking at four times this year where interest rates will go up, which will negatively impact QQQ holders. + +As a long time QQQ holder and CC writer, I am looking to shelf it this year, and focus on other ETFs like XLF. I may still buy Leaps on Apple and MSFT, but my positions will be not more than 15% of my portfolio. Financials and Insurance are not sexy, but it may be the safe bet in 2022. + +Thoughts? + +Edit: Topic is more focused on CC writer, so PMCC strategy. Apologies for the confusion. +I will continue to buy QQQ and SPY shares into my long term investment account. +I was just thinking about how pretty much all laws distort the free market in a way, so would that mean that laws must not exist if there was to hypothetically be a free market? + +Furthermore, would language, culture and the likes have to be conpletely homogenised? +Edelweiss is coming up with a New Fund Offer this month for 'Edelweiss US Technology Fund of Fund' that will be investing directly in underlying JP Morgan US Fund. + +It states during NFO Offer I will be able to buy NAV at Rs 10. Should I buy NAV during NFO in order to earn Capital Appreciation in the future? + +Now I know most NFOs come during bull markets, but there's a very good chance that the long US Bull run could end (Coronavirus, Recession, Presidential Elections, etc) + +So I could very well see my NAV going below Rs 10. + +What do you think guys? +Or baffles you that more people don't understand? + +Mine: I only just understood the purpose of using super to offset taxable income -_- (I'm new to this!) +A couple of days ago there was a carpet python snake in my parent's house and they gave snake catchers a call. The guy came in and caught the snake in like 5-10 minutes and charged us $150. The catching seemed really fun and I personally never minded snakes though never tried to catch them. + +Also, $150 for a catch seems decent. Albeit he probably did have to drive like 15-20 minutes to us and there will some driving to release the snake. Still, if his company even leaves him $75 for the catch that's like $75 for a 5-10 minute catch which seems fun, and then 30-40 mins of possibly driving. Way better than most jobs. + +Seems like a decent wage. I can't seem to find any reliable information on snake-catching thought, especially in QLD. Though it seems like legally only snake catchers are allowed to handle them so I would assume there will be quite a lot of calls, especially from businesses to remove snakes. + +&#x200B; + +Anyone knows any information and recommend I should try snake catching as a side hobby? + +Edit: wow didn’t expect so many comments, just a note I got a regular job already and I’m not expecting to make bank snake catching. Even if it amounts to $60 per hour that’s still far far better than any other wage job that doesn’t require you to have long term qualification. + +As for fatal bites once you are trained the chance are pretty much 0. People have been doing this for years and still alive and healthy +[https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/27/cdc-to-reverse-indoor-mask-policy-to-recommend-them-for-fully-vaccinated-people-in-covid-hot-spots.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/27/cdc-to-reverse-indoor-mask-policy-to-recommend-them-for-fully-vaccinated-people-in-covid-hot-spots.html) + +&#x200B; + +Ah shit here we go again + +&#x200B; + +Thoughts on how this is going to affect markets? Last week the market shrugged off fears of the Delta variant +Nov. 22, 2022 3:27 pm ET + +Copy pasta from WSJ: + +Sequoia Capital apologized to its fund investors for the $150 million it lost on crypto exchange FTX, said people familiar with the matter, a rare moment of contrition for the storied venture-capital firm. + +On the call, Sequoia’s **partners** told the fund investors that the firm would improve its due-diligence process on future investments and that it believed it was misled by FTX based on its recent bankruptcy filing, the people said. + +The call was a rare moment of contrition for Sequoia Capital, the early backer of Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google, and Airbnb Inc. that has long been seen as the gold standard in the venture industry for its high investment bar. The firm earlier this month wrote off its entire investment in FTX—one of the largest written by a venture firm in the company—after the crypto exchange struggled to meet a wave of withdrawals. FTX filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 11. + +In the call, a Sequoia **partner** said that the firm in the future will be in a position to have even early-stage startups’ financial statements audited by one of the Big Four accounting firms, the people said. + +Sequoia was one of scores of venture investors who piled roughly $2 billion into FTX amid last year’s boom in crypto investment. Eager to get into the hot startup, they shirked traditional corporate controls such as external board oversight that are typical for such large investments. + +In the call, Sequoia **partners** said the firm conducted due diligence on FTX but believed it was misled by the company’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, on the exchange’s connections with Alameda Research based on recent bankruptcy filings, the people said. + +FTX, based in the Bahamas, and its U.S. arm used a pair of smaller auditing firms to sign off on their 2021 financial statements earlier this year, according to documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal, and the executive hired to shepherd FTX through bankruptcy has expressed “substantial concerns” about the quality of FTX’s audited statements. + +The ties between FTX and Alameda were central to FTX’s implosion. Mr. Bankman-Fried has told investors and employees that FTX loaned customer funds to Alameda, which lost billions of dollars after crypto prices fell earlier this year. He told investors FTX faced a funding gap of up to $8 billion. + +Edit: [Relevant Superstonk post discussing Sequoia/Shitadel partnership](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/s1cu1h/whos_sequoia_capital_pouring_money_into_citadel/) credit: u/0nlyGoesUp + +[Original WSJ article](https://www.wsj.com/articles/sequoia-capital-apologizes-to-limited-partners-for-ftx-investment-11669144914) +Economic growth is not turning out to be as robust as originally estimated so 2019 appears to be primed for [a massive federal budget shortfall](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/397445-white-house-budget-projects-1-trillion-deficit-in-2019). This is concerning for several reasons.... 1) We are currently in an economic expansion. This is the time for fiscal restraint to have a rainy day fund set aside for future recessions. 2) The current 2019 projections could get revised much lower if the economy slows down at all in the next couple of quarters. 3) Some cures for budget shortfalls are either to cut spending or increase taxes... both of which are going to be a headwind for future economic growth. + +If one estimates equity returns of 7-9% for the next 10-20 years, I would imagine this news would dampen that enthusiasm. Maybe 5-7% is more likely with a real return of 2-3%. Unfortunately fixed income and real estate both appear to be priced dearly at the moment so where does one look for decent inflation adjusted returns over the next 10-20 years? Diversification across all asset classes including lots of international appears to be prudent at the moment IMHO. + +Edit - Apparently people are somewhat confused about the difference between that US national debt and the federal deficit. The national debt is the total debt owed by the federal government (I believe it is around $20 trillion). The annual deficit, is the amount we are adding to the national debt each year (tax revenue minus federal spending). Starting in 2009-2010 the deficit was gradually declining each year until this year. It appears to be back on an increasing trajectory. +I did not make it + +Was going well at first was making a killing actually, but then it slowed down. Random expenses came up, and now the last of my "safety" fund has run out. + +It wasn't due to my trading skills, I was doing good but the random expenses and slow intraday markets ****ed me. There was days were I was making like 5 bucks lmao + +If I could do it over + +-20k is the MINIMUM to even think about trading for a living +-3 months worth of expenses saved up +-plan for slow weeks + +Deff burned me out of daytrading was staying up untill 2-3 am at times babysitting positions + + +Im good tho no going to go homeless or anything lol. Young, finishing up my degree and still have plenty of opportunity. + +Only thing that blows is I will have to get a reg peasant job for a bit + + + +cliffs + +-wanted to be ceo/1000k a day +-tried +-random expenses +-slow days +-failed +-gotta get job + + + +EDIT- + +some of you think I had some normal job I was working fast food before +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +**Quit Quick!** + +TL:DR - If it's even possible you will quit, do it early. Otherwise, succeed. No matter what. + +&#x200B; + +Commit, or quit. The markets are no place for part timers or hobbiest. The hard stats here are 3/4 of you will not make it. The ones that do, are going to take a lot of shit from the market before you do. If you are not going to be as determined to succeed in 5 years of failing as you are starting, quit quick. Save yourself the hassle. + +&#x200B; + +If you think you're going to get it quick ... you're not. You might 'get it' a little bit, but then be smashed by market changes that you have no experience of. Early success in trading can be like building sand castle at the tideline. You're putting it together and it looks great, then whooosh, and you're starting again. + +&#x200B; + +Even if you read all the books, attend all the courses, have personal training .... whatever. For you to be able to stand on your own two feet in the markets is going to take some time. There is an eliment of 'snakes and ladders' to it that is just inherent in aiming to build wealth (or produce ROI) on a speculative skill. + +&#x200B; + +I am not saying this because I want you to quit. I want you to succeed. What I do not want to see is you quitting in 4 years time. Lots of people take over 5 years to learn this. Some 10. You want to get a payoff on that investment of time and effort, so make sure you will stick it out for that time. Be all in, or be out. There is no shame in noticing early trading is not for you. It is technically and mentally hard. It is not a natural skill, it takes some rewiring to do it. + +&#x200B; + +**Do Not Assume People Know More Than You** + +TL;DR - A lot of people know less than they appear to/think. + +&#x200B; + +Even if you a very new. They often do not. People often repeat what they have heard. Some people think popularity is the same as profitabiliy .... we call these people "poor with statistics". Reality is, most people do not know how to make money. They are telling you what others said (and who knows where they got it?). + +&#x200B; + +Worse than this, is there are people who think they know a lot. I think about the dumbest point in my trading carreer was once I got a few years in and thought I knew everything. The more you think you know, the less you probably do. These people often talk down at newbies, which can make it seem like they are smarter. Appearances are not always what they seem. + +&#x200B; + +Do not assume you know more than people, either. Both are equally foolish. You do not know what people know, and since whatever you think you know may later change, you do not fully know what 'think' you know now. Just hold the conclusions you draw to a high standard of proof, and look for others demonstrating their own conclusions with similar high standards of proof (not chatter). + +&#x200B; + +**Lose Money** + +TL;DR - You're going to anyway, get good at it. + +&#x200B; + +"Say what?????". + +&#x200B; + +Yeah! Lose some money. Don't be a fucking baby. + +&#x200B; + +You are going to lose money at some time. If you take the time to read the stories of highly successful traders, you will see we all bust. Exceptionally few do not. The ones who have the worst busts are the ones who start out winning. + +&#x200B; + +You need to know how to lose. It is better to learn this losing a grand or so than a million. When losing, we end up facing the urges to produce a panic (or revenge) sort of responce ... which will epicly fuck up everything. You need to learn to feel this burn, and still make the logical choice. Good judegement will come from bad judgement. + +&#x200B; + +Two things humans really dislike generally speaking are losing money and being wrong. Forex will give you a whole lot of both of them. You're probably going to have to make adaptions to your thinking patterns to be able to deal with this. \[Action point: Read "Trading in the Zone"\] + +&#x200B; + +**Observe Others Strategies** + +TL;DR - Watching other people trading opens up new perspectives. + +&#x200B; + +Both winning and losing ones have their purposes. Make sure however you are observing them you can see the actual trades on a chart. So you can see specifically what is done (not just results or what is said). Personally I done this watching managed accounts. I learned a lot from it. + +&#x200B; + +From highly profitable ones, I learned traits of the 'trader brain'. I seen how they protected equity, and siezed opportunities. Their strategies had structure and rational. It could be seen to be repeatable and the trades became predictable - and I could see why that made sense to do. + +&#x200B; + +From losing ones, I got to look into a mirror of mistakes I made. When you see someone else doing dumb shit, it is more obvious it is dumb shit than when you do the same 'stuff'. I would say I learned the most from the accounts that were unprofitable. + +&#x200B; + +(Note, if doing this make sure you use copy trading or MAM. Never PAMM. Due to technical allocation differences in trades, PAMM accounts do not yield the information you need) + + + +Other examples of this are following signals services. Signals services are frowned upon here in this sub. I've noticed. These services are not 'useless' - it depends on how well they are used. There are many free ones, you can trade demo accounts to follow them. If you think you can not learn from bad traders, fair enough. People can. If you think there are not more skilled people than you doing this (anywhere!), you're 99.99% probability wrong. + +&#x200B; + +**Learn to Discard, Without Ignoring**TL;DR - Have a critical mind. + +&#x200B; + +No information is useless, and as such should not be called 'bad'. Much information is incorrect. You have to learn how to assess information and test it for yourself. Never let what others say influence the trades you make when you are testing strategies (remember, people disagreeing can be good. 20/80 success rate ... do we want 100% agreement?) + +&#x200B; + +Everything we think we know should always be preliminary, and this means information we get we should use to re-check conclusions from information we have previous gleamed. For you to do this well it is important you have solid conclusions of your own, which you do not get from being a reciever/transmitter of others opinons. There is a fine balance to this. You have to be open to new ideas, without being whimsical in your conclusions. + +&#x200B; + +Do not accept information as true just because a lot of people say it is. Always hunt for the why, and be careful to seperate what are opinons from what are facts. Take time to learn all the popular opinions. Then look for people who give unique insights and ideas outside of (or tweaking) they opinions - they may have rare information, because they have evidendly done self study. \[Action point: Write down all the things you think are true about trading, work on getting answers as to why they are true, or accept they are unproven\] + +&#x200B; + +**Put a Value on the Skill** + +TL;DR - Become clear on the expected reward for your efforts. + +&#x200B; + +Not enough people do this. What is the skill of trading worth to you in dollar value over your expected lifetime trading? Since trading can be a tough and time consuming thing to learn, you should be clear on the reward of it. Personally, this 'carrot on the stick' is what's pulled me through the hardest times. + +&#x200B; + +The value of the skill depends on how you want to use it. I value it over $100 million. People may think this is hype, but I do not have any "How to make $100 million" training courses to sell. That's what it is worth to me, and it will remain worth that irrespective of if it is believed. This is not saying I have made over $100 million, just the skill I consider to be worth at least that having worked to obtain it. + +&#x200B; + +If you are someone who wants to make a lot of money and thinks the numbers I am saying are hype. Numbers like $5,000 - $10,000 a month even seeming unrealistic - get yourself around different people! These are 'easy' numbers if you have good skills. If you get yourself into the top 15% (which is not all that hard if you remember breakeven beats 80%) you have an ability to do something almost no one can do, yet almost everyone wants. It's valuable. + +&#x200B; + +This has been the most motivating factor for me in trading. I've seen real examples of people making millions (a year) because they have honed in a skill. I've also seen complete idiots getting into positions where they could easily make themsevles a million (maybe more than once), but then fuck it up ... because it's easier to pretend to have the skill (or think you have) than actually have it. + +&#x200B; + +So from early on I have always had a framework in which I knew learning to trade (really well) would make me millions. This has given me an attitude of "closer to it now than I've ever been" ... no mather how devistatingly bad things may have went. +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +**Quit Quick!** + +TL:DR - If it's even possible you will quit, do it early. Otherwise, succeed. No matter what. + +&#x200B; + +Commit, or quit. The markets are no place for part timers or hobbiest. The hard stats here are 3/4 of you will not make it. The ones that do, are going to take a lot of shit from the market before you do. If you are not going to be as determined to succeed in 5 years of failing as you are starting, quit quick. Save yourself the hassle. + +&#x200B; + +If you think you're going to get it quick ... you're not. You might 'get it' a little bit, but then be smashed by market changes that you have no experience of. Early success in trading can be like building sand castle at the tideline. You're putting it together and it looks great, then whooosh, and you're starting again. + +&#x200B; + +Even if you read all the books, attend all the courses, have personal training .... whatever. For you to be able to stand on your own two feet in the markets is going to take some time. There is an eliment of 'snakes and ladders' to it that is just inherent in aiming to build wealth (or produce ROI) on a speculative skill. + +&#x200B; + +I am not saying this because I want you to quit. I want you to succeed. What I do not want to see is you quitting in 4 years time. Lots of people take over 5 years to learn this. Some 10. You want to get a payoff on that investment of time and effort, so make sure you will stick it out for that time. Be all in, or be out. There is no shame in noticing early trading is not for you. It is technically and mentally hard. It is not a natural skill, it takes some rewiring to do it. + +&#x200B; + +**Do Not Assume People Know More Than You** + +TL;DR - A lot of people know less than they appear to/think. + +&#x200B; + +Even if you a very new. They often do not. People often repeat what they have heard. Some people think popularity is the same as profitabiliy .... we call these people "poor with statistics". Reality is, most people do not know how to make money. They are telling you what others said (and who knows where they got it?). + +&#x200B; + +Worse than this, is there are people who think they know a lot. I think about the dumbest point in my trading carreer was once I got a few years in and thought I knew everything. The more you think you know, the less you probably do. These people often talk down at newbies, which can make it seem like they are smarter. Appearances are not always what they seem. + +&#x200B; + +Do not assume you know more than people, either. Both are equally foolish. You do not know what people know, and since whatever you think you know may later change, you do not fully know what 'think' you know now. Just hold the conclusions you draw to a high standard of proof, and look for others demonstrating their own conclusions with similar high standards of proof (not chatter). + +&#x200B; + +**Lose Money** + +TL;DR - You're going to anyway, get good at it. + +&#x200B; + +"Say what?????". + +&#x200B; + +Yeah! Lose some money. Don't be a fucking baby. + +&#x200B; + +You are going to lose money at some time. If you take the time to read the stories of highly successful traders, you will see we all bust. Exceptionally few do not. The ones who have the worst busts are the ones who start out winning. + +&#x200B; + +You need to know how to lose. It is better to learn this losing a grand or so than a million. When losing, we end up facing the urges to produce a panic (or revenge) sort of responce ... which will epicly fuck up everything. You need to learn to feel this burn, and still make the logical choice. Good judegement will come from bad judgement. + +&#x200B; + +Two things humans really dislike generally speaking are losing money and being wrong. Forex will give you a whole lot of both of them. You're probably going to have to make adaptions to your thinking patterns to be able to deal with this. \[Action point: Read "Trading in the Zone"\] + +&#x200B; + +**Observe Others Strategies** + +TL;DR - Watching other people trading opens up new perspectives. + +&#x200B; + +Both winning and losing ones have their purposes. Make sure however you are observing them you can see the actual trades on a chart. So you can see specifically what is done (not just results or what is said). Personally I done this watching managed accounts. I learned a lot from it. + +&#x200B; + +From highly profitable ones, I learned traits of the 'trader brain'. I seen how they protected equity, and siezed opportunities. Their strategies had structure and rational. It could be seen to be repeatable and the trades became predictable - and I could see why that made sense to do. + +&#x200B; + +From losing ones, I got to look into a mirror of mistakes I made. When you see someone else doing dumb shit, it is more obvious it is dumb shit than when you do the same 'stuff'. I would say I learned the most from the accounts that were unprofitable. + +&#x200B; + +(Note, if doing this make sure you use copy trading or MAM. Never PAMM. Due to technical allocation differences in trades, PAMM accounts do not yield the information you need) + + + +Other examples of this are following signals services. Signals services are frowned upon here in this sub. I've noticed. These services are not 'useless' - it depends on how well they are used. There are many free ones, you can trade demo accounts to follow them. If you think you can not learn from bad traders, fair enough. People can. If you think there are not more skilled people than you doing this (anywhere!), you're 99.99% probability wrong. + +&#x200B; + +**Learn to Discard, Without Ignoring**TL;DR - Have a critical mind. + +&#x200B; + +No information is useless, and as such should not be called 'bad'. Much information is incorrect. You have to learn how to assess information and test it for yourself. Never let what others say influence the trades you make when you are testing strategies (remember, people disagreeing can be good. 20/80 success rate ... do we want 100% agreement?) + +&#x200B; + +Everything we think we know should always be preliminary, and this means information we get we should use to re-check conclusions from information we have previous gleamed. For you to do this well it is important you have solid conclusions of your own, which you do not get from being a reciever/transmitter of others opinons. There is a fine balance to this. You have to be open to new ideas, without being whimsical in your conclusions. + +&#x200B; + +Do not accept information as true just because a lot of people say it is. Always hunt for the why, and be careful to seperate what are opinons from what are facts. Take time to learn all the popular opinions. Then look for people who give unique insights and ideas outside of (or tweaking) they opinions - they may have rare information, because they have evidendly done self study. \[Action point: Write down all the things you think are true about trading, work on getting answers as to why they are true, or accept they are unproven\] + +&#x200B; + +**Put a Value on the Skill** + +TL;DR - Become clear on the expected reward for your efforts. + +&#x200B; + +Not enough people do this. What is the skill of trading worth to you in dollar value over your expected lifetime trading? Since trading can be a tough and time consuming thing to learn, you should be clear on the reward of it. Personally, this 'carrot on the stick' is what's pulled me through the hardest times. + +&#x200B; + +The value of the skill depends on how you want to use it. I value it over $100 million. People may think this is hype, but I do not have any "How to make $100 million" training courses to sell. That's what it is worth to me, and it will remain worth that irrespective of if it is believed. This is not saying I have made over $100 million, just the skill I consider to be worth at least that having worked to obtain it. + +&#x200B; + +If you are someone who wants to make a lot of money and thinks the numbers I am saying are hype. Numbers like $5,000 - $10,000 a month even seeming unrealistic - get yourself around different people! These are 'easy' numbers if you have good skills. If you get yourself into the top 15% (which is not all that hard if you remember breakeven beats 80%) you have an ability to do something almost no one can do, yet almost everyone wants. It's valuable. + +&#x200B; + +This has been the most motivating factor for me in trading. I've seen real examples of people making millions (a year) because they have honed in a skill. I've also seen complete idiots getting into positions where they could easily make themsevles a million (maybe more than once), but then fuck it up ... because it's easier to pretend to have the skill (or think you have) than actually have it. + +&#x200B; + +So from early on I have always had a framework in which I knew learning to trade (really well) would make me millions. This has given me an attitude of "closer to it now than I've ever been" ... no mather how devistatingly bad things may have went. +Welcome to the Daily General Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +*** + +Thread guidelines: + +- Please refrain from discussing non-Ethereum related tokens here. You are welcome to discuss altcoins in the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread. +- All [sub rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/) apply here so please be familiar with them. + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +I don’t know shit about fuck, but with all this BCG talk and now Elon and Gates public feud over “philanthropy” makes me ask the question, what the fuck is going on??? BOA, AAL, Blackrock, BCG, HSBC, JPM……reads like a who’s who of fuckery. Anyway, probably nothing. + + +https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/10/bill-gates-bec-climate-fund-plans-to-invest-15-billion-in-clean-tech.html +&#x200B; + +I (21) feel like I'm at the end of the road with this and am desperate for any advice. I applied for an apartment this summer and got back a report saying I was high risk because I was overdue $2,800 overdue on a Target credit card from 2016. In 2016, I was 14 years old. I have never had a credit card in my life and it's very obvious that this is fraud. I called Target and they had no clue what I was talking about. So I went to annualcreditreport.com to get my report from all three bureaus, but only equifax could give me a report, the other two said they couldn't verify me -- I'm not sure why only one could verify me. I'm also assuming I have zero credit at this time. I went to dispute this report online through equifax, but every single time I try I get an error --"unable to complete this dispute, refresh and try again". I've called twice and they said they don't even see me on their end, they don't see anything I'm reporting despite me be able to see all the fraud information on my end. The website doesn't display a credit score for me either -- just an error. So I can't dispute online to remove this fraud from my record, I can't call and get it removed either. I can't even make a creditkarma account to view anything because nothing can "verify my credentials". When looking at equifax, my birthdate is correct, but my name is spelt wrong and my address is incorrect. I don't care who stole it, I just want it removed. The credit account is closed and has been sold, but is still overdue $2,800. I can't get an apartment, a car, or even a credit card. I feel like I'm stuck, I'm on the brink of homelessness because of this. Can anyone help? + +&#x200B; + +Edit: I have filed a police report and reported the fraud to the [ic3.gov](https://ic3.gov) as recommended by the police. This was two months ago and nothing has changed. I also reported to [identitytheft.gov](https://identitytheft.gov) and got no help from them either. +When the market crashed in 2008 there was a thread started by “sheepdog” on his reactions and actions in the crash. I think it is really instructive to read the thread. + +If you don’t want to read all the way through read the first part then jump to the third page where people posting in 2016 reflect back. + + +https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25126 +I'm really proud of myself, it's one of the only long term goals I've ever reached. I have many siblings but only lived with my younger sister. She was always good at saving (more type B personality) but I see something I like and in the moment, I spend everything I've saved on that (type A). I never reached a significant amount as far as a general account balance goes or in savings. The last three or so months are the only months I've had money in my account when my paycheck went in (f, 21; working for 3+ years) Generally I live paycheck to paycheck for lack of self control. I want to book a cruise for my significant other and me... how do I keep saving and resist the urge to spend it all on a "reward" for reaching my goals? +The recent news shows EU leaders expressing the desire to become independent from Russian oil imports the next years. I was expecting that this will make ETFs like L&G Clean Energy to explode, but it doesn't seem so. Why is that? + +Furthermore, would you say it would be a good idea to invest or it is this sector already priced in? +So in case you are not keeping up with Citadel's PR campaigns on Twitter... + +They just released a little Tweet about Trade Prices + +&#x200B; + +[Source: https:\/\/twitter.com\/citsecurities\/status\/1496494163227037699](https://preview.redd.it/47vd3wimrlj81.png?width=655&format=png&auto=webp&s=11a7bbd2f09ca1f4d19851e85fd3d3fcf2af7a45) + +So I decided to whip out my Google Skills... and take a look at who Paul Hamill is... + +According to his Linkedin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-hamill-a759904a/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-hamill-a759904a/) before Citadel, he was at UBS. + +And then I stumbled across this little article: + +&#x200B; + +[Source: https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com.au\/thomas-benison-james-hill-athanassios-diplas-paul-hamill-andy-hubbard-oliver-frankel-2010-12](https://preview.redd.it/18eywv40slj81.png?width=1034&format=png&auto=webp&s=fcc8089edd5ec69fd584fd55c3ecdfcc3b98ac70) + +Which basically states that back in 2010... Kenny wanted to get a seat at the table of a decision-making committee that CONTROLS the exchange of derivatives... + +HMMMM.... + +So apparently, the 9 bankers who sat on this committee wouldn't let Kenny join their club... so Kenny took revenge by doxxing them... (Not sure why that would be an issue... but apparently it was) + +&#x200B; + +> The nine bankers just lost their privacy via the New York Times article. The article implies that they are Thomas J. Benison of JPMorgan, James J. Hill of Morgan Stanley, Athanassios Diplas of Deutsche Bank, Paul Hamill of UBS, Paul Mitrokostas of Barclays, Andy Hubbard of Credit Suisse, Oliver Frankel of Goldman Sachs, Ali Balali of Bank of America, and Biswarup Chatterjee of Citigroup. + +Did you catch it? + +\>> Paul Hamill of UBS << + + + +>Through the committee, the article says, the nine help make rules that essentially lock in their employers as middlemen who collect fees for matching buyers with sellers. If you, or one of the companies you pay to say, heat your house, is a buyer or a seller – those fees will be paid by you.  +> +>Thus the bankers are at it again. Stealing from the little guy and building a moat around the castle so that no one can get in to change the system so that everyone benefits. + +&#x200B; + +So Kenny was upset that he wasn't allowed to join this club... so he gets onto the NYTimes and gets them to run a story about how these guys are ripping off retail traders through the derivatives market and how he and BNY Mellon are the "HEROES" sticking up for the little guy... + +(Kenny's first SHILL CAMPAIGN?) + +&#x200B; + +>Instead, in the article, Griffin and BNY Mellon are made to look like heros fighting for the little guy and getting squashed by the secret elite squad of super brokers. + +&#x200B; + +Can't make this shit up... lol... + +&#x200B; + +>But remember that Griffin has been trying to build his own investment bank, Citadel Securities, for years now. Running a clearinghouse with CME would have been advantageous for his bank much like ICE is for the nine banks with representatives on its risk committee. Citadel Securities has since had [a lot of trouble getting a solid business going](http://www.businessinsider.com.au/ken-griffin-citadel-securities-layoffs-fixed-income-2010-10) — maybe the failed exchange is part of the reason. + +&#x200B; + +>The one entity that wouldn’t necessarily profit from the price transparency is the elite banking industry, says Griffin. + +&#x200B; + +>“It’s a stunning amount of money,” Mr. Griffin said. “The key players today in the derivatives market are very apprehensive about whether or not they will be winners or losers as we move towards more transparent, fairer markets, and since they’re not sure if they’ll be winners or losers, their basic instinct is to resist change.” + +SOOO.... AT THE TIME... Citadel was struggling... they were about to face mass layoffs... Ken sees a "Stunning" amount of money being made by these insiders controlling the derivatives... but they won't let Ken join the club??? + +This article is referencing a NY Times article, which I don't have a subscription for but you can check it out here if you do: [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/business/12advantage.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/business/12advantage.html) + +And there's a feature article on CNBC at the time too here: + +[https://www.cnbc.com/2010/12/12/a-secretive-banking-elite-rules-trading-in-derivatives.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2010/12/12/a-secretive-banking-elite-rules-trading-in-derivatives.html) + +(Gary Gensler was at the center of this all too!) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +4 YEARS LATER... + +Kenny seems to have gotten a seat at the table SOMEHOW... + +(Would be interesting to figure out how that happened!?) + +&#x200B; + +Citadel Becomes a Market Maker... putting themselves at the CENTER of this "STUNNING" amount of money... after previously being one of the most outspoken defenders of the Dodd-Frank Act which prevented the form of Derivatives Trading he was now at the center of... and spending so much time sticking up for the little guy against the "secret elite squad of super brokers" + +&#x200B; + +And to top it off... + +He goes and hires Paul Hamill (1 of the insiders that wouldn't let him join the club) + +Source: [https://www.tradersmagazine.com/departments/brokerage/paul-hamill-to-join-citadel-from-ubs-to-boost-swaps-trading/](https://www.tradersmagazine.com/departments/brokerage/paul-hamill-to-join-citadel-from-ubs-to-boost-swaps-trading/) + +Makes him the GLOBAL HEAD of FICC Distribution... + +And when Citadel gets in some shit... (LIKE ALOT OF SHIT) Forces him to go on Camera for his Twitter PR Campaign to explain to a bunch of Apes that Citadel is actually fair on Pricing... + +Wonder what leverage he has on Paul Hamill? + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/0gedm266xlj81.png?width=400&format=png&auto=webp&s=13b86b3669e02a9e0fa4e963d6bee710b36453a6 + +What a fucking world we live in.... lol. +Hey y'all, some background info: My family moved to South Carolina from Argentina in the early nineties. I grew up here in the US, but I have never, and no one in my family has not, ever had an "adult job". What I mean by that is, we worked jobs without benefits. My family does not know the first thing about a retirement plan, and I'm not sure I have anyone who can help me IRL. + +I graduated in May, and just got hired as a full time teacher. When signing my contract, I chose the "State ORP" plan because I don't plan on living in SC for the rest of my life. The problem is, they then told me to then choose from a list of providers? I don't understand what *any* of this means. When I asked for help I got thrown a lot of jargon that I really didn't get. I assume this is common knowledge and I just feel stupid. If we're being honest, I just wish I could opt out of losing a chunk of my paycheck every month... + +I've never planned on retiring, and don't understand what all these words and terms are, or even which one of these providers to pick. I know it probably sounds irresponsible, but I'd like to pick the one that'll save me the most money *right now*. I need as much of my paycheck as I can get to pay off these damn student loans and to get myself finally stable. But I'm well aware that I have less than thirty days to commit to one of these providers or else the district will default me to the "state" plan, and I want to be able to move this money with me. + +Are there any resources for a totally clueless person like me? +The "service provider contacts" are uhm: MassMutual, MetLife, TIAA, and AIG. +https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-15/millions-in-u-s-living-on-the-edge-waiting-for-jobless-benefits + +Millions of Americans who are owed tens of billions of dollars in unemployment benefits are still waiting to receive the help they have been promised two months after the Covid-19 pandemic unleashed a historic wave of layoffs. + +Even as job losses continue to mount, states that have ramped up staffing and deployed new computer systems are struggling to handle a surge that has seen 36.5 million people -- about one in five American workers -- file for unemployment since mid-March. +Wow, what a year it has been! Last year we saw some amazing performances in our [first annual paper trading competition](https://imgur.com/EEjpIS9). This year, we're looking to up the ante and welcome all of wallstreetbets' minors, poor people, and all the newcomers who don't quite know what we do yet. + +I'd like to announce **The Second Annual WSB Paper Trading Competition!** This competition has been an amazing opportunity to trade and learn with zero stakes. Since last year, we have grown by 350,000 subscribers, and its the perfect time to throw you all into the fire. + +And all of this massive growth calls for the biggest, best, and most baller virtual trading competition on Reddit. + +That's. Right. All you noobs, newcomers, novices, and personalfinance wizards can join in on the fun of wallstreetbets with zero of the consequences. Please read these rules carefully, and you'll be on your way to trading in the big leagues, Guh-Free! + + +# Rules: + + +1. **Comment with some various info about your strategy, your ideas, or anything about yourself. Communication and participation is the key to learning!** + +2. **Paper Trading is primarily for those with no real-money accounts. If you have a real money account and you comment on this thread, you may be banned forever.** + +3. **This thread is for the comments referenced above, ONLY. Any other meta comments about the competition (here or in other threads/chat) will result in a ban.** + +We will be sending out invites for the paper trading competition later in the week, only to those who have commented. + + +Thanks! + +wsb mod team in conjunction with /r/teenagers and /r/unrealtournament +Hi reddits. I am extremely sad rn. She is the one who introduced and incurred me to FIRE journey. Because of her I opened ROTH IRA account , started savings and learned the values of passive income. + +I’d say she wasnt “extremely” frugal but frugal enough to save decent.... This incident came to second guess myself and not too sure if ROTH IRA is still worth it when I never know if I’d be living till 59.5 years old.. + +I know YOLO isnt my thing.. but seeing her away like this at such a young age.. Would appreciate any advice that would help me revert to FIRE journey + +Edit: Wow guys thank you so much for your responds. I am actually still debating contributing ROTH ira is worth it. In fact, my dad passed away when he was only 50. I’ll try to get my shit together. Or perhaps contribute less money to ROTH? Hmm +tl;dr - Staying at home can sometimes beat a lavish vacation. + +My original post titled *I'd relax, I would sit on my ass all day, I would do nothing.* was deleted by the mods for lack of fatFIRE relevance. Understandable, but those familiar with Office Space will recognize the line as Peter's response to the question, "What would you do if you had a million dollars?". + +Office Space was filmed in 1999, making $1M then equal to $1.74M today. Still not fatFIRE I guess, but stick with me. + +Me: Mid-30's. Married + 1 kid. HCOL. Combined $600k TC. + +My wife and I both have demanding careers. We've done a ton of great travel, but even before kids some of the novelty was wearing off. FIRE (of any BMI) is the philosophy that best aligns with our goals, but our true intent has been to design a daily life that matches the life we lead on vacation. We've made intentional choices in our life to help facilitate that. + +Our vacation life aligns with what I typically see posted in this sub. Lots of domestic and (pre-pandemic) international travel, some tilted towards luxury and some tilted towards adventure. We've had tons of great experiences, but for me at least, the best part of vacation was when I had total control over my time and did exactly what I wanted to do. + +Even if we planned a vacation with the sole intent to relax and decompress, it typically begins and ends with some travel. Unless you are at the very tip of the FAT pyramid, travel requires additional mental energy spent on logistics and forgoing complete agency over your time. If I didn't travel for work my perspective on flying and hotels might be different, but even the nicest options aren't something I'm excited about at this point. Occasionally, certain activities (taking a nap, reading, laying at the beach, etc.) made it feel like I was wasting the vacation and I should be doing something more interesting. + +Enter the staycation. No travel. No passive activity guilt. Essentially every activity I enjoy during vacation is accessible. Complete control of my time. The people I want to spend time with are nearby. All other logistics are super easy. + +What this has reinforced for me: + +* Choosing a home/location you like is ultra high priority +* Time > Money +* Luxury travel can still be draining +* Simple pleasures can be high-yield +* My ideal lifestyle might not require fat net worth + +I'm not pretending like we're never going to travel for vacation again. What I can see happening is upping the percentage of vacation time we spend at home. Of course this type of vacation might seem more leanFIRE than fat, and that's exactly why I'm sharing in this sub. Just because you can buy expensive flights and hotels doesn't mean you need to. Especially if you're in accumulation phase and experiencing burnout, spending that time at home might have the highest utility. +https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/billionaire-wealth-smashes-records-during-covid19-100402747.html + +Global billionaire wealth smashed record levels during COVID-19 breaching the $10tn (£7.7tn) mark for the first time. +Despite an initial dip at the beginning of 2020, speedy market recovery propelled the world's richest entrepreneurs to reach $10.2tn in July, some $1.3tn higher than the previous peak reached at the end of 2017. + +The biggest gains were in technology and healthcare, according to the latest report by UBS and PwC which covered more than 2,000 billionaires representing 98% of the cohort's total wealth. +The number of billionaires reached 2,189, up from 2,158 in 2017. + +One reason why we may not see inflation. Fed money is ending up as another zero in billionaires accounts. +I'm 21 and the advice is to focus on growth stocks/investments if you are young and your time horizon is long. If average annual returns are 10%. Would I not have the exact same net worth growth as having a %10 yield annually instead? The outcome would be exact same no? The only difference is I don't have to sell any investments to realize the 10%. + +I must be missing something cause this isn't making sense how growth investments are better long term then income yielding investments. Thanks! +I've currently got insurance through Geico and another carrier... home, two autos, and umbrella. I was looking to expand my umbrella from 1 to $5M. Got in contact with a personal risk insurance agent and it was suggested to me to go through a process with him to consolidate these insurances with a higher end carrier. + +Ok, sure, salesmen are going to sell, right? His argument was that, at a higher net worth and with an internet search that indicates you've got a high net worth (business dealings, etc), an at-fault auto accident can absolutely destroy your current and future wealth. For example: you're driving a bit over the limit, you rear end a car with children in it and cause some broken arms or worse, a long term disability. Before you know it, you're way past your $5M insurance policy and you're going to want to hope that the details of the policy have you covered. + +Curious how others view this. I hate to throw unnecessary money at insurance but also don't want to be negligent considering my NW. Looking for some data points. +I work from home maintaining a niche software for a multinational billion dollar corporation. My hours have been cut to approx 4 hours a week and I experience wage theft at least every week. This company gets away with this by making me request approval for hours for every task in advance and not paying for tasks that were not pre-approved. However, they often pull the “it’s an emergency we need this fixed immediately” card. I am online for them approx 50 hours a week. This is so emotionally draining and I haven’t even mentioned the racist, sexist, and political crap I had to listen to when I used to work in the office pre-.COVID + +I am the child of refugees and although I was born and raised in the US I was the first to even think about going to university, I had no social net to even guide me to understand what academic and career options were available. Plus, I couldn’t afford to study what I would have liked anyway since my major was determined by the courses I could fit around my work schedule. Although I was always an overachiever and strong in math and science, I’m both too cynical and too old to go back to school to change careers. + +When this moons, it would be amazing to become a citizen of the world and help children around the globe by establishing orphanages, wells, food depots, shelters for women and children escaping domestic violence, and small medical services in communities disrupted by war, famine, or disease. + +There are bright children around the world not just in the developed countries of the west. Many of those children could be part of teams that could make medical breakthroughs, change the way we approach energy generation, create art that moves the soul, or start a political movement that brokers peace and lifts nations from poverty. These kids have to just be given a chance. In fact, none of the prior have to be true for these children to be given the opportunity to have a dignified life. Even providing a sewing machine and fertilizer for crops would be amazing. + +In the west, we often feel like the game is rigged against the 99% in favor of the 1%. Wouldn’t it be nice if even a tenth of our community did one small project with our returns like a shipment of vaccines or erecting a school for one of these communities who aren’t even invited to play the game. + +I’m curious what passion projects others in our community have when daydreaming about the MOASS gains. + +Edit: Wow! I’m more of a lurker so I was pleasantly surprised by this community’s dialog in the comments. Y’all are sensational people! + +The consensus seems to be most of us haven’t been able to afford taking the risks required to start a business, create music, improve our communities...etc. There will always be naysayers in life but this fluff post was intended to vent and for those fun little ideas you share with friends around the campfire. Perhaps some of the comments below are the seeds of great ideas to come. All we have to do is HODL. +Just found out my dad has been having problems with his left arm. He said it's been tingling/numb for the past 2 weeks. He doesn't have insurance unfortunately so he didn't go to the doctors. Well today I took him and told him I would pay and we found out he needs major surgery to his nerves or something. My dad has done so much for me and my younger brothers so the least I can do is pay his bill. I'm going to have to sell my eth to do so. The thing that sucks even more is that he has a clothing shop which is his source of income. He doesn't make much and unfortunately it seems like he gets clothes stolen from him almost every other day. + +I'm going to miss you all. I'm sure I'll be back in the future to buy some more eth. I know eth will succeed and probably be 3-5x what it is now probably sooner than later. I hope you all succeed and enjoy the gains. Peace out y'all + +Edit: a couple people have messaged me saying I should put up my eth address cuz they're sure some people might like to donate. I'm not the kind of person to ask but thank you if you had that in mind +I was checking out the LEAPS options for selling covered calls on GME and it seems these are very well paying, and so a strategy came to mind that I haven't seen discussed. I just wanted to share it so anyone could point out any flaws in this plan or just bring up some discussion. + +&#x200B; + +Preface: This plan implies getting assigned at the end of the LEAPS term. Also its super low volume on + +**Example of plan** + +Start off with 400 shares of GME (valuation at $74,000 @ 185 / share as of **10/17/21**) + +Sell **4 covered calls** **@ 185 strike** price **expiring Jan 2024** netting $38,520 in premium. ($96.30 per share collected in premium) + +Use the premium to buy 208 more shares of GME instantly + +Sell 2 more covered calls for $19,260 in premium. (with 8 shares left over) + +Use the premium to buy 104 shares of GME + +Sell 1 more covered call for $9,630 in premium (not enough now to sell any more GME covered calls, 4 shares leftover) + +Use the $9,630 to sell CSP of choice (or keep the cash and invest in something else) + +&#x200B; + +Using this plan above, we went from 400 shares to 700 shares on CC's( $74,000 to $129,500 valuation), which will be sold in 2 years' time at the strike price (assuming we get assigned, being bullish on GME). + +Not to mention the additional $9,630 in the final premium (52 shares worth, and the 12 shares in change which were leftover, so 64 total ($11,840) + +So to summarize, we started off with $74,000 and in 2 years time, we will get this sold at $141,340 assuming we get assigned (764 shares worth). + +So this ends up being a 52% return on investment, assuming the stock doesn't drop significantly. + +&#x200B; + +Let me know what you think. The biggest issue I see is low volume, so the orders may never get fulfilled. +And definitely don't be like my friend... He skipped meals, sleep and spent most of his day focusing on the charts, even during work and got fired yesterday. He's young, he'll find another job... But that's a good lesson learned. Focus on your life, enjoy it... don't hamper everything else to look at green/red dildos... It's gonna do it's own thing, whether you look on it or not is not going to change anything, except for your mental health maybe. + + +You're not going to retire tommorow, you should see crypto as a long term investment, like any other investment... Don't try to become a millionaire overnight... Put some money aside for crypto every month, keep investing little by little into projects you believe in (do your research, don't dump your savings into shitcoins) and forget about it. This is not a financial advise obviously, I'm nowhere near qualified for that, just my two cents.. + +And if you're feeling suicidal, please remember, this isn't the end of everything. + +https://www.suicidestop.com/call_a_hotline.html +Welcome to another post by everyone’s ~~least~~ favourite essay writer. If you've seen a text wall in the daily threat I apologise it was probably me. But I'm back at it for a DD that is probably 12months too late on RNU. + +RNU: Renascor Resources + +Quick Stats: + +Share price: $0.13 + +52 week low/high: $0.01- $0.185 + +Market Cap: $245million + +Please note I do not own this company and have never owned it. Financial disclaimers at the bottom. + +&#x200B; + +**Overview:** + +(taken from their own website) + +"Renascor is developing a vertically integrated operation consisting of a mine and concentrator plus a downstream operation to produce Purified Spherical Graphite (PSG) for sale to anode manufacturers" + +What this means is RNU has a graphite mine named Siviour in South Australia, where they will be extracting natural graphite for sale and usage in a downstream opreation closer to Adelaide for sale. RNU claim to have the second largest natural graphite mine in the world, and the largest outside Africa. RNU hope to become Australia’s premier Graphite producer utilising a high ESG rating and low opex to create a profitable and sustainable business. + +&#x200B; + +[RNU are the first 3 processes is the box wasn’t enough to tell](https://preview.redd.it/7w3x7apz7ky71.png?width=983&format=png&auto=webp&s=9cb0cb6c1987cd9ab8b3cce0c24440bc478cdc65) + +&#x200B; + +[Anyone ever notice the part of SA looks like Italy?](https://preview.redd.it/r46kzbbesky71.png?width=536&format=png&auto=webp&s=33571e81809d2ed49d80f87a9693bc64bdede75e) + +**Graphite Industry Overview:** + +Like all most things that are going up China contributes between 65% and 80% of global graphite supplies. This graphite is primarily for usage in the steel manufacturing industry as graphite enables steel to keep strength, rigidity and its resistance to chemicals (hopium/copium not included). + +But we don't care about that, we care about graphite because it is 40x more prevalent in a lithium Ion battery as the ANODE to the lithium cathode! Here in the anode they store the lithium ions when the battery is charging or discharging. + +&#x200B; + +[As you can see graphite is a big resource in all current battery types](https://preview.redd.it/a4jr9fml9ky71.png?width=743&format=png&auto=webp&s=f214ac6d9f918da67b6bf37017dc3102788fefa0) + +Currently the main battery is the NMC, with the LMFP and LNMO being actively pursued by other companies and certain vehicle types. Graphite is highly present in all of these. What is not stated here is the solid state battery. This battery does not require graphite HOWEVER it is currently at least a decade away from commercial adoption by which case in 2031 companies like RNU would have plenty of time (assuming all goes well) to deal with these issues and will be debt free, cashed up to make a good decision. + +Overall the graphite industry is expected to grow heavilty with the EV industry (a given every commoditiy is saying) + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/sispdckg7ly71.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=ace736e96fff69cdebeaed5c8cbd3a598028d44d + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/3auzta1j7ly71.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=0afef0fce1541dddc7098e279c1f95e38441bf02 + +**Corn Flakes:** + +Finally is all graphite made equal? No lmao. Just like cereal all graphite flakes are flakes but some flakes are better than other flakes. + +Now I am absolutely not an expert on this. I spent two hours (now 10) on a Tuesday night reading about flakes and I left the internet dumber. All you need to know is: + +Mesh: Is the size of graphite allowed through the screen mesh. The specification of flake graphite is determined by screen mesh + +"The "+" before the flake graphite specification means that the particle size of the flake graphite is larger than the size of screen mesh hole and the "-" means that the particle size of the flake graphite is smaller than the size of screen mesh hole." So for example, ±195Mesh flake graphite is 100 Mesh flake graphite with 95% carbon content." - not my words they were on google, must be lefit + +Mircon: Is a unit of measurement + +&#x200B; + +[RNUs flake breakdown](https://preview.redd.it/4u9r3j79bky71.png?width=1060&format=png&auto=webp&s=d512f4b5f5a35a22022272d0f9fd803355e51787) + +[The small -150 μm, are required for the lithium-ion battery market ](https://preview.redd.it/h2ma0mphdky71.png?width=544&format=png&auto=webp&s=f61b43b4d64654c0919429e07c595a29c7080922) + +So these flakes go into the battery grade graphite known as PSG, where the flakes are processed into a ultra-high-purity (>99.95% Carbon grade (C)) product with particle sizes ranging from 10 micron to 25 micron. + +This is cooked, I barely still understand this but here we are. I desire corn flakes now in a Jumbo micron..... moving on. + +&#x200B; + +**Management:** + +Here is a two second overview of management. Note I have watched some interviews with David Christensen (DC on hotcopper). Tried to find a linkedin did a 5min google search couldent dig up much clearly not someone too public but nothing bad either. + +&#x200B; + +* Richard (***Dick***) Keevers: Non-Executive Chairman + +*Mr Keevers’ experience includes advancing multiple producing mines from discovery phase through development, including the Telfer gold and copper mine, the Phosphate Hill phosphate mine and the Baal Gammon copper mine.* + +Bonus points the include the nickname on their website. That tells me all I need to know. + +&#x200B; + +* David Christensen: Managing Director + +*David served as Chief Executive Officer of Adelaide‑based companies, Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd and Quasar Resource Pty Ltd. While at Heathgate and Quasar, his responsibilities included overseeing Australian operations, including the Beverley uranium mine, as well as the expansion into new projects with the discovery and development of the Four Mile deposit and numerous joint ventures. David’s experience also includes serving as President of Nuclear Fuels Corporation, a trading and marketing company, where he managed a multi‑million dollar uranium portfolio and was responsible for developing sales strategy, executing trades and swaps and negotiating all contracts.* + +Ok so man has done some things. He has exposure but I haven't dug deep enough to truly know. A quick google didn’t show any negatives but I guess he has done some interviews which I watched and he seemed to come across ok? + +&#x200B; + +* Geoff McConachy: Non-Executive Director + +*Geoffrey McConachy is an accomplished geologist with over thirty years of Australian and international experience in the mining industry assessing a wide range of commodities. Prior to joining the Company, Geoffrey worked for Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd and Quasar Resources Pty Ltd, where his roles included Managing Director, Exploration.* + +So the dude worked with the MD and came across with him. Either bullish or bearish sign. Either the managing director is good enough people will follow him, or he is just bringing mates across which isn't a good sign. Also has a long history as a geo and his work on RNU clearly found a good resource so maybe bullish? + +&#x200B; + +* Stephen Bizzell: Non-Executive Director + +*Stephen is Chairman of boutique corporate advisory and funds management group Bizzell Capital Partners. He has over 25 years corporate finance and public company management experience in the resources sector in Australia and Canada. Stephen was previously an Executive Director of Arrow Energy from 1999 until its acquisition in 2010 by Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina for $3.5 billion* + +The man has had some success under his belt and has been part of successful companies. + +&#x200B; + +* Pierre Van Der Merwe: Joint Company Secretary + +*Pierre is an accountant of more than 30 years’ experience with extensive knowledge in the provision of corporate secretarial and accounting services to ASX listed companies. He also has experience as CFO and was a Partner from 2004 to 2016 in HLB Mann Judd, an Australasian and International accountancy and business advisory group* + +Didn’t check don't care + +&#x200B; + +* Jon Colquhoun: Joint Company Secretary + +*Is an experienced accountant and company secretary with a broad financial and commercial background across a range of industries providing company secretarial and CFO services to a number of ASX listed and unlisted companies.* + +Nothing of note on his profile + +&#x200B; + +Overall, I didn’t spend enough time on this but I couldn’t spot anything blatantly bad. Certainly not a lifestyle company with their progress but not a "stacked wonder board" of highly successful names all over it. I am neutral on this and would need more reading. + +&#x200B; + +**Path to victory:** + +[No shot it happens on time but nice goal](https://preview.redd.it/hqkduqrtmky71.png?width=1016&format=png&auto=webp&s=a8f4f902d520e26bc124d9014ae5086a03dd9c75) + +So you just read a DD about RNU learnt they are in SA and mine graphite but barely anything else. So here is the step by step of their process: + +Step 1: Mine dirt, acquire graphite + +Step 1 is mining graphite from Siviour over its 40 year mine life. Siviour is a low OPEX mine at A$508 per tonne which is good compared to a company like SYR currently $684 US a tonne in their September quarter report. Average production of 80ktpa with A$114m in Capex. The mine will be an open cut mine + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/b363i2ef1ly71.png?width=542&format=png&auto=webp&s=06124145628376be8cad69477227e6920ec10c73 + +Over the 26-year mining period, approximately 25% of the material mined is within the Measured Resource category, approximately 58% is within the Indicated Resource category, and approximately 17% is within the Inferred Resources category. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/24xvqo6n1ly71.png?width=547&format=png&auto=webp&s=6363e8ab38fb3e7bbc3d3f404432ec78f595e9a6 + +https://preview.redd.it/9ao7u26p1ly71.png?width=547&format=png&auto=webp&s=3dbaca51c74998c8815ee37de6cb60b9199d7b43 + +So they will mine the resource, and then after a few inbetween processes it goes to processing. + +Step 2: Processing + +A 825ktpa processing plants, which will be onsight and with plans for another 825ktpa plant later on. The process plants have been designed to recover graphite concentrate by froth flotation. Ore from the mine will be crushed in stages, followed by grinding, flotation, filtering, drying and sizing, before being bagged and containerised for shipment. + +1. Crushing: Ore goes into crusher it goes into a scrubber. This then goes into another crusher before going back into the scrubber stockpiling ore for the mill. +2. Floatation: Crushed ore then goes into a rod mill, " to achieve flotation feed of P99 425 μm." This then goes into a vibrating screen with oversized material going back into the rod mill and fine material bypasses primary mill so it isent over grinded. +3. Flotation 2: "Flotation and regrind circuits contain desliming, roughing, scavenging, seven stages of cleaning and four stages of regrind"The cleaning circuit includes screening of concentrate at 300μm after the second cleaning, with the coarser flake material reporting direct to filtration and drying. The finer material will pass through additional regrind and cleaning to increase purity. The circuit is designed to optimise coarse flake graphite retention at a minimum purity of 94% to 96% TGC +4. Dewatering and Handling: The final concentrates will be filtered, dried and screened into five size fractions (+300 μm, +180 μm, +150 μm and -150 μm). Concentrates will then be directed to bins and bagged into one tonne bulk bags by product specification. +5. Job done :D not quite + +Step 3: PSG Processing + +Ore now has to go off to Port Adelaide where they will have the PSG processing facility, close a you guessed it a port :D This has a capex of A$90m and is where the "vertical integration" part of the supply chain comes in. They aim to produce 28ktpa of PSG. + +Sadly I couldent find as much about this specifically as planned but it would appear ongoing test work, metalurgical work is occuring for the plant. + +I did find a note saying "The battery anode material plant has been designed to produce battery-grade PSG through an eco-friendly process that avoids the use of hydrofluoric acid and thereby satisfies increasingly strict sustainability requirements of end-users and prospective financier" + +The results presented are based on an annual battery anode material plant treatment of approximately 60,000t of flake Graphite Concentrate obtained from Siviour with a nominal purity of 94% total graphitic carbon (“TGC”) and flake size of <180 μm or 80 mesh. The proposed battery anode material plant incorporates facilities for the following unit process operations: + +* Graphite Concentrate offloading and dry storage; +* Micronisation and spheronisation; +* Caustic roast thermal purification; and +* PSG drying and bagging. + +&#x200B; + +[Final process](https://preview.redd.it/ui1poti06ly71.png?width=964&format=png&auto=webp&s=7c2b5d450ad44bf46f63802e91337b0ad4c39a5e) + +Offtakes potentially include: + +Minguang: First stage product qualification achieved with Chinese anode company Minguang as part of a non-binding PSG Offtake MOU covering up 10ktpa for 10 years + +Zeto: First stage product qualification achieved with Chinese anode company Zeto as part of a non-binding PSG Offtake MOU covering up to 10ktpa for 10 years + +Hanwa: Access to Japanese market through non-binding PSG Offtake MOU covering up to 10ktpa for 10 years. + +Big issues here. All are non binding, two are with chinese firms which given current market could cause accountibility issues if they break the deal as suing Chinese firms has proven difficult. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/b9grrh4n6ly71.png?width=550&format=png&auto=webp&s=e48543b8cbd2c07c7ded7e07a171536dc556d472 + +&#x200B; + +**Math:** + +Firstly its now been like 10hrs of reading about flakes, RNU and math so this is likely to be sketcy at best. + +https://preview.redd.it/sgi3apvnnky71.png?width=880&format=png&auto=webp&s=593145353be18d25eaba6abf0ddb0faa9b7bb4cb + +Below is the roughest absolute meme of a DFS, which assumes more than a mother in law. I would think off these numbers the upside is certainly there but Dilution is coming and that needs to be taken into account which I tried to do... + +As a company nearing production the actual numbers will become as important as the story. Growth investors will leave as value investors arrive, looking for a steady profitable company. RNU achieving profitability will be more important than good drill results IMO. + +Any look at E25, KLL, etc will show you that great run up to production and underwhelming production start can kill a years worth of momentum in the Share price. + +[THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE DO NOT INVEST OFF THESE NUMBERS](https://preview.redd.it/mca6sb94pky71.png?width=626&format=png&auto=webp&s=d4bb621839a4d5e287abd7d657f887777164a2eb) + +What do the numbers mean? I have no idea? Buy, sell, hold, yolo into a highly speculative asset bubble? Who knows. + +I would encourage anyone who cares to try to do them as well, see if they get the same. Happy to debate and adjust the numbers. I think with the PSG facility there is upside to the stock and I can't see a world outside first year unprofitability where the bear case comes into effect. + +In a perfect world a 10c buy in would be perfect for me but I don't know if RNU will head that direction. + +&#x200B; + +**Downsides:** + +Overall this DD has been light on substance, aside from the math part. A lot was on graphite background because overall RNU dosen't have much else aside from management and moving forward. + +The reality is for projects like thhis they always have something go wrong and take longer than expected. Post 2022 appears to lack new flow in general and the nature of it is, constructing a mine is never easy. Things come broken, stuff dosen't work, things aren't as efficient as planned, changes need to be made and workers are slower than you hope. The best possible announcements I can think of post 2022 are offtakes, further drilling for resource upgrades or construction is going faster. + +Worst outcome is delays which are more likely. But a post 2022 project is likely to be quite derisked. For now at least there still seems to be a great deal of big news flow between now and next year. + +But there are downsides: + +* Bad terms for funding. This sub is slowly learning annoucements like "JV and funding" = dilution and lost ownership over NPV. Investors are always overly optimistic meaning terms are usually worse than expected and accompany a rerate that reflects the dilution or lower ownership. This is coming up for RNU +* Graphite price crash. Obvious but unlikely? If too much supply comes online too quickly it might be possible but depends on China's supply side +* Battery alternatives. Obviously the commercialisation of solid state batteries on a level more competitive than Li-ion would be a bearish sign for graphite mines. Could this come earlier than expected? Who knows. +* Construction issues, including reduced plant effiecency, higher opex, higher capex etc +* Approvals are require and should never be assumed as acquired until holding the paper +* Offtakes as stated above RNU needs to lock in its offtakes at a good price or all the modelling in the world wont mean anything + +TLDR: + +* Flakes? +* RNU is a graphite company +* They are near production + +\*(Title based on a pencil weight of 3 grams and graphite of 1.5 grams per pencil. 3.8 million tonnes of graphite reserve can produce 3.8trillion pencils graphite.) + +Disclosure: I do not own the stock, I have never owned the stock, I do not own any options nor have any affiliation with the management. This is not financial advice this is a post purely an exercise in amatuer analysis by a clown who pretends to know how stocks work. This is for general information only and should not be taken as constituting professional advice . + +Referennces: + +[https://www.cmcarbon.com/news/223.htm](https://www.cmcarbon.com/news/223.htm) + +[https://renascor.com.au/](https://renascor.com.au/) +We know the US, Europe, and Chinese markets are already established for the most part. + +So I became interested in looking at other countries that I think won't be booming tomorrow or next year but in 5+ years. + +For example, I've been looking into ETFs based on India such as EPI and INDY because I feel they'll be a true emerging market one day with more room to run than most countries. + +I'm also interested in South American countries as their populations increase, etc. + +What other countries in the rest of the world are you looking at and why? +So I'm trying to get into ETFs and I initially tried to get into vanguard but their website did not inspire a lot of confidence in me and now I'm looking at alternatives. 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This is the first meme ecosystem to incorporate this. + + +|**BURN**|**VB**|**HODL**| +|:-|:-|:-| +|50% to VB makes ASTROELON deflationary|50% of supply sent to VB on minting, creating a hyper-deflationary scarcity factor|2% is redistributed among HODLers aka Space Cadets via Reflection + + + +📡**Telegram:** https://t.me/astro_elon + +🌐 **WEBSITE:** https://astroelon.net/ + +🐦 **TWITTER:** https://twitter.com/AstroElon + +📢 **ANNOUNCEMENTS:** https://t.me/astroelonannouncements + +🤩 **REDDIT:** https://reddit.com/r/AstroElon + +💙 **INSTAGRAM:** https://Instagram.com/astroeloncadets + +📖 **MEDIUM:** https://medium.com/@AstroElon + +📱 **GITHUB:** https://github.com/AstroElon + +🔐 **LIQ LOCKED (100 yrs):** +https://team.finance/view-coin/0x97b65710D03E12775189F0D113202cc1443b0aa2?name=ASTROELON&symbol=ELONONE + +---------- ---------- + +**CONTRACT:** + +⚠️BEWARE OF CLONES⚠️0x97b65710D03E12775189F0D113202cc1443b0aa2 + +📈 **DEXTOOLS:** + +https://www.dextools.io/app/uniswap/pair-explorer/0x9ec5149472db6acffb9023a47d37b4ecbcf68a4b + +**Roadmap:** + +Website ✔ +AstroElon Space Cadets Community Launch & Promotional Incentives / Giveaways ✔ +Token Safe Launch on UNI, locking liquidity ✔ +Full $ELONONE Smart Contract Audit +BlockFolio, CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap listings + +**Engage Trajectory Pattern:** + +Community CEX / Marketing Fund +AstroMemes NFT Marketplace Launch + +**Payload Dispersion:** + +CEX Listings +Merchandise – get your own ASTROELON SPACE CADET branded items and merch. Make it official! +AstroElon Space Cadets game Launch + +**Outer Space Autopilot:** + +$10k Charity Giveaway Team up with other Elons for more charity giveaways & other integrations +We have no savings and bad credit 475-550. We bring in about $72000 in total income. Our house was built in 1946 and needs a lot of repairs and upgrades in which we would have to add to the 6% interest loan and end up borrowing about $120,000 to pay probate $60000 (to the cousins) and major repairs like roof and windows and kitchen etc. our dilemma is weather or not we should take a loan like that, stay here, and continue paying the loan and work on credit. Or sell the house as-is and end up with about $130,000-$140,000 down on the next home that is move in ready for about $230,000-$260,000. Would we even be considered with bad credit. What are the best options, please. Also first time home buyers I’m 34 she’s 29. Thank you!! +He knew he was naked shorted, he hated the shorts. Still does. So he threatened to take the company private, and the sec threatened him with market manipulation. + +Gave him a little slap on the wrist. But what happened in the back room? A slow covering of of the shorts over the period of a few years that made him the richest person on earth and many investors set for life. + +Elon said himself, and I quote "I am become meme, destroyer of shorts" + +He wants to watch them burn. + +And now, apes are taking GME private. Drsn batch by batch until this will be a private company completely owned by insiders. + +I wonder what happens to the shorts then? +title says it all. I had put in my two weeks' notice, intent on doing the right thing, but after another night of being chronically understaffed I couldn't take it anymore. I have references that I know I can use from a previous job (that I got fired from for being late in two separate instances that happened... over a year apart... long story,) but I'm terrified of the future now. I have a decent amount in savings and my landlord has agreed that me and my roommate (who is also currently unemployed) can pay the next three months' rent in advance, but like... I'm terrified. Is this life ending? I just couldn't take it anymore... I've only worked fast food and manufacturing before and I can't stand feeling like I'm going to be stuck like this forever. + +**ETA**: wow, thanks for the overwhelming response, y'all! I definitely can't reply to EVERYONE but rest assured I'm reading and taking all your advice to heart-- I mean it: THANK YOU! + +For those asking "why pay rent 3 months in advance?" It's a safety net, knowing I've already put that money forward into rent and not having to worry about it for the summer months is for my own peace of mind (as well as my roommate's!) I've signed up for DoorDash in the meantime to cover other bills. +With the influx of new users and feedback from existing users, we have used this opportunity to refresh and update the rules found in the sidebar (or about section of reddit mobile.) + +Note: if you're using [old.reddit.com](https://old.reddit.com), the rules will be updated there shortly. This is mostly for the droves of new users now part of the sub. + +Any feedback is welcome in this thread regarding the new rules, and we are open to suggestions of new rules you feel will be beneficial to this sub. Feel free to chime in. + +Cheers! + +Jack +RC has a CIK, everything he files with SEC will be attached to this number. See for yourself: + +https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/?r=el#/dateRange=custom&ciks=0001767470&entityName=Cohen%2520Ryan%2520(CIK%25200001767470)&startdt=2001-05-01&enddt=2021-08-04 + +RC is 100% GME, just like my portfolio. + +Other post thinking it's him is going haywire. + +CIK is what apes use to look up what Kenny G, J Yass, Stevie C and other shitheads are up to. + + +EDIT: In all the craziness Charlie's new post got lost. Everyone look at it, it seems more important than what we're discussing here. + +https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/oynix7/aggregate_systematic_internaliser_data_is_out_for/ + +Shoutout to u/Horror_Veterinar love your work +Morning/Evening, + +We've got another AMA lined up with an exciting guest, Dennis Kelleher from [Better Markets](https://bettermarkets.org/)! + +# About Dennis + +>Mr. Kelleher is the President, CEO, and Co-Founder of Better Markets. He is an internationally sought expert on financial reform, financial markets, economics, regulation, legal issues, and their intersection with political matters. In addition to testifying in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, he also speaks frequently in the U.S. and Europe on these matters at conferences, seminars and symposiums as well as on all media platforms. You may recognize Mr. Kelleher from the second House of Financial Services hearing *GameStopped? Who Wins and Loses When Short Sellers, Social Media, and Retail Investors Collide*, as well as his appearance in the 2022 HBO Max Documentary *Gaming Wall Street.* His full bio can be read [here](https://bettermarkets.org/team/dennis-m-kelleher/). + +&#x200B; + +**The AMA will be recorded in late March and posted in early April.** + +Ask away, any and all questions you have! + +**Note:** If you're unable to comment due to karma requirements and have a question - please still comment it. It'll get removed, however, we'll still be able to see them. We go through every single question, so don't fear that your question will get lost in the many hundreds! +Unpublished and scheduled to be posted on the federal register tomorrow. This will close several loopholes that market makers and HF have over retail investors for all trades routed to IEX. + +[https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2021-07676.pdf](https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2021-07676.pdf) + +The purpose of the proposed rule change is to enhance the Exchange’s Retail Price Improvement Program for the **benefit of retail investors.** Specifically, the Exchange proposes to make the following four changes: (i) revise the definition of Retail order in IEX Rule 11.190(b)(15) to **apply only to the trading interest of a natural person that does not place more than 390 equity orders per day** on average during a calendar month for its own beneficial account(s);7 (ii) **provide Order Book8 priority to Retail Liquidity Provider (“RLP”) orders9 at the Midpoint Price10 ahead of other non-displayed orders priced to execute at the Midpoint Price;** (iii) disseminate a “Retail Liquidity Identifier” through the Exchange’s proprietary market data feeds and the appropriate securities information processor (“SIP”) when RLP order interest aggregated to form at least one round lot for a particular security is available in the System,11 provided that the RLP order interest is resting at the Midpoint Price and is **priced at least $0.001 better than the NBB12 or NBO13**; and (iv) amend the definition of RLP orders so **such orders can only be midpoint peg orders**,14 cannot be Discretionary Peg orders,15 and cannot include a minimum quantity restriction.16 The proposed changes are designed to further support and enhance the ability of non-professional retail investors to obtain meaningful price improvement by incentivizing market participants to compete to provide such price improvement. + +Retail Liquidity Provider means a broker that routes retail orders through the IEX. You can call your broker and see if they are an RLP for IEX. + +**Ape speak:** + +*This completely negates the ability for other firms to see retail orders before execution and then act accordingly to manipulate the price. This would give retail orders* ***Priority over other non-displayed orders. These orders are routinely used to drop price even when buying pressure is increased.*** + +Read some of the DD to learn a bit on how **non displayed orders** are likely being used by citadel and friends to manipulate the price. + +Overall, it seems like a major step in the right direction to help level the playing field. It looks like it has to go through the traditional comment period before approval. (Not an advance notice). + +Still reading will add more as needed. +This is the official $GME Megathread for r/Superstonk. Please keep ALL conversations contained to Gamestop and related topics. + +**Not enough karma?** Here's a [**quick guide**](https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-get-karma-on-reddit/) on how to get it. + +# [announcements](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index/announcements) + +* Make sure to check the Announcements regularly. 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They didn’t know any English or anything about rates/ mortgages. My dads employers at the time offered to lend money to buy a house since my parents didn’t have a credit score or anything when they came here. I guess it is a private mortgage since the employer is the mortgagee. They borrowed 200k with interest rate of 5% per year from October 2006 until October 2011. + +Here is where it gets tricky- my parents borrowed 100k from their friends since their business was doing well to pay off 100k from their mortgage balance of 200k. A year later, the friends asked for the money back so they had to ask for more money from the mortgager. + +In 2009, my parents did the purchase money note and mortgage again for $117k with interest rate of 5% per year from July 2009 until October 2011. The new modified agreement in 2017 states the new Maturity date is 10/31/2021 with the same interest rate because of the extended mortgage. + +The principal balance is now $227k that my parents owe the employer. How should we proceed forward since the maturity date is next year? Do we borrow money from the bank to pay this off and see if the bank will provide us a lower rate?? + +The employer definitely took advantage of the limited knowledge that my parents had and the fact that they couldn’t speak/ understand English when we first arrived. I don’t even know where to begin and feel hopeless and useless. My parents don’t have a lot of money (maybe a Couple thousand in their bank) since they are low wage earners. I could help out but I only have $10k in savings account and 10k in my Roth/brokerage account. If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment!! +Hi everyone - had some thoughts I wanted to share and see what everyone thinks. + +I invest around 30% of my portfolio in index funds. I think the ftse100 might be the worst of any developed countries index to invest in, here are the two main reasons: + +1. Composition by sector - largely weighted towards banks (literally the worst investment I can think of) & oil/natural gas/mining (not looking good for these companies over the next few decades). There are few growth/value stocks in the index. If you go through it, which companies would you actually invest in individually? The answer for me is around five or six. + +2. Performance - the index has remained in the same range for 30 years. It was ~6,000 in 1999 & it is ~6000 today. It hasn't even beaten inflation. + +For a passive investor, it appears to be a very poor choice of index. + +I'm wondering if I am missing anything & keen to hear others thoughts. +The damage that the current PM and Chancellor have done to UK PLC credibility has led to a sell off in Uk Assets and IMO we are lower than COVID levels of despair and if this crazy policy of tax cuts and increased public spending continues, we could depress to 2009 level of risk taking. Unlike covid we now have high inflation and relatively "high" interest rates, so I think the likelihood of a "V-shaped" recovery is unlikely and prices will remain depressed for a while. In addition we are either in or entering a recession, so earnings will be down across the board in general. + +All of the above factors make me extremely interested in UK bonds and shares in the next 6 months, as although UK credibility is in question, the UK is without a doubt one of the most stable countries in the world and in general a great place to do business. So I believe that regardless of the fear mongering media, now is indeed the time to be greedy when others are fearful :) + +A decade of QE and low interest rates has been devasting for stock pickers, now I believe is the time that you can genuinely outperform the index by using sensibly value investing approach. +[https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wirecard-shares-plunge-after-saying-auditor-cant-find-billions-of-missing-cash-2020-06-18](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wirecard-shares-plunge-after-saying-auditor-cant-find-billions-of-missing-cash-2020-06-18) + +"Wirecard [**WDI,** **-54.44%**](https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/WDI?countryCode=DE&mod=MW_story_quote) [**WCAGY,** **+5.27%**](https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/WCAGY?mod=MW_story_quote) shares lost 48% as the firm said Ernst & Young said it didn’t have sufficient audit evidence for €1.9 billion euros in cash." + +I'm guessing this news is more relevant to those in Germany or watching the crypto-currency space. + +How do you say ruh-roh in German btw? +i haven’t bought anything since rates were below 3%. i kinda want to but see prices are coming down. are seasoned folks waiting another 6 months? i’m looking for long term rental properties. i haven’t done the math but am wondering is it better to buy and rent knowing the property value may tumble further, or is it better to wait 6-12 months for price stabilization and then buy. +Growing up in a standard middle-class family, my parent were picky about when we would turn the AC on in the house, and in the car. This continued while I spent my time in college, trying to save myself money. + +I'm now a year into my career, and have recently made the decision that AC is the first true luxury that I decided I will use every time I want to. If I would start sweating simply by sitting in my car or my apartment, sure as shit the AC is getting turned on. + +I actively recognize every time I make the decision to turn the AC on - and then I remember that it is a perfect representation of why I worked so hard in college. Why I put in the time and effort to learn about finances and money management, expense ratios, 401k's and IRA's, savings rate etc etc. It noticeably affects my mood. It makes my day better. + +This is my (first) small luxury that I worked hard for, and continue to work hard for. What's yours? +Credit to u/criand for pointing this out in a comment. + +&#x200B; + +edit: here is the damn eggheads that have come to the opposite conclusion (just playing I love the quant guys their work is fucking incredible): [https://www.reddit.com/r/DDintoGME/comments/nype4f/is\_gmes\_price\_related\_to\_the\_reverse\_repo\_rate\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DDintoGME/comments/nype4f/is_gmes_price_related_to_the_reverse_repo_rate_in/) + +Honestly, I would trust their math over my eyeballs, but go head and read anyway so you can make your own conclusions. Criand and several others have commented with some really good insight. + +I just wanted to bring this to the community so some more wrinkly brains could make some assumptions about what may be happening. If you look at the reverse repo rates, they line up pretty well with GME movements. Let's take a looksie here... + +Here is some GME green lines to refresh everyone's memory: + +&#x200B; + +[January price action](https://preview.redd.it/9vszopnl8z471.png?width=427&format=png&auto=webp&s=3bc5900aa156a301ae0a29b3cbd1bbcf46f8491c) + +&#x200B; + +[February cute little spike there](https://preview.redd.it/ksdxq8fz8z471.png?width=705&format=png&auto=webp&s=724d90063ae75c13d27301cc13081ca274e69503) + +And here is the corresponding Reverse Repo graph: + +&#x200B; + +[Reverse Repo for Jan and Feb](https://preview.redd.it/qyeyuplr8z471.png?width=1167&format=png&auto=webp&s=c0286977bcb7086884c091f88eb4edcac830b3e8) + +Well look at that! It appears there is a build up in repo starting on the 28th, which spikes up on the 29th, same day as the second GME peak and following drop (likely some type of short attack with synthetics or something). Then again on the 24th and 25th of Feb, we see a large increase in price in GME and a much larger increases in repos on the 26th and 27th. Hmm... + +&#x200B; + +[Here's that really gorgeous peak in March 10th. Got me some shares on the way up to that one. Absolute beauts. They look fantastic in my collection of positions.](https://preview.redd.it/4rkmdbcm9z471.png?width=565&format=png&auto=webp&s=8a7741d46ece6dc6dcca89c986b80f487fd2db9c) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +[Here's the rest of the graph there, it important for the next picture...](https://preview.redd.it/a6gbf37taz471.png?width=453&format=png&auto=webp&s=bc55b1cad5cc82a08f66291cdb80aedcbaf84b13) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +[Here's the repos for a similar period](https://preview.redd.it/6a0scca5bz471.png?width=1154&format=png&auto=webp&s=98b19d10b2c0ca570db29e969db827f9836ae747) + +So here we have another nice little 11 billion spike around march 10. But what I really love about this graph, is that GME didn't really tank again. It stayed fairly strong. And what do you know? The repo rates are no longer flatlining ever. They just start going up and up. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +[And here we are from mid May till now. Note the Y-axis values.](https://preview.redd.it/063xhomobz471.png?width=1145&format=png&auto=webp&s=c7d1500b555d9788d5a7173d7a53893f730131ae) + +So the rise in repo rates seems correlated (maybe not causally, but that's why I'm posting) to GME. The first spikes in GME price is where we start seeing small(ish) 11 billion spikes in repos. But then GME doesn't go down. Apes are hodling the fuck out of the stock. At this same time, repo rates start climbing. There's no more flat lines near 0 like we see during the period in February when GME was stagnant in the 40s and 50s. + +What does this all mean? I'm not sure. I know that for the banks, cash on hand is a liability. They don't own it and they pay interest on it. So they prob can't use that to balance their books. So they get the bonds instead, then use that as collateral to balance their books so they don't look like they hundreds of billions in the shit, then give it back for their cash? + +Someone please fill me in on what exactly is happening here. +I tried posting this on another subreddit but it didn't work. I thought it might be of interest to people here. I went through my archives and put together the attached chart of GME stock float and short interest over the last several months. As everyone has noticed, the float number recently reported by Yahoo Finance looks to be off. I can't explain why, but based on my experience with such data, float does not fluctuate that greatly on a day to day basis. It will be interesting to see what the data bears out over the next several days. I hope this is of interest to followers of GameStop stock (I currently hold no positions in GME). + +https://preview.redd.it/ombohs8wo4n71.png?width=952&format=png&auto=webp&s=5f3ab305bf90e5d3f09471a3c4f0b75a253874dc +I bought a house in may of last year and it basically wiped all my savings. Now with bills being super high, I don’t have enough money *yet* in my bank account to pay my next bill that is due. If I took like $1500 from my 401k that would give me a nice cushion and I would have to worry about running out of money. + +EDIT: thank you all for the responses, I found an alternative way to get by and learned my lesson. I’m going to re-evaluate my budget and make the necessary changes going forward. And as Mike Tomlin says, such is life, the standard is the standard, and don’t blink. +[Source](https://www.afr.com/property/residential/own-now-pay-later-frontya-launches-new-property-ownership-model-20220222-p59ylj?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nc&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR26tuxKKnbbiYnghF6fdcOOn6LefLnkafFUrl-puFo0dpegpBqMG3hN8Q8#Echobox=1645509575) + +They help double your deposit. In return, you pay back them back over 6 years and they also take 25% of your property’s capital gains over that time period. + +It’s like a very high interest loan lol. +You must understand how big this is. I have been watching DRS numbers closely for the past few months. DRS is picking up pace again. We went weeks/months with 5k-10k average bot registered shares per WEEK DAY (20k-40k after split). + +Weekends’ DRS numbers are always much lower, but apes somehow registered OVER 66k SHARES IN A SATURDAY. And these are just the ones posted to reddit. I can’t wait to check on next week’s numbers. Buckle up! + +🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀DRS🚀 +27 M/F, $700K NW (about half cash, half equities / retirement), earning $450K/year in MCOL, looking to buy a house soon, in the $500K to $900K range (which is a nicer, more luxury home in the MCOL / LCOL markets we are looking at). For our current stage in life, we consider ourselves DINKs and HENRYs but considering kids in the future. + +Trying to get a gauge on how the pre-FatFIRE / HENRYs of the sub are approaching the current housing market. Why HENRYs and not everyone fat? If you're already fat, you can probably offer cash at or above asking price - even if you plan to finance, your affordability and perspective on the market are biased a bit differently by your assets, particularly if you already own the home you're leaving (or keeping) while buying a new one. If you're a HENRY, you're more likely to be financing a house, and without significant assets to fall back on, your earnings are driving affordability. + +What we're seeing is that as rates are going up, buying is drying up, so houses are staying on the market longer. However, prices aren't really budging, and for the MCOL / LCOL areas we are looking at, prices are still inflated by some 10-20% above fair market value - I'm defining fair market value as pre-COVID, since that was a complete aberration of housing prices in most markets. + +We can absolutely afford to wait, but seeking lifestyle changes has us wanting to move soonish. Our strategy has been to submit offers below the ask just to see what sellers bite - we're offering above pre-COVID fair, but below peak (our markets are all priced at December 2021 peak, they haven't really adjusted downward at all). Some of the homes we're considering making offers on haven't gotten a single offer in the months they've been on the market, so there's maybe this quixotic hope that by submitting a genuine low offer, we can either bring sellers to terms with the market reality. + +We're happy to pay the premium for a luxury home, but we're not looking to lock in an inflated price that we can "hope to refinance soon" from, if it means potentially taking a 6 figure loss if we need to exit and sell the home in a few years at a potential market bottom. + +*From the HENRY side, are you waiting it out? What is your time horizon, 6 weeks, 6 months, happy to wait 6 years? After 2008, didn't housing prices take until 2012 to stabilize at the bottom? Are you offering at the ask, lowballing, if you're lowballing, by how much and how are sellers responding?* +NRXP offers a very compelling opportunity with asymmetric risk-reward. The intrinsic value of the business should be substantially higher than the current share price. Even if one employs an unreasonably low probability of EUA approval, the expected value one calculates should be much higher than the current share price. + +&#x200B; + +NRx Pharmaceuticals (NRXP) is awaiting the FDA's decision on its application for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Zyesami, a drug for treating COVID and other respiratory problems. The FDA decision should come out any day now and one would expect a positive outcome, as clinical trials have shown that Zyesami meets the standard of "safe and may be effective" (the standard necessary to receive EUA). + +&#x200B; + +Market cap: \~$450 million + +Shares outstanding: 53.77 million + +Float: 16.64 million + +Short interest: 2.15 million + +Short % of float: 12.92% + +&#x200B; + +NRXP shares currently trade at a price of \~$8.50, which in my opinion represents tremendous value, as explained hereafter. + +* Assume 500,000 annual COVID hospitalizations (similar to annual influenza hospitalizations in the US). +* Assume intravenous Zyesami priced at $5,000 per treatment. 500,000 x $5,000 results in $2.5 billion in sales. +* Conservatively assume NRx Pharma keeps 50% per its Collaboration Agreement with Relief Therapeutics. That’s 50% x $2.5 billion = $1.25 billion in sales for NRx Pharma. +* Assume 5x price-to-sales multiple (appropriate for a biotech company), and you arrive at $6.25 billion fair value market cap for NRx Pharma. +* The number of shares outstanding will increase to approximately 80 million once 25 million shares are issued upon future FDA approval of Zyesami. +* $6.25 billion / 80 million shares outstanding = **$78.125 per share fair value** + +That is almost **10x higher** than the current share price of \~$8.50. And that calculated value is off of intravenous Zyesami for critical COVID patients **only**. + +&#x200B; + +That means you are getting the value from all of the following for **free**: + +* Intravenous Zyesami sales outside of the US (where NRx Pharma keeps 15%-20%), +* Inhaled Zyesami (which will be available to a much larger COVID population and not just to critical patients), +* BriLife COVID vaccine under development (which does not employ mRNA technology and should retain greater efficiency against new variants compared to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines), +* NRX-101 for bipolar depression and for PTSD depression, as well as other potential use cases, and +* Zyesami for other use cases which the CEO indicated in the October 4th update found on the company website (i.e., COVID “longhauler” syndrome, sarcoidosis, acute respiratory distress syndrome, checkpoint inhibitor pneumonitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). + +The value from the above could very reasonably be in the billions if the products are successful. + +&#x200B; + +Everyone should do their own due diligence, arrive at their own opinion, and decide to invest or not according to their own views and risk tolerance. + +In my personal opinion, current NRXP price of \~$8.50 is ridiculously cheap and represents a very attractive opportunity with asymmetric risk-reward. NRXP could go up 10x or more and still be reasonably priced given the potential of its pipeline. + +Disclosure: long warrants and calls. +Hi value team. + +A vague question which could possibly be appropriate for many companies. +Currently mid DD on a company, which I like so far, great management, great past, great outlook, great balance sheets, huge clients, sainsburys, amazon, tesco to name a few. +The issue I'm having is they issue new standard shares, and have done 4 or 5 times since IPO. + +Now usually I would steer clear, but being the type of company they are, they have large outlays in upfront cost, which then return over several years. Year by year they get larger, no dividend cut, and all the 'good stuff' on the annual reports are increasing each year consistently. They have nearly as much assets as their entire market cap, with less than a third of that in easily covered long term debt. + +They do well with their capital. +So the question is to all fellow value guys and gals, should share issuing be a concern, when past shows they turn 1 into 2 quite well. +Last issue was this week at 8~9% MKTCAP + +If I get decent responses then I will let you all know what the company is, I just want opinions first on how others would deal with this information on a blind analysis + +THANKYOU +Not a full analysis, but to keep this quick and punchy: + +- Widely publicized labor issues plus a generally unfavorable market for growth, Starbucks stock is significantly down, and at relatively cheap prices. + +- [P/S ratio less than 3](https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/SBUX/starbucks/price-sales), when more commonly it trades around 4x revenue; + +- paying a [dividend yield of about 2.5%](https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/SBUX/starbucks/dividend-yield-history), when typically it's in the 1.5-2% range. + +- Historically a very good business characterized by [strong ROIC](https://roic.ai/company/SBUX) in the 20% range, and good growth. + +- I'm not talking about P/E or FCF yield because the last few years have been weird; big losses around covid; so it's hard to say how meaningful the last 1-2 years are, relative to where they might be going forward. + +- The founder, Howard Schultz, is back leading the company and made several large personal purchases of SBUX shares around the start of May. He did another successful turnaround of the company about ten years ago, I read his book about it, who knows if twice is a charm though. + +- High uncertainty around what will happen with the unionization efforts. Workers in general are less willing to put up with crap, and while Starbucks has (so far as I understand) relatively much better benefits, 401k match, etc for baristas than many similar jobs -- it's still customer-facing and not an easy place to work... And the baristas have a lot of pressure to keep up the ethos and atmosphere of the company. + +- Spike in long term debt (doubling to ~$21 billion, relative to what it was pre-COVID). I find this pretty concerning. + +To me, I'd call this slightly too much uncertainty to dive in, but for anyone with strong conviction about the long term prospects of Starbucks - the current price seems like a very attractive one. + +Thoughts? +Who read the intelligent investor knows of the story with the global coin-flipping competition and how a certain number of people from a certain town won the coin-flipping competition over and over again- this was a metaphor of how even though 90% of all investors do not beat the market, of the people who do there is a disproportionate high amount of value-investors who were taught Grahams investment principles. + +So what’s the state of affairs in this sub? Did you beat the market since starting value-investing? How many years have you been doing it? + +This could have been a great poll but polls don’t seem to be allowed here. +So I have been investing for 10 years, mostly nasdaq and tech stocks with good success. Now I want something a bit less volatile and "safer" I mean I know 20 years is a safer risk since theoretically, stocks go up, but just looking for something slower and something that wont get hit as hard when it comes to either a recession, or inflation. So I decided to go with DOW ETFs since most of its top holdings are value, yet some exposure to safe tech stocks like MSFT and AAPL. + +But being new to value investing for the next 20 years, would you say DOW is a good pick, especially with todays economy and uncertainty? And yes, I understand volatility as ive been through it, but think I want a bit less of it now and a more calm approach for the next 15 - 20 years. +So I woke up to news about Tencent facing a Record Fine. Stock plunges. They have around $25B in Cash. I see every news outlet posting about the record fine, but I can't seem to find an amount? + +Does anyone know the amount? + + +Edit: + +After some sources I came to the following conclusion: + +From source: + +"The PBOC, in its most recent annual anti-money-laundering report, said it imposed fines totaling 526 million yuan, or $83 million, on 537 institutions in 2020. Common money laundering offenses involved activities such as gambling, smuggling and drug dealing, the report said." + +If they would give Tencent a fine equal to the total amount they gave 537 companies in 2020, which is 523 million yuan, they would get a fine of 83 million dollars? This seems to be peanuts for Tencent or am I reading something wrong here. +As part or my undergraduate thesis in engineering management, I’m planning to design and publish a decision making flowchart illustrating the process Warren Buffett and his team use in order to invest in amazing businesses at reasonable prices. + +¿Could you give me recommendations on where to start? + +I’ve got strong background in accounting and finance, but have a long way to go in order to achieve some of my long-term goals. + +I love this subreddit! The best of the best! Thank you all for making this community possible. +This is something I saw and even heard in PF, but hoped not to find here. Alas, I've seen one outright suggestion and one allusion already this morning. While I admit that truthfully giving up your child/ren would likely improve your financial situation, people making these suggestions are either not giving this suggestion enough thought or simply making a political point. There are a plethora of legitimate reasons not to consider this option. Medical condition with genetic factors are most likely to be seen and recognized by biological family members, for example. Different studies show that adopted children are frequently less favored than natural children. Older children are less likely to be adopted and more likely to be placed in foster care, which is a vipers nest of its own. Culturally parents who give up their children may be shamed, even by their family and essential support networks. The list goes on and on. No one knows the exact circumstances of someone's parenthood and their decisions to keep or give up their child. This suggestion is often cruel, and almost always pointless. + +Edit: I've been up all night and have an Easter Egg hunt to do before I can sleep. Ultimately the point I'm making is that this suggestion is trolling, regardless of the commenters actual intent. Most people who've been around PF for a while have seen this argument before and it plays out the same way every time. It hurts and angers people and accomplishes nothing. It should be considered trolling and gotten rid of when seen. If you have a legitimate reason why we shouldn't push the mods for this, please say so. + +Edit 2: Oh, also, we all know that at least like...half the people who say this stuff are just doing it to take a jab at "poor people having too many kids and living off the system." It's a political statement made in such a way they think they can get away with it. That's already against the rules. We should acknowledge it for what it is and move on. +I am in a great mood today and want to try to spread some confidence. I know life can be hard, and finances makes it a lot harder than it has to be. My wife, myself, and our 3 month old baby live on a single income with no assistance other than renting a house that is based on my income. I make about $33,000 a year with base salary, benefits, and commissions. Yes, we may not be in the best situation, and we don't have the most or nicest things, but even with our low income it's still possible for us to live, and even save! We pay close to $300 extra on my car every month and expect to pay it off next summer 3 years short of maturity. Most importantly though, we are happy. + +I'm no expert, and nowhere near perfect but here are some tips I have for budgeting: + +* Actually do it every month, there is no way you can just copy and paste it from month to month +* Keep it simple, we like to line item everything we have, instead of food $600 we have groceries $300, monthly restaurant $26, emergency fast food $30, farm produce $24, and so on. When you have a small line item you are more careful with what you have on paper +* Keep an overflow, but not too much. We usually keep about $50 each month for that inevitable "oh no, I forgot I need an oil change!" Once you get really good at planning you won't need it as much, but that peace of mind makes budgeting seem easy. +* Trust your budget. Once you get it down don't hold your payments until the last second, just mail that check! + +If we can do it, anyone can do it! You just have to believe in yourself and stick to your plan. Nail that budget down, eat at home as much as possible, be thrifty, and learn to say no to that new TV. You guys got this, together we can all win at this money thing! + +Edit: Thank you for all of your kind words! A few people have asked for me to lay out the budget so here it is [https://imgur.com/a/OSmDh3e](https://imgur.com/a/OSmDh3e) . This month is a pretty big month for commissions so we decided to have a bit of fun and buy a few things that we've been wanting for a few months. The non-recurring stuff is most of that, and we are going to go on our first date since the baby so we pumped the restaurant budget up a tiny bit. It's important to have a bit of fun from time to time! + +Edit 2: I use Everydollar to budget. I used Mint for a little while but I found Everydollar to be easier to use. Linking your bank account seems like a good idea, but in my experience having the delay hurt me a lot, so I ended up manually entering everything anyway. + +Edit 3: A few FAQs. + +* How do you get internet for $4.99 a month? I work for an ISP and reimbursed for the majority of it. The mobile phone is also mostly paid for by my employer which is why it's so cheap for 2 lines. Both of these were factored into my benefits. +* How is your rent and utilities so cheap? I live in Tennessee which I think is one of the cheapest places to live in America. The duplex we live in is normally $564 a month, but it is based on income so we pay $444. Electricity is the only thing we have to pay for in it because there is no gas, and each duplex shares a water meter, so they can't split it between the 2 units. The place isn't very nice I'm not going to lie, but until I can get my income up we're going to stay here and save as much as we can. +* Why DotA 2? Because it's fun, and I like the tracking that comes with DotA Plus subscription. +* How do you eat so cheap? My wife is extraordinarily good at shopping for deals, Aldi is great if you live near one! We eat different stuff every week because she only buys stuff that is on sale. We eat well and healthy too, tonight we had pork chops and Brussels sprouts. Also small stuff like buying whole chickens and cutting them yourself saves quite a bit of money. We spend about $20 for 4 chickens, which is about 6 meals worth of meat. + +Edit 4: Thank you kind stranger for the gold! In true DotA fashion [Thanks for the gold!](https://d1u5p3l4wpay3k.cloudfront.net/dota2_gamepedia/b/b9/Wind_lasthit_07.mp3) +We get a ton deducted from our taxes and use standard deductions and still end up with a tax bill at the end of the year! It is so frustrating. What else can you do to avoid having to pay at year end? Don't want a refund..just don't want to have to pay back more than a couple thousand dollars. +Children are a blessing in everyway. But with the high cost of living, grocery prices, petrol etc. How do you afford it? And please don't say Centrelink +>Berkshire Hathaway Inc's stock price touched $300,000 for the first time on Monday, reflecting investors' confidence in Warren Buffett's conglomerate despite four straight quarters of lower operating profit. + +>Crossing the $300,000 threshold put Berkshire's Class A shares up 22.9 percent for the year, compared with a 20 percent gain in the Standard & Poor's 500. + +>Berkshire's Class B shares, worth about 1/1500th of Class A shares, traded at around $199.75. Neither class pays dividends. + +[Reuters](http://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1EC279) +> Deloitte has claimed that they did not audit the financial statements of 111 subsidiaries, 36 jointly controlled entities, 11 associates in 2016-17 + + + +https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/govt-likely-to-ban-deloitte-for-five-years-for-alleged-malpractice-in-il-fs-accounts-1556425159041.html + + +Is 5yrs ban sufficient? I think such companies should be banned from ever auditing any listed companies. +Welcome to the Daily General Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +*** + +Thread guidelines: + +- Please refrain from discussing non-Ethereum related tokens here. You are welcome to discuss altcoins in the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread. +- All [sub rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/) apply here so please be familiar with them. + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +A few investors from my circle fully stopped investing. “I wont buy new properties until 2024” is the main thing I hear. I understand not everyone fully stopped, but have you stepped on the brakes a bit? Or are you OK to buy as long as rent covers it and you can refinance once rates are lower again? If you are waiting, what is making you wait? Thanks! +Welcome to the Daily General Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +*** + +Thread guidelines: + +- Please refrain from discussing non-Ethereum related tokens here. You are welcome to discuss altcoins in the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread. +- All [sub rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/) apply here so please be familiar with them. + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Find the latest Altcoin Discussion thread in [this search listing](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/search?q=author%3Aautomoderator+title%3Aaltcoin&include_over_18=on&sort=new&t=all). + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +I have been doing some research and am trying to diversify my portfolio with lesser known / new alt coins. + +I just invested in one called DeepbrainChain and see potential growth in the near future. It will allow for more affordable artificial intelligence computations which at the moment are incredibly costly and ineffective. Hopefully it's solid we will see. + +What are your recommendations and why? +[https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1759509/000119312519059849/d633517ds1.htm](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1759509/000119312519059849/d633517ds1.htm) +The million dollar questiion. + +I know I have a winning strategy based on backtesting. + +However I can't seem to follow my plan during live trading because of emotions. I'm always doing stupid stuff like widening stops/taking profits early, adding to losers etc. All which I didn't do during backtesting. + +I know why I'm failing but I can't seem to stop these habits. + + +For those that were in a similar situation, what did you do to overcome these stupid mistakes? +The report is based on an analysis of the 2014 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data from the U.S. Census Bureau. It examines the distinct challenges posed by the current retirement system in America for working Millennials between the ages of 21 and 32. + +https://www.nirsonline.org/2018/02/new-research-finds-95-percent-of-millennials-not-saving-adequately-for-retirement/ + +**This only looks at retirement accounts through employer sponsored plan. It does not take into consideration other retirement accounts such as Traditional or Roth IRAs** + +**Access** + +* 66.2% of Millenials work for an employer that offers an employer-sponsored retirement plan +* Only 55% of these Millenials are actually eligible to participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan +* Of those who are eligible to participate, the participation rate is at 94.2% which about the same participation rate as older generations. +* Overall, 34.3% of Millenials participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan + + +**Participation** + +* 66.1% of working Millenials have $0 saved for retirement +* For the Millenials that have retirement account, the average balance is $67,891 and the median balance of $19,100 +* Taking into account an employer match, 14.2% of Millenials contribute 15% of more of their income into their employer-sponsored retirement plan + + +**Barriers** + +* 25.1% of Millenials are employed part-time +* Over half of Millennials have only been employed with their current employer for between one and two years (26.5%) or under one year (23.6%) +* The top three reasons for not participating are: Not enough hours (24.2%), Haven’t worked long enough (16.0%) and Can’t afford to contribute (9.3%) + +https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying + +While the article isn't about FIRE, I feel that #1, 2 and 5 are the ones that align with my own personal feelings on reaching FI and hopefully getting to early retirement. I hope that I won't have these regrets when my time comes. + +**I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me** + +This one feels especially relevant, since we're taking a path less traveled. My wife and I could be living a life right now that is a lot more extravagant if we weren't putting away half of our gross income. The few people who know about our plans don't really understand it, but that's OK. It makes me think of the Dave Ramsey line about living like no one else. + +**I wish I hadn't worked so hard** + +This is probably one of the main reasons for us to reach FI. I think I would certainly have this regret if I ended up working into my mid to late 60s and found myself on my deathbed before I'd reached 80. Reaching FI means our life no longer revolves around needing to work, and frees us to live the way we want to, not the way we need to. As I get older, working harder becomes more of a requirement, as I have to make sure I remain more valuable than the younger people coming up behind me. + +**I wish that I had let myself be happier** + +Again not totally FI related, but it's a question we ask each other on occasion, about what makes us happy, and trying to balance being happy now and still securing our happiness in the future. I don't want to feel like saving for the future means I have to live a miserable life now, but at the same time trying to ensure that I won't have to live a miserable life 20 years from now. + +Hopefully you can relate to some of these as well. +Tenant is complaining that hot water for shower does not last long enough. I turned up the heat to max on the hot water tank and they are still complaining. I have lived in this unit myself and didnt have an issue, just thinking they are taking very long showers. + + Is there a specific amount of time that hot water should last? And what would be the temperature? +&#x200B; + +[Beating Big Tech](https://preview.redd.it/idzslthguyv71.png?width=733&format=png&auto=webp&s=7a66364661ff36a47eae116dc86111f0698e94ad) + +Except (filling 250 words): + +## About Beating BigTech + +*Creating an action plan for Digital Freedom, to take back our data, protect our children, our privacy, our freedom, and our way of life.* + + +Link to page: [https://medium.com/@beatingbigtech/about](https://medium.com/@beatingbigtech/about) + +I don't know about you but this is just TOO exciting. I'm going to have to take 30 seconds fresh air, sorry did I say 30, I meant 60.. ah, sod it let's go for the whole 90! +&#x200B; + +[Beating Big Tech](https://preview.redd.it/idzslthguyv71.png?width=733&format=png&auto=webp&s=7a66364661ff36a47eae116dc86111f0698e94ad) + +Except (filling 250 words): + +## About Beating BigTech + +*Creating an action plan for Digital Freedom, to take back our data, protect our children, our privacy, our freedom, and our way of life.* + + +Link to page: [https://medium.com/@beatingbigtech/about](https://medium.com/@beatingbigtech/about) + +I don't know about you but this is just TOO exciting. I'm going to have to take 30 seconds fresh air, sorry did I say 30, I meant 60.. ah, sod it let's go for the whole 90! +This isn't strictly FI, but hopefully it's not too unrelated and mods will allow it. It seems like a lot of us here are pursuing FIRE because we aren't happy with our work, and don't want to be stuck doing it until we die. In the [Want to live longer? Retire early](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/cb13um/want_to_live_longer_retire_early/) thread, there is a lot of discussion about this and how terrible corporate life is. This comment by filmfan2 really resonated with me: + +> as i hit 50 and have a few bucks in the bank at this point, that feeling and voice only grows louder every day! i just did it / put up with it when i was younger because i needed the money. 80% of "work" is a big waste, beyond humans needing food and medicine/health. we dont "need" the majority of all this crap. + +That's exactly how I feel. The problem is I'm in my early 30s. + +Now on the FIRE path I'm doing pretty good. I'm in a LCOL part of Europe, have been working since 16 and now work in tech, so if I stick with what I'm doing for another 15-20 years I should be golden. I really don't know if I can though. + +So I'm wondering if anyone has made a big career switch while pursuing fire. I know of barristaFIRE, but that's not really what I mean. If I switch I'd probably need to work longer (I'm in tech now, so it would probably be a big paycut), so I would want to do something I really enjoy that makes me happy. I don't really know what that would be though, so has anyone done anything like this? +Hey Apes, I want to write a proper write up about NFT, what an NFT is and why GameStop is headed the best, very best way. + +I just want to say that I am very smooth, and not at all a financial or market advisor, however, I am known to be good at research and putting 1 and 1 together. The only downside to my method is that it can be quite chaotic so I hope that I can still get my points across. + +Ok let us see, NFT market. + +First, + +- What is an NFT (Non Fungible Token) + +NFT’s are a representation of ownership of something specific, however it is in a non-physical form, it is a Non-Fungible representation of ownership of something, hence, a Non-Fungible-Token (NFT). + +The great thing about NFT’s is that they are supported by a crypto token, such as Ethereum. Changes to the network (A new NFT is saved, or ownership is transferred) have to be paid with Ether, people who process these changes are rewarded Ether. + +This process can have automatic processes involved. For example, the original creator of an image can set up that their NFT will always reward 5% of all the Ether that is paid for their original creation back to their wallet. In this instance, let us assume that I create an NFT of Harambe, throwing a rocket to the Moon. + +I price my initial NFT at 1 Ether. Someone purchases it and decides to re-sell it for 100 Ether. The transaction goes through, however, I have set-up that my Wallet is always rewarded 5% of every re-sale, hence. I am now paid 5 Ether of that 100. Does it make sense? + +Ok, let us keep all of this in mind. + + +- Gamestop’s Business Model + +For eternity now, GameStops business model consists of re-selling used video games and consoles. +This business model relies on physical games alone, and this is why GameStop has seen a decline in their revenue over the last years, as physical games have been pushed away by digital games. + +- The Decline of Video Game Marketplaces + +Currently, video game companies prefer digital over physical, especially the big three (Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony), who own their very own marketplaces. As they have a heavy profit incentive. They have to give less away to some middle-man and can keep more profits for themselves. + +- Why Going Digital has been bad for Consumers + +Different from physical games, a digital game in its current form relies completely on the company who you have purchased the digital asset from, to keep track of your ownership. If Steam goes bankrupt today, your account, games, and progress is gone forever. The truth is that YOU DO NOT own the games you have purchased and this is true for all the Music, all the Apps and Books.. Literally everything Digital you own. + +So yes, it doesn't just affect video games, all digital assets are completely dependent upon the company to assign the ownership to you and keep it like that. + +Generally companies like it like that, because they do not have to pay commission to some middle man. BUT, they also have to maintain massive servers to make sure everything works ok. And this can be quite expensive, and at the same time prevents competition from entering the market, which is why giant tech companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook etc. can maintain their power and others have trouble entering. + +Why Physical has been bad for Corporations and Merchants + +When someone purchases a product and re-sells it second hand. The original creator has no benefit from that transaction. And this is exactly why companies would rather keep up the insane costs of digital marketplaces etc. than to allow people to freely trade the goods without the original creator's involvement. + + +- The one Solution to fix all cons, and provide all the Benefits… GAMESTOP.! + +Today, the digital economy represents 15% of the world's GDP. Yes, that is about $11.5 Trillion dollars. It is one of the biggest markets to have ever existed, despite all the cons. + +What if I told you that there was a way for people to own their assets, freely trade them, have them stored and managed independently without the company having to maintain servers and massive costs and also to be rewarded when Second-Hand purchases happen? + +Let us enter, what I believe will become nft.gamestop.com + +The Ethereum network is entirely maintained by people being involved in it and functions without a central authority. That means that calculations and processes can be entirely off loaded to the blockchain. + +The creator of an asset, does not have to maintain what, or who owns an asset. Does not have to pay insanely high server costs. +The creator can set up smart contracts and be rewarded whenever a re-sale of the original asset (nft) happens, and can therefore benefit from every transaction within the blockchain. +The customers can actually own their digital assets, and do whatever they want with it. +Smaller players can actively compete, and create limited/special editions of products to sell for limited quantities, etc. +The Market would also get a commission from every transaction. + +Yes, this simple solution solves all the problems related to digital/physical assets from all perspectives and provides a SUPERIOR solution for both creators and consumers of products. + +- GameStop might become the most valuable company in the world. + +If GameStop manages to just capture about 10% of the Digital Asset market, and further gets about 5% commission from all transactions, we are looking at a revenue stream of 100’s of billions of dollars on par with companies like Amazon, Apple, Google and other giants. In comparison, Apple’s fiscal revenue for 2021 was about 94.5 Billion Dollars. + +Sure, competitors will come along, however, I believe that if GameStop plays this right, creators will rush to their marketplace to get their products on it and deliver. But to get everything right they need, MONEY, which has been provided through the most recent stock offering. + +So, I know, I went a different direction from all the METAVERSE crazy, I just think that this is the most probable solution to what gamestop is actually planning and that it makes a lot of sense :) + +What do you apes think? +HOW is it possible that I've been paying more than the minimum monthly payment on my private student loan every single month for 4 years and it's only 3% PAID OFF?? They also just raised my interest rate and minimum payment. These do not qualify for payment pauses or cancellation. + +EDIT: This was a Wells Fargo private student loan. The original amount borrowed was $9057 at a variable interest rate which was 4.99% and recently went up to 5.24%. Minimum monthly payment was always around $80, but I have always paid $100-200 every single month (even through COVID). I can't seem to find the amortization period, but it says there are 146 payment installments left (a little over 12 years). There was no option on the website to make the extra payment toward principal only. The loan was sold last year to FirstMark Financial. +GRR - Let’s make some money. + +Ok so, this is my first time posting a DD. Others have posted about GRR before but I just want to give my 2 cents(that’s the amount of the dividend for anyone not in the know) + +GRR - Grange Resources Limited. + +Firstly they are an iron ore miner and pellet producer. + +Unlike many of the shares you see on here, they actually make money. Yes, you heard me, a company that is NOT all about future growth or drill results. Ok, so why are you buying this and how is it going to make you money? The company is massively undervalued at the current price even without including the iron ore rises this year. + +All ratios and fundamentals are taken from simply wall street. +Current Share price : $0.52 +(Up 25.3% last week) +PE Ratio : 2.9x +Industry average PE : 12.9 +PB Ratio : 0.8x +Industry average PB : 2.8x + +Now these two alone make this an absolute no brainer. PE Ratio, seriously wtf? For all you noobs that means that for every $2.90 at the current share price. It makes $1 in a year. This pe is so low that I’m actually going to double check it later because 2.9pe ratio is not even a thing. PB ratio shows us that the shares are still worth less than the book value, pretty rare for a company that actually makes good money. I can keep producing different ratios but they all show the same thing. The share price is majorly undervalued. + +Now, short term, the iron ore price was up again Friday and the Aussie dollar has dropped back down again. We want the Aussie dollar to be low and the iron ore price to be high cause the price per tonne is in USD. + +New conveyor system. Late last year GRR put in a new conveyor system which cools the iron ore pellets differently to produce a higher quality product. This gives them a premium on the price of iron ore. This didn’t get installed until November. So the premium they are going to get on their price because of this new conveyor is not really included in the current reports. + +Furthermore the reports we have are all from jan 2020 - dec 2020. These do not really reflect the higher price of iron ore. As the iron ore price was still around $120 US a tonne at the end of November. At the close on Friday it’s currently at $172.71 US a tonne. This tells us that the higher iron ore price is not even a factor as to how much money this company can make. Even if you are bearish about the iron ore market, I really don’t think that plays a factor at this stage. I’m very bullish about the iron ore price personally. I can write a seperate post about it if enough people would like. But it’s way too long to include here. With the iron ore price at current levels this means even bigger profit for 2021. + +Dividend: GRR announced on Friday that they will be paying a $0.02 dividend with an ex date of Friday the 12th of March. So that means in two weeks time you will get a dividend of approx 3.85%. This is half yearly also. But I expect that if the iron ore price stays high that this will be in the $0.03 range for the second half of the year. If it is, then that would be around 9.62% return in fully franked dividends within 6 and a half months from now. Even if the dividend stays at 0.02, it’s still 7.69% on your money fully franked in 6 and a half months. + +I can keep going on about this all day. But I’m going to try and leave this as short as I can. + +Why am I posting this? I would like your combined brains to either tell me why I am wrong? Or get in on this action. Way too many people on here lost money last week when they really shouldn’t have. + +I’m thinking the price will go to around $0.80-$1.20. + +TLDR : GRR rocket go brrrr🚀🚀🚀 + +21 rocket salute : 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 + +Disclaimer: I am currently holding more GRR than I normally put on any one company. In fact the only thing I have ever put more on was FMG. + +This is not financial advice, this is all just my opinion. Prove me wrong and I will be happy to sell my position and get out now. + +PS don’t put more in shares than you are willing to lose. +I have a $1mn SPY portfolio in my taxable account. I want to make $7500 per month from my portfolio without eating into it at all. + +That means I want to leverage my portfolio to make that kind of income. The returns are 9% over and above any performance SPY might have. + +Is this a realistic goal to achieve using options? +I guess my questions will be applicable mostly to newly married couple looking to buy Term insurance under MWP act but couldn't find any reliable information online. + +I'm looking to buy Term insurance under Married Woman Protection Act to ensure that the claim amount will only be received by my wife and the child. + +One would have to specify the nominees details while buying the policy with MWP act and can't change the details (even in case of divorce.) + +I'm 32 and planning to have baby in next couple of year. I need to buy the term insurance this year itself. The question I've is that + +1. Is there a way I can specify the unborn child as nominee? + +2. If not, is there a way to add our child as nominee at later point in time? Couldn't find any information related to same. + +3. What happens if someone buys a term insurance under MWP Act keeping wife as the only nominee but (God forbid) husband/wife passed away at same time in an unfortunate accident.? + +. +. +. + +Edit 1: +The article below says the beneficiaries can be defined either by class or by name. Not sure if insurance company allows specifying nominee by class. + + +"The policy can also be a named policy meaning the name of the wife and the child/children are mentioned in the plan or as a class by not mentioning the names." + +Article: https://taxguru.in/corporate-law/married-womens-property-act-1874-provision-related-insurance-proceeds.html +NotSafeMoon is community-owned (ownership renounced) and offers some really cool features that can help you analyze other moon coins. The dev is doxxed (Ryan Dunn) and very transparent, he even did a 3-hour live AMA in Telegram the other day. If you check out their website at [https://notsafemoon.com/](https://notsafemoon.com/) here are some of the features they currently offer: + +* Technical analysis that points out the flaws of existing "moon" coins so you know what to look out for. +* A price-predicting Twitter bot that accurately predicts when a "moon" coin is about to drop due to a lopsided liquidity dump. +* A moon coin dashboard that you can connect directly to the blockchain using your wallet (MetaMask, etc.) Check the balances in real time for all your "moon" coins in one spot. HODL'rs of NotSafeMoon will have access to advanced analytics built on top of the same system running byrdeBot, our Price Predicting Twitter Bot. View reflection gains, liquidity pool reserve balances, fee and reward exclusion data, "moon" dev token and LP token balances, estimated time until a tokens liquidity dump.... too much to list + +Not your normal "moon" coin. No lopsided liquidity dumps. No sending LP tokens to the devs. + +Contract address: 0x337e35Ed5B38D5C7Ec9F8d7cF78fe7F43d7DEC6F + +Buy on Pancakeswap 8-9% Slippage: [https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0x337e35Ed5B38D5C7Ec9F8d7cF78fe7F43d7DEC6F](https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0x337e35Ed5B38D5C7Ec9F8d7cF78fe7F43d7DEC6F) + +Telegram: NotSafeMoonOfficial (800 members) + +Currently at 4.1M market cap and growing - Liquidity Locked 20 Years - Ownership Renounced + +8% Tax on all Transactions 2% Directly to Burn Wallet 6% Distributed to All Holders + +📌 Features: ✅ No LP tokens for the team ✅ Devs bought into Presale and kept no other tokens ✅ 2% for marketing and growth + +📌 Roadmap: ✅ Website Launch ✅ V.0 Moon Dashboard/Price Predication Twitter Bot (Live) ✅ Presale success! + +* Technical Analysis on future coins +* V1 Moon Dashboard (w/ Multi-Chain Coin Yield Monitoring) +* Listings on CMC and CoinGecko incoming +* Celebrity endorsement +I have a good credit rating, no debts at all. Up to £90,000 deposit. My income is pretty low at £24k but Halifax says the most I could borrow is £54k + +I wasn't hoping for much more, I've seen houses I like for £155k in my area. + +Is this really all I'll likely be able to borrow? +I used Coinbase to buy Eth but what is the best wallet to buy other alt coins with? I really want to start jumping into this but don't know the best direction. + +Thanks for the help! +Your markets are run by bots. Now your daily threads are too. + +&#x200B; + +This thread is for plans and thoughts prior to the market open period. + +Maybe use this time to read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) [.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +&#x200B; + +Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. [You have been warned](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share). + +&#x200B; + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related](https://discord.gg/EKU2tVBp9u). +Your markets are run by bots. Now your daily threads are too. + +&#x200B; + +This thread is for plans and thoughts prior to the market open period. + +Maybe use this time to read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) [.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +&#x200B; + +Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. [You have been warned](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share). + +&#x200B; + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related](https://discord.gg/wsNDGTf5QH). +Your markets are run by bots. Now your /r/Asx_bets daily threads are too. + +Read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) people[.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +[Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX\_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. You have been warned.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) + +Automoderator may provide "Guidance" for Lazy and zero effort posting. + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related.](https://discord.gg/wsNDGTf5QH) +[https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-to-auction-war-bonds-to-fund-armed-forces-173623142.html](https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-to-auction-war-bonds-to-fund-armed-forces-173623142.html) + +We should see if we can name some tanks or bombs if we buy enough bonds! + +What would the Russian equivalent of Sum Ting Wong be? +Ape who was interviewed by "the documentary" regrets interviewing over a year ago. The film makers were not forthright in the narrative of the film (lied and said the film was neutral intent while it was not, portraying retail in a negative manner), and the film makers took selective snippets of interviews, to not accurately portray the interviewees thoughts and comments, but instead to fit the film makers messaging and narrative/agenda. + +&#x200B; + +This serves as a cautionary tale. Apes should not engage with all forms of media (tv, news, films, impromptu social media, magazines/papers, etc). If ape does not control the media outlet or print/edit, then it does not matter what the Apes intent is when giving the interview. Apes can go into the interview with the best of intentions, to try and educate, spread awareness, etc, but none of that matters if someone else is in control of what actually gets published or produced. Do not be naive, and do not take anything the media says at face value (ie, even if guaranteed the film or interview will be "pro retail" -- words are not a guarantee and there is considerable risk the production will not be pro retail.) + +&#x200B; + +Importantly, during and after MOASS, Apes should continue to not engage. During and after MOASS, MSM will attempt to peg market instability and possible crash on Retail. Do not feed them any ammo by providing interviews, etc, of which we ultimately know MSM will spin against Retail. +In the last year or so I’ve started thinking about FIRE and how I could get there. + +Then 3 months ago I had a baby. My parental leave is about to end and I’m realizing that NOW is when I don’t want to work. I want to spend all my time with the baby while she’s young. If I keep working, maybe I could retire early in 15 years, but the time thereafter won’t be as valuable to me (pretty sure 15 year olds don’t want to hang out with their parents anymore). + +I could decide to spend all my savings to take the next 3 years off work (before baby goes to preschool). But I’d probably struggle to get back in the game at the same level, what with ageism and the stigma against resume gaps. And even if I could, I’d have to work more years total before reaching FI. + +I don’t think there’s a good solution (well, I’m privileged to even have these two options, but you know what I mean), but am curious to hear if others have thought about this. + + +(One theoretical idea: Companies could take advantage of the situation - offer someone a specific job that they’ll start in 3 years. In exchange, the employee commits to working for the company for at least x amount afterwards (or some financial arrangement). Of course this can only work for very well established employers who can plan on that time horizon and need large workforces, but it is potentially valuable for attracting good talent. ) +I'm 22 and I have a full-time job earning around £1400 a month - luckily I live rent free with my parents but recently I've split from my boyfriend which has obviously effected my plans for buying a house. + +I'd really really love to go back to education and do an undergraduate degree, but I've already done one so there's no finance to make it happen. It would cost around £4500 a year making the total around £13,500. I'd then love to do a master's and PhD. + +I put away £500 a month, I have a help to buy ISA, stocks and shares ISA and several other savings account trying to get the most interest for my money. It feel like I'm climbing a mountain the keeps getting higher. + +I just feel defeated, like I have to let go of the idea of buying a house if I want to pursue my education. + +Does anyone have any advise? Should I just stop saving for a house for now? I just can't see how I'll ever be able to afford the full education I want to complete. +Wanting to do this, not sure where to start… + + +Edit: WOW! Thank you to every single one of you that took the time to give me some advice. It is much appreciated. Some comments definitely hit home saying I need to just do it and not sit around to “gather knowledge” which I tend to do!!!! I feel much better now and have a direction, thank you. +I’ve Ben watching a lot of biggerpockets on YouTube recently and even have been reading some of the books. I was wondering if anyone on here has started there journey with the biggerpockets advice or if I should take it with a grain of salt. +In the last two years I have been developing my own algo trading software, and also have been using it for my own trading purposes. + +The main reason for “Yet Another Trading Platform” is that I needed something faster than existing solutions and more also flexible. For example: + + +* Being from Europe, I wanted something that makes it easy to trade on different markets & in different currencies at the same time. +* The current performance is roughly 5.000.000 candlesticks throuhgput per second in a basic back-test run (like the snippet below). Of course, more complex strategies will take longer. + +The platform is called **roboquant** (named after robocop ;) and is written in Kotlin. It is completely free and you can get the source code at [GitHub](https://github.com/neurallayer/roboquant) + +Quick sample how to run a complete back test: + + val feed = AvroFeed.sp500() + val metric = AccountMetric() + val strategy = EMAStrategy() + val roboquant = Roboquant(strategy, metric) + + roboquant.run(feed) + +You can use roboquant as a library in your own standalone JVM application. But you can also interactively develop in Jupyter Notebooks. The following link brings you to public hosted notebooks that you can try directly in your browser: + +[roboquant on MyBinder.org](https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/neurallayer/roboquant-notebook/main?urlpath=tree/notebooks/) (**recommend to try the charts notebook**) + +I’m getting closer to version 1.0 where I would like to have more stable APIs. So I would love some feedback on the overall API/design/approach and perhaps what missing features would be useful??? + +Thanks in advance for any feedback (encouraging and critical alike). + +P.S Hope this post is inline with the policy of this subreddit of discussing software & libraries +Here in the U.S., hundreds of thousands of people are currently being told to evacuate their homes. Millions more are being advised to prepare "go kits" so they are ready to evacuate if necessary. Most of the time, these advisories suggest that you have copies of your "important papers" to bring with you. But it's a little hard to imagine what these would be. The courthouse already has a copy of my deed. The insurance company has an online version of my policy. What are the "important papers" I should have in my car when I'm driving away from the disaster? +I am 23y/o trying to escape a home that has been horrible for me. My mother constantly yells and expresses hatred for me. She is crazy. She is an emotional burden on me. I have no one that cares about me, no other family. She does not support me in any way besides occasionally stock fridge with the same microwave dinners. + +She does not care about me or my future, or if she does she does it's not much and she never shows it, I feel like she would be content if I wasted my life rotting in this house for more years than I've already done. + +My health is in a bad state, I have physical and mental illnesses, but I feel like I can't help myself to get better while I'm here, because staying here keeps me in a depressive state. + +I am currently on SSDI but my mother pockets it. I think I need to remove her as payee. However, the SSDI is only 500 dollars a month. + +Edit: Many people are saying that's reasonable for her to take for food and rent, but she would keep the remaining money if there was some, and paying 500 for rent+food is a bit different than what I have which is rent+food+grief/hate. Also, it's going up to 800 next month it looks like (from SS website member page). + +I contacted a social services worker to be put on a waiting list for housing for mentally ill with some limited assistance with living, but the list takes up to 2 years. I think this would be ideal but it's also only opportunity I'm aware of. + +I studied computer programming, I took some college courses years ago, I am good at it, but I'm not really healthy enough to maintain a job, and I don't drive/never learned and not healthy enough to drive right now. But still, I am interested in doing something to increase my income so I can survive on my own. + +Do you have any advice for me? I don't feel like I can wait 2 years for housing. I live in the state of NJ. + +edit: I did not expect to get a lot of attention for this. Thank you, especially if you wrote a piece of advice, I am reading them all. + +Dutch corporation ASML is the world's only supplier of EUV photolithography machines used for manufacturing advanced chips. Taiwanese giant TSMC is by far the largest semiconductor foundry, manufacturing over 50% of semiconductors globally. Reliance on foreign corporations for chips is not ideal, but is the US actually capable of changing that? + +I am wondering: + +1. If ASML has a truly impenetrable moat around photolithography machines, or if it is a matter of time before ASML faces competition from a US firm, and + +2. If the US is capable of growing a domestic corporation with the scale and global reach of TSMC. + +I understand the CHIPS Act aims to strengthen American semiconductor manufacturing. However, I'm surprised the US seems to be already so behind in taking market share and establishing a domestic ASML competitor, given the general global dominance of US technology otherwise. Is there a good explanation for this? + +I appreciate any thoughts! +So MSM isn't going to cover this and it needs to be covered. How many of you have read the last earnings report from end to end? I'm going to guess not many. Let's take a moment to revisit not only the latest quarter reporting, but also the previous years quarter which will be used as a benchmark once GameStop actually reports earnings. + +# But wait, what is the current market expectation? + +**-$0.66/share with $1.12B estimated revenue** + +https://preview.redd.it/7pk4prsw4ul71.png?width=1190&format=png&auto=webp&s=04f37d830ae5576c91f0c2388724408e9be8394d + +So on first look, some might say *wow, that's not good!* It's actually great if we start to think about what Q2FY2020 looked like: + +EPS: + +* Expected: -$1.14/share +* Reported: -$1.40/share + +Revenue: + +* Expected: $1.02B +* Reported: $942M + +And we should make sure there isn't a "what about before the pandemic" argument, Q2FY2019: + +EPS: + +* Expected: -$0.22/share +* Reported: -$0.32/share + +Revenue: + +* Expected: $1.37B +* Reported: $1.29B + +([Source](https://www.marketbeat.com/stocks/NYSE/GME/earnings/)) + +# Or wait, was it actually -$0.41/share? Nasdaq wat doing? + +[https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/market-activity\/stocks\/gme\/earnings - screenshot taken on 9\/5](https://preview.redd.it/0ecys9645ul71.png?width=1236&format=png&auto=webp&s=79da9214eeabdd5e15a354785e0fea38c056efad) + +Why are the earnings different? I'm not sure at all and honestly it's complete bullshit we don't have more transparency. Here is from the Nasdaq website fine-print on my source, but they don't cite sources on the earnings consensus: + +>Estimate Momentum measures change in analyst sentiment over time and may be an indicator of future price movements. The Change in Consensus chart shows the current, 1 week ago, and 1 month ago consensus earnings per share (EPS\*) forecasts. For the fiscal quarter endingJul 2021 , the consensus EPS\* forecast has remained the same over the past week at -0.41 and remained the same over the past month at -0.41. none raised and none lowered their forecast. For the fiscal year ending Jan 2022 , the consensus EPS\* forecast has remained the same over the past week at 0.02 and remained the same over the past month at 0.02 . none raised and none lowered their forecast. + +It has **2** estimates in it, that's a great consensus between Frank and Bill! + +*(I have no clue who the two entities actually are)* + +# Okay - What Da Fuq... + +Every source around the "Consensus" Earnings Per Share is wildly different. Just comparing the values between Nasdaq and Yahoo Finance are very different: + +[Yahoo Finance](https://preview.redd.it/0bkevvpe5ul71.png?width=1294&format=png&auto=webp&s=6a3738131148a3062b587008dd0045ff54e7c022) + +[Nadaq](https://preview.redd.it/z30z4x3k5ul71.png?width=838&format=png&auto=webp&s=569dacea4f84c82901deda37994b3141c84fc499) + +Now this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, but the consensus always has been (and always will be) complete bullshit. The consensus is always different because they have different analysts, that makes sense! Sooooooo we for sure should be covering this ourselves and not just leaving it to MSM right? + +# So somewhere in-between -$0.41 and -$0.66 is the expectation + +Cool, we can work with this range. This includes 6 analysts which is so small when thinking about it. Now why don't we start highlighting what we've seen from GameStop's past reports! + +# Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets + +[Q2FY2020 - https:\/\/news.gamestop.com\/static-files\/2d565e82-f8b2-432f-a13c-2c0a3e9aaeff](https://preview.redd.it/16dnjgxm5ul71.png?width=1378&format=png&auto=webp&s=d86b698bc0cf0e0668ec1091392d79b9982b4b2e) + +I know, lots of numbers, but everyone who is a serious investor in GameStop should be able to read this table. I want to help you understand what is going on here. This is a standard reporting format that is very commonly used in GAAP accounting and you'll see it used in all of GameStop's past reports. You should take a moment to glance over the numbers and then look over the most recent filing for Q1FY2021: + +[Q1FY2021 - I left off past years to focus on the now, but you can check them out yourself: https:\/\/news.gamestop.com\/static-files\/c48c7a03-2683-407c-95d0-83584d1a2b70](https://preview.redd.it/wkgn603p5ul71.png?width=1016&format=png&auto=webp&s=4f405ced109947112689fab18803a90a64659f83) + +A couple things jump out at me in this: + +* Long-term debt and overall total liabilities is down \~$400M which should be of no surprise. We see that Operating lease liabilities is down slightly, but we should expect that to take larger drops in 2022. +* "Additional paid-in capital" - I never really knew what this was until doing this DD and having to research. So it was $2.9M in Q2FY2020 and then $518M in Q1FY2021 [🤯](https://emojipedia.org/exploding-head/) + +"Additional paid-in capital" + +I can't explain it to you without doing my own searching, [investopedia](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/additionalpaidincapital.asp#:~:text=Additional%20paid%2Din%20capital%20(APIC)%20is%20the%20difference%20between,the%20company%20during%20its%20IPO): + +>Additional paid-in capital (APIC) is the difference between the par value of a stock and the price that investors actually pay for it. + +So the last financials had [GameStop ATM offering which was $551M](https://news.gamestop.com/news-releases/news-release-details/gamestop-completes-market-equity-offering-program) raised, which means they are saying that $31M was the price investors actually paid for it but the value came into the company. I know that might hurt your head, but let's revisit a certain equation for business: + +**Assets = Liabilities + Shareholders Equity** (*see edit 2*) + +Ahhh so "Total stockholders' equity raise from $352M in Q2FY2020 to $879M in the most recent filing. That's a difference of $527M and explains why the "Additional paid-in capital" is high. The value is so large because of the great decisions the previous CEO made in stock repurchases: + +>In aggregate, during fiscal 2019, we repurchased a total of 38.1 million shares of our Class A common stock, totaling $198.7 million, for an average price of $5.19 per share. We did not repurchase shares during fiscal 2018 or fiscal 2017. As of February 1, 2020, we have $101.3 million remaining under the repurchase authorization. + +[Page 23 of FY2019 report](https://news.gamestop.com/static-files/9d2139e1-31c7-498f-ad95-63db1e6d085a) + +Share repurchases = greater Shareholders Equity, we're gaining wrinkles today! + +**That means we're going to see a much bigger change on the coming financial reports, remember we raised again in June?** + +[$1.126B was announced on June 22, 2021](https://news.gamestop.com/news-releases/news-release-details/gamestop-completes-market-equity-offering-program-0) and sent our world into a frenzy. Since we already saw what the first raise did to our report, we're going to see that "Additional paid-in capital" value be high again, but it's going to be more interesting this time. GameStop sold 3.5M shares for the $518M, then 5M shares for the $1.126B; there was a difference in average share price raised. + +In the calculation of "Additional paid-in capital" there is a value used for the "par" value of that stock price. Did the first round of funding increase the par value and we'll see the gap be less? My suspicion is that the "Additional paid-in capital" is actually a balancing row for the financial report in this case. There will be more "Cash and Cash Equivalents" on the books next quarter, but if the money was used effectively, the difference should be getting less overtime. This is something we can directly measure: + +$518.5M / 3.5M shares = $148.14/ is the additional capital paid per share + +What was the price of GameStop during that time again, before (4/26/2021)? + +https://preview.redd.it/wobnkv8s5ul71.png?width=1976&format=png&auto=webp&s=e93b1bcdb9087d7eae99c5baf80aed333c42d6af + +🤔So GameStop definitely sold shares above $148.14 and I honestly don't know what number they would/could use as the "Par" value of the stop. If they can use historical numbers, I'm sure they would pick the lowest number they could which would be somewhere in the $5-20 range. The math works out here for sure. + +Looking forward, we'll want to see the **Additional paid-in capital** reporting to compare to here, we'll have a formula like: + +Reported Additional paid-in capital / 5M shares = $XXX is the additional capital paid per share + +**I'm expecting the number it be less but honestly don't know, it will be good to see either way. If any other apes want to share their knowledge on the topic (Additional paid-in capital), that would be very helpful!** + +# Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations + +https://preview.redd.it/lozhirrt5ul71.png?width=1390&format=png&auto=webp&s=f827f65f882f67825beb627fd4ec4591f1820fa6 + +Q2FY2020 + +[Q1FY2021](https://preview.redd.it/6w1akkru5ul71.png?width=1384&format=png&auto=webp&s=355cfbc734fb211d06fb79a95a67dc33f89efd39) + +It looks like net sales are on a steep decline when looking at Q2FY2020, but the Q1FY2021 report shows a clear turn around. MSM is quick to point out that the stock is overvalued, but I would argue on these numbers that the analyst consensus is putting aggressive measures to justify the valuation. Follow the numbers on this one, you can see the "Basic loss per share" go from -$4 in previous years to -$1.71 in Q2FY2020 and to -$1.01 in Q1FY2021. So there has been continual improvement in a key metrics, losses per share. + +I also notice that "Net loss from continuing operations" has decreased significantly overtime! This was part of the original thesis from RC, I always love seeing data points that show the plan in action. + +# New Reporting Sections for top of report + +If you look at Page 8 of the Q1FY2021 report, GameStop is now reporting a breakdown of the revenue by category which wasn't done in the past: + +&#x200B; + +||May 1, 2021|May 2, 2020| +|:-|:-|:-| +|Hardware and accessories|$703.5 M|$513.1 M| +|Software|$397.9 M|$417.0 M| +|Collectibles|$175.4 M|$90.9 M| +|Total|$1,276.8 B|$1,021.0 B| + +So collectibles almost doubled year over year, gotcha. Those top brands I've been doing DD on have some awesome brands in the collectibles category! We'll want to keep a look out for the new data coming out next quarter in this category! + +Apes are finding their old gift cards📷 + +I just thought this was hilarious, I imagine $21.2M in gift cards were found at parents houses around the world because of everything that has happened + +# Summary + +The biggest thing I notice from all of this is the expected revenue numbers, Yahoo is showing $1.12B with the highest estimate $1.15B;GameStop had "Net Sales" of $942M in Q2FY2020. The estimates bring an expectations of 22% Year-over-year (YoY) growth in annual sales. + +The previous quarter (Q1FY2021) brought in $1.276B for net sales; Q1FY2020 brought in $1.021B for net sales. This was a YoY growth of 24.97%. + +So I guess the real question for you as an individual investor, do you think GameStop had a better Q1 this year or a better Q2? I personally think this earnings will be pushing that 25% growth number. Just remember last quarter sales were $1.276B, consoles still sold out, e-commerce constantly expanding, I've been buying a lot at GameStop so that will probably have a material impact. + +# tldr; if you weren't jacked for earnings, you should get jacked + +If you want to look at any of the financial reporting, I get it from the best source: [https://news.gamestop.com/financial-information/quarterly-results](https://news.gamestop.com/financial-information/quarterly-results) + +I can't wait to hear the comments that this isn't news! + +Edit: fixed date in column table header. Both columns showed “2021” + +Edit 2: Adjusting the accounting equation as what I have is technically wrong and I’m changing it. Liabilities is typically always a negative so my brain has that assumption but I didn’t make any notes. The correct business equation: + +**Assets = Liabilities + Shareholders Equity** + +https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_equation + +Also adding some clarity on the par value after getting provided some more links. It seems that par value is probably $0.01 meaning the average share sale price was probably around ~$148/share. + +https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/why-would-stock-have-no-par-value/ + +> No-par value stock doesn't have a redeemable price, rather prices are determined by the amount that investors are willing to pay for the stocks on the open market +**Should you buy Apple stock or has the company run out of growth opportunities? What is my price prediction for Apple in the next years? Read until the end as I reveal my price target for Apple and also what I think will happen in the next couple of days, weeks & months!** + +**\~ Warning! Very Very Long Post\~** + +Hello everyone! So, let’s go over some of the latest news on Apple before moving on to some fundamental and technical analysis, predictions and my price target for the stock in the next years. + +So, let’s start with the [news](https://postimg.cc/Xrkwk6rP) that Apple will cut the App Store commission in half for small app developers starting in the next days, this will affect developers who earn less than $1M annually from the App Store Sales. This is likely to lead to a small decline in commission revenues for Apple as around 98% of the app developers will qualify for this tax reduction from 30% to 15%, but all these small developers only contribute to about 5% of the estimated $50B in annual revenues from the App Store, so that would be only a $1.25B loss for the company, that is less than half a % of the company’s total net sales in the last fiscal year. + +Also, these changes may lead to a potential long-term revenue boost, as it is likely this will lead to an increasing creation of apps which will generate more commissions in return. + +Alongside this we also saw the company releasing the new MacBook’s with their first in-house [chip](https://postimg.cc/vc39NF7x), which promises faster video and imaging processing [times](https://postimg.cc/CR5Fmj5V), with both [CPU](https://postimg.cc/Y4yLdrMd) and [GPU](https://postimg.cc/xJz8gLsd) performance up to 2 times faster than the latest PC laptop chip using just a fraction of the power consumption, with both of the macbooks promising big improvements in [battery](https://postimg.cc/1fp6y1rz) life. Apple is also [expected](https://postimg.cc/GHrtJ8vc) to roll out even more in-house chips in future products, as they have started the 2-year breakup with Intel chips. + +We also saw Morgan Stanley [upgrading](https://postimg.cc/bZ5qMsSS) their base case to $191 at the end of November, as they have cited record lead times, supply chain forecasts and carriers demand as they expect that the company will sell around 270M iPhone in fiscal year 2021, that’s 50M more than the consensus and almost 30M more than the previous estimate of Morgan Stanley, with an average selling price of 842$, 9% more than the base case, as people tend to chose the more expensive and high tech versions of the lineup in this new 5G cycle. + +The 5G super-cycle, which I believe is on the way, and will continue in the next years, as 5G become more available worldwide, could still be the biggest thing coming right away for the company with 5G smartphones [expected](https://postimg.cc/LJptP88f) to surpass 4G sales by 2024, with the average sale price of the 5G phones also coming down, helping them become more popular. This will also be helped by the recent entry to the Indian [market](https://postimg.cc/7fV6BHNS), as India will probably become the world biggest country in the next decade, this could be a huge opportunity for Apple to start and take away market-share from their competitors like Samsung and Xiaomi which have the biggest market shares right now. + +They also [released](https://postimg.cc/PpWhPy31) an update iPad Pro and an all-new iPad Air in September which will also boost sales in this work-from-home environment that will keep the demand very high for this kind of products, just like the Macs. Alongside the increasing demand from the Wearables, Home & Accessories that include Air Pods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and many more products. + +But the biggest reasons I believe Apple is poised for continued growth, is primarily due to its services business, as they start to offer more and more services like the Apple ONE [BUNDLE](https://postimg.cc/4777MD3s), which include up to 6 services from (Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, the new Apple Fitness+ and the iCloud service) for a pretty reasonable price in my opinion [starting](https://postimg.cc/BLkDnqzj) from 15$ up to 30$/month, this could be a great option for families and even individuals who use their services a lot. + +The latest services, [Fitness+](https://postimg.cc/cKV4KrsG) just launched in the past days, and is a direct competitor to the likes of Peloton, as the service is available on the iPhone, iPad or even Apple TV. This also makes consumers buy the Apple Watch which syncs to the other devices to show you different information. The Fitness+ app just on its own is 8$/month or 80$/year which is less expensive than Peloton subscription which charges 13$ or even traditional gyms like Planet Fitness at 10$/month. + +I think this will be the fastest growing sector for the company, as this aligns with the new macro trends, as the world is moving more and more to a digital approach to almost everything as consumer preferences, with more & more younger people reaching the point in life when they use these services start to align to this increasing digital approach. + +We also shouldn’t forget the Apple Card & Apple Pay service among many others which also seem to gain from the move to digital & contactless payments, as this has been accelerated due to the current situation in the past year. + +And one last piece of [news](https://postimg.cc/k6BKCVTr), and the most recent one, is that Apple may have fast-tracked the Titan project. The Titan project is targeting a 2024 or 2025 push to develop an electric vehicle with advanced battery technologies, that will deliver significant increases in range at much lower costs than the current technologies while also offering self-driving capabilities. + +It’s reported they will not use the same technology as Tesla Full-Self-Driving feature, but will use LIDAR sensors, similar to those that we can find in the latest iPhone 12 PRO. + +I think Apple can go 2 ways with this project, they can either use the huge amount of cash the company has to buy another car-maker like Ford, GM or any other car manufacturer expect Tesla and Toyota which do have a big market cap, so that they can fast-track the potential manufacturing of cars, or they can enter into a partnership with big companies like Tesla, Volkswagen or any other car marker to either produce cars or license their technology to this other car-makers which would ultimately and probably have higher margin-returns than the effective manufacturing of cars. Apple’s current overall [gross margins](https://postimg.cc/ykv1mfVP) stand at 38% vs the 15% average of the world top 10 automakers by market cap, which is significantly lower. + +But this Apple Car thing is so far out, and there are so many unknowns, I will not try to predict anything related to this until there is more clarity on the subject. + +And last, before moving on to some predictions, here are some of the highlights that we heard from the latest investors conference meeting, as the CEO, Tim Cook [expressed](https://postimg.cc/TyhpLzgg) optimism ahead with the launch of many new products and services, especially the Home Pod Mini and the new 5G iPhones, as these new iPhones include new LIDAR scanners that greatly improve the camera capabilities, as the iPhone as seen very positive reviews. We also saw the Senior VP and CFO, Luca Maestri give us great [outlook](https://postimg.cc/DWDmqxPD) for the company as they expect the installed devices base to continue to growth despite already being at an all-time high as they have over 585M paid subscriptions on their platforms and expect this to surpass 600M by the end of 2020. + +I also researched and found what products we can see in the near future, with the first half of [2021](https://postimg.cc/jCBQsXVM) bringing new iMacs, the AirPods3 and the iPad Pro, while in the [FALL](https://postimg.cc/8jVJKngg) event we will probably get the new iPhone 13 alongside the iPhone SE PLUS and the Watch Series 7 with more products coming [later](https://postimg.cc/GHc3s01t) in 2021 or that don’t have an estimated release date like the Air Pods Pro, the Air Tags and the iPad Mini 6. + +So, before even starting, you should know that I am bull on Apple but I am willing to hear other opinions so don’t be afraid to leave a comment down below. + +I have made some predictions based on the growth rate of the [company](https://postimg.cc/JHRDpPGQ), the latest plans announced by them and used some estimates. So, keep in mind this are only projections and are calculated by myself, this is not an investment advice and you should do your own research. + +This are my 2025 projections for Apple, let’s take a closer look at them, each on their own. + +So, in term of revenues, Apple has 5 big sources of income, which saw an overall increase of 6% despite lagging sales in the iPhone. The biggest revenue is by far the iPhone right now with over $137B in revenue in the fiscal year ending in September. I expect to see the iPhone sales increasing in the next years, especially in 2021, with the new 5G iPhone creating a super-cycle for the [company](https://postimg.cc/XGfBKT7J), as most iPhone users, including myself here, as I will upgrade from my iPhone X, will switch to this new product. The iPhone sales have decreased in the last couple of years by 14% and 3% as a result of the product not having big improvements, as well as iPhone usually starting to last longer than previous models, so I expect to see a 12% increase in sales next year and a gradual decrease in the growth of sales as more people upgrade, ending with just a 5% growth in iPhone [sales](https://postimg.cc/V0wfRpr7) in 2025. + +The next revenues stream is from the Mac, which has seen an increase in the past 2years, with revenues topping $28B this year after the huge demand from the work from home consumers. I [expect](https://postimg.cc/1405tm2b) this trend to continue as they plan to continue to launch better products and I can see the company having a similar growth next year before starting to decline slightly until 2025, also ending with a 5% growth. + +The iPad is currently the smallest revenue stream for Apple but has also seen an increase in demand in the past 2 years with a 13% average increase in revenues. I also expect the iPad to continue to grow in the next couple of years, especially with the learn-from-home environment for kids, and even after this period ends, the transformation for learning will implicate more digital usage. I [expect](https://postimg.cc/5XKtVsT0) the iPad to see some similar growth to the Macs, especially with the latest generation also bringing a new iPad air to the market. + +The 4th revenue stream and the fastest growing in the past 2 years, with an average growth of 33% are the wearables, home & accessories revenues. This have topped $30B this year, as Apple has also just launched the Apple Watch series 6 and also feature other great products like Apple TV, the Air Pods the Home Pod and the Home Pod mini alongside other third-party accessories. + +I gave this [revenue](https://postimg.cc/v4C4JQ4T) stream a growth of 20% starting next year with a gradual decrease to around 8% by 2025, as I believe this will become more & more popular as they start to offer more vertical integration. + +And last, but by no means least, the revenue stream that I expect to grow the most and the fastest is the revenue from the services that Apple offers. This includes revenues from Apple Care, Advertising, Cloud Services, Payment Services like Apple Card & Apple Pay and of course the digital content which includes fees from the App Store alongside subscription-based income including the new Apple One Bundle and Apple Fitness+ alongside the already know Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple News+, Apple TV+ and hopefully I don’t forget any others. + +So, I [expect](https://postimg.cc/svV7mDWR) this to become the clear 2nd biggest revenue stream for Apple by 2025, as I expect this to grow more than 20% next year, mainly due to the Apple One Bundle and Apple Fitness+ followed up by a slightly decreasing growth, ending with a 10% increase in revenues in 2025. + +I think this are fairly conservative base case scenarios for the revenues, as I expect them to continue to increase the [other](https://postimg.cc/1VFFgkxJ) revenue streams and not have such a large percentage of the revenues coming from the iPhone sales as you can see in this chart. + +In terms of expenses, I pretty much kept the same margins as in previous years, with a 68% expense ratio on product sales \[ [iPhone](https://postimg.cc/JDZ7jMnD) / [iPad](https://postimg.cc/Wd14CB9C) / [Mac](https://postimg.cc/q6GkZw2p) / [WHA](https://postimg.cc/211q9q8g) \] and 35% expense ratio on [SERVICES](https://postimg.cc/8sdLLrjH), as this are way more lucrative. + +In the past 3 years, the products [gross margin](https://postimg.cc/ykv1mfVP) was 32.7%, so I actually imply bigger expenses for the manufacturing and sales of products, as this is mostly impacted by the company’s supplier’s ability to make up for and demand, while for the services revenue, the gross margins for the last 3 years has been 63.5% on average, but I expect this to be more in-line with the 66% margin in this past year. So, if services manage to grow to about half the revenues from the iPhone, this will effectively double the gross revenues, as every buck gained in the service revenues account for 2$ in the product sales. + +So, I expect the total [revenues](https://postimg.cc/sMjByQ2n) for Apple to increase from $274B in 2020 to over $440B by 2025, increasing by approximately 10%/year, while I will keep the expense ratio pretty much in-line and have them increasing by 11%/year, this would bring the total gross income for Apple to $177B, increasing mainly due to the services revenues as I said earlier. This growth is just above the 4year [average](https://postimg.cc/Tp8g83mS), and below the 2018 levels, which we might see again with this 5G super-cycle and explosive growth in the services revenue. + +I also think the company will continue to invest in both Capital Expenditure and Operating expenses. + +I think the operating expenses will remain pretty much in line with the [previous](https://postimg.cc/2qBCfrnc) years, as this number has increased by 1% [annually](https://postimg.cc/Fd5JL9v8) both in R&D and SG&A. So, I will keep the exact percentages from previous years, as I expect the revenue to increase, thus I don’t see a big increase percentage wise. This would account for over $60B in operating expenses by 2025 and over $11B in Capital Expenditures by 2025, as I expect this to increase, mainly due to the possible EV developments or investments in self-driving capabilities alongside other manufacturing capabilities. You can see that the Capex [spending](https://postimg.cc/yDsRdpLy) has been decreasing in the past years with just over $8.8B in payments for business acquisitions and the other traditional Capex spending. Some people may use the cash generated by [investing](https://postimg.cc/Mn9nG6Mz) activities as Capex, but that is more unreliable. I also can see the Capex going back up, so I wanted to be safe and implied a 10% growth. + +This money would account for over $73B in [expenses](https://postimg.cc/dZnY91K1) and would bring the profit for the company to almost $104B before interest and taxes. + +Moving on, let’s see what interest income and expenses the [company](https://postimg.cc/cgy0x2ms) has had in the past few years. We can see a decrease in interest expense in the past few years as the company has been paying off debt, but they have also been generating less money in this department, with an overall decrease in this department of more than 50% in the past year, way less than the amount from 2018. So, for safety reasons, I used a 10% decline in both income and expenses [related](https://postimg.cc/QKgtZhZG) to interest, while increasing the other losses by 10%/year. + +This would bring the company pre-tax income to just over $104B in 2025. + +Let’s move on to taxes. I know the Federal income tax rate is 21% for the [company](https://postimg.cc/ykY39pq1), but the actual effective tax rate for the company was lower than 15% in the past year, mainly due to lower tax-rates on foreign earnings alongside tax-benefits and tax-settlements. The average effective tax rate has been just over 16% in the past 3 years, but with more and more of the revenues coming from outside the US, I think it’s safe to say that the company will have around a 15% effective tax rate by 2025, this obviously if nothing major changes in tax policy around the world. + +So, Apple would [have](https://postimg.cc/Wqc3ytKw) $88.6B in income after tax by 2025 and with the current outstanding shares standing at just under 17B, so I don’t even account for the company probably continuing to do share buybacks, this would mean a $5.22 [future](https://postimg.cc/4YytCLwL) earnings/share. And with today’s price for Apple just around 136$, that would mean to [company](https://postimg.cc/RNf1qH44) is trading at just over 26 times forward price to earnings. + +I don’t think Apple will ever trade at a discount again, with the current PE [standing](https://postimg.cc/RqwqHQ6s) at over 40, I believe this will eventually go down, probably to around 35, despite the increase in services revenue, which is highly valued by investors. I think we can see Apple trade somewhere near 35 [times](https://postimg.cc/5H98PKv2) P/E in 2025, especially if something big happens with the EV project, this could be even higher, just look at Tesla which trades at [insane](https://postimg.cc/sBZhxMk5) P/E. Of course, we also have to take into consideration the dividends that will be received from owning the stock, as Apple has started to pay dividends almost a decade ago and has 9 years of dividend growth, with a 10% annual rate of [growth](https://postimg.cc/CnbZMbD2) in the past 5 years. [Here](https://postimg.cc/7CLT1G8C) is the dividend growth history for the company, as I also went conservative on this [estimate](https://postimg.cc/Tp7LcjGr) and implied a 7% growth for the next 2 years, 6% for 2023 and 2024 and just 5% in 2025. + +So [here](https://postimg.cc/R3PK21QQ) are my 3 price targets for the company, [including](https://postimg.cc/JHR8JXvv) dividends but not reinvested. My bear case scenario is that Apple will trade at almost 165$ which implies a [return](https://postimg.cc/jCYzWhd2) of over 21% by 2025, while my base case scenario would see Apple trading at 195$ with a return of capital of 43%. I will also make the bull case for Apple trading at 225$ by 2025 with dividends included, which would imply just over 65% in gains by then. + +I think this is possible as Apple has also [continued](https://postimg.cc/fJj36jMt) to buy back shares of the company on a constant basis, as they continue to an impressive campaign with over $72B worth of common stock repurchased in 2020. They continue to buy back shares at a very fast pace, having repurchased over 1.3B shares in 2019 and 2018, while also issuing less stock every year. + +So here is the full [spreadsheet](https://postimg.cc/Z995KrzL) that I have projected for Apple by 2025 and the breakdown of everything i estimated \[ [1](https://postimg.cc/jCT7qdZJ) / [2](https://postimg.cc/DmcbSkMp) \] , if you do have another opinion or a suggestion please leave a comment down below, I think I have been conservative in most of my projections, but feel free to give your opinion. + +Keep in mind, these targets might sound ridiculous, but just [look](https://postimg.cc/V50nHCSn) at the growth Apple has had in the last 5years. The company has increased in value by more 400% in just the past 5years and is over 100.000% up since it started trading. So yes, the valuation is mad right now for the company. So, are you willing to bet against Apple? + +The company also has pristine [financials](https://postimg.cc/LYcYMxqf), with more than $65B in total assets compared to total liabilities, and more than $38B in cash and cash equivalents. + +So, what do I expect in the next couple of days, weeks and months for Apple? + +Let’s look at this [CHART](https://postimg.cc/7592T1c8), so starting with the stock split, Apple saw a correction within the September stock market pullback, in a buy the news & sell the event, after a huge runup post-announcement of the stock split. The stock entered a consolidation period, and didn’t have any big catalysts, especially with new iPhone lineup not being included in the Q4 results due to the late launch. The stock found some levels of resistance near the $120 levels that it struggled to get past but acted also as support after breaking them just before the recent news of the possible EV developments or self-driving-features to be licensed to other car manufacturers. After that news the stock spiked and has now reached the previous highs made before the stock split and is facing some resistance, if the stock pushes over $140 I think we can officially say that it broke the resistance at those levels and is not just a fake-out. But I think it’s likely that the stock will consolidate between 122 and 135$ in the next weeks until the next iPhone sales and quarterly results are released, as the stock has entered overbought territory again with an RSI over 70, the first time since the stock split. + +So, what would I do? Well, I own Apple stock, and I really believe this company will remain the biggest or one of the biggest in the future, so I would really add on any weakness that the stock shows before the next quarter earnings are released, as typically Q1 [earnings](https://postimg.cc/V5t0FPTF) are the best for the company due to increased holiday sales combined with the launch of new products. I think any entry below 130$ would be really nice to start and build a position or increase it if you already own the stock. As I believe Apple is one of the most stable stocks out there with large institutional [holders](https://postimg.cc/3kqG3XcK) like Vanguard, BlackRock and Berkshire owning over 900M shares each. + +Thank you everyone for reading! Hope you enjoyed the content! Be sure to leave a comment down below with your opinion on the stock market! + +Have a great day and see you next time! +**Should you buy Apple stock or has the company run out of growth opportunities? What is my price prediction for Apple in the next years? Read until the end as I reveal my price target for Apple and also what I think will happen in the next couple of days, weeks & months!** + +**\~ Warning! Very Very Long Post\~** + +Hello everyone! So, let’s go over some of the latest news on Apple before moving on to some fundamental and technical analysis, predictions and my price target for the stock in the next years. + +So, let’s start with the [news](https://postimg.cc/Xrkwk6rP) that Apple will cut the App Store commission in half for small app developers starting in the next days, this will affect developers who earn less than $1M annually from the App Store Sales. This is likely to lead to a small decline in commission revenues for Apple as around 98% of the app developers will qualify for this tax reduction from 30% to 15%, but all these small developers only contribute to about 5% of the estimated $50B in annual revenues from the App Store, so that would be only a $1.25B loss for the company, that is less than half a % of the company’s total net sales in the last fiscal year. + +Also, these changes may lead to a potential long-term revenue boost, as it is likely this will lead to an increasing creation of apps which will generate more commissions in return. + +Alongside this we also saw the company releasing the new MacBook’s with their first in-house [chip](https://postimg.cc/vc39NF7x), which promises faster video and imaging processing [times](https://postimg.cc/CR5Fmj5V), with both [CPU](https://postimg.cc/Y4yLdrMd) and [GPU](https://postimg.cc/xJz8gLsd) performance up to 2 times faster than the latest PC laptop chip using just a fraction of the power consumption, with both of the macbooks promising big improvements in [battery](https://postimg.cc/1fp6y1rz) life. Apple is also [expected](https://postimg.cc/GHrtJ8vc) to roll out even more in-house chips in future products, as they have started the 2-year breakup with Intel chips. + +We also saw Morgan Stanley [upgrading](https://postimg.cc/bZ5qMsSS) their base case to $191 at the end of November, as they have cited record lead times, supply chain forecasts and carriers demand as they expect that the company will sell around 270M iPhone in fiscal year 2021, that’s 50M more than the consensus and almost 30M more than the previous estimate of Morgan Stanley, with an average selling price of 842$, 9% more than the base case, as people tend to chose the more expensive and high tech versions of the lineup in this new 5G cycle. + +The 5G super-cycle, which I believe is on the way, and will continue in the next years, as 5G become more available worldwide, could still be the biggest thing coming right away for the company with 5G smartphones [expected](https://postimg.cc/LJptP88f) to surpass 4G sales by 2024, with the average sale price of the 5G phones also coming down, helping them become more popular. This will also be helped by the recent entry to the Indian [market](https://postimg.cc/7fV6BHNS), as India will probably become the world biggest country in the next decade, this could be a huge opportunity for Apple to start and take away market-share from their competitors like Samsung and Xiaomi which have the biggest market shares right now. + +They also [released](https://postimg.cc/PpWhPy31) an update iPad Pro and an all-new iPad Air in September which will also boost sales in this work-from-home environment that will keep the demand very high for this kind of products, just like the Macs. Alongside the increasing demand from the Wearables, Home & Accessories that include Air Pods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and many more products. + +But the biggest reasons I believe Apple is poised for continued growth, is primarily due to its services business, as they start to offer more and more services like the Apple ONE [BUNDLE](https://postimg.cc/4777MD3s), which include up to 6 services from (Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, the new Apple Fitness+ and the iCloud service) for a pretty reasonable price in my opinion [starting](https://postimg.cc/BLkDnqzj) from 15$ up to 30$/month, this could be a great option for families and even individuals who use their services a lot. + +The latest services, [Fitness+](https://postimg.cc/cKV4KrsG) just launched in the past days, and is a direct competitor to the likes of Peloton, as the service is available on the iPhone, iPad or even Apple TV. This also makes consumers buy the Apple Watch which syncs to the other devices to show you different information. The Fitness+ app just on its own is 8$/month or 80$/year which is less expensive than Peloton subscription which charges 13$ or even traditional gyms like Planet Fitness at 10$/month. + +I think this will be the fastest growing sector for the company, as this aligns with the new macro trends, as the world is moving more and more to a digital approach to almost everything as consumer preferences, with more & more younger people reaching the point in life when they use these services start to align to this increasing digital approach. + +We also shouldn’t forget the Apple Card & Apple Pay service among many others which also seem to gain from the move to digital & contactless payments, as this has been accelerated due to the current situation in the past year. + +And one last piece of [news](https://postimg.cc/k6BKCVTr), and the most recent one, is that Apple may have fast-tracked the Titan project. The Titan project is targeting a 2024 or 2025 push to develop an electric vehicle with advanced battery technologies, that will deliver significant increases in range at much lower costs than the current technologies while also offering self-driving capabilities. + +It’s reported they will not use the same technology as Tesla Full-Self-Driving feature, but will use LIDAR sensors, similar to those that we can find in the latest iPhone 12 PRO. + +I think Apple can go 2 ways with this project, they can either use the huge amount of cash the company has to buy another car-maker like Ford, GM or any other car manufacturer expect Tesla and Toyota which do have a big market cap, so that they can fast-track the potential manufacturing of cars, or they can enter into a partnership with big companies like Tesla, Volkswagen or any other car marker to either produce cars or license their technology to this other car-makers which would ultimately and probably have higher margin-returns than the effective manufacturing of cars. Apple’s current overall [gross margins](https://postimg.cc/ykv1mfVP) stand at 38% vs the 15% average of the world top 10 automakers by market cap, which is significantly lower. + +But this Apple Car thing is so far out, and there are so many unknowns, I will not try to predict anything related to this until there is more clarity on the subject. + +And last, before moving on to some predictions, here are some of the highlights that we heard from the latest investors conference meeting, as the CEO, Tim Cook [expressed](https://postimg.cc/TyhpLzgg) optimism ahead with the launch of many new products and services, especially the Home Pod Mini and the new 5G iPhones, as these new iPhones include new LIDAR scanners that greatly improve the camera capabilities, as the iPhone as seen very positive reviews. We also saw the Senior VP and CFO, Luca Maestri give us great [outlook](https://postimg.cc/DWDmqxPD) for the company as they expect the installed devices base to continue to growth despite already being at an all-time high as they have over 585M paid subscriptions on their platforms and expect this to surpass 600M by the end of 2020. + +I also researched and found what products we can see in the near future, with the first half of [2021](https://postimg.cc/jCBQsXVM) bringing new iMacs, the AirPods3 and the iPad Pro, while in the [FALL](https://postimg.cc/8jVJKngg) event we will probably get the new iPhone 13 alongside the iPhone SE PLUS and the Watch Series 7 with more products coming [later](https://postimg.cc/GHc3s01t) in 2021 or that don’t have an estimated release date like the Air Pods Pro, the Air Tags and the iPad Mini 6. + +So, before even starting, you should know that I am bull on Apple but I am willing to hear other opinions so don’t be afraid to leave a comment down below. + +I have made some predictions based on the growth rate of the [company](https://postimg.cc/JHRDpPGQ), the latest plans announced by them and used some estimates. So, keep in mind this are only projections and are calculated by myself, this is not an investment advice and you should do your own research. + +This are my 2025 projections for Apple, let’s take a closer look at them, each on their own. + +So, in term of revenues, Apple has 5 big sources of income, which saw an overall increase of 6% despite lagging sales in the iPhone. The biggest revenue is by far the iPhone right now with over $137B in revenue in the fiscal year ending in September. I expect to see the iPhone sales increasing in the next years, especially in 2021, with the new 5G iPhone creating a super-cycle for the [company](https://postimg.cc/XGfBKT7J), as most iPhone users, including myself here, as I will upgrade from my iPhone X, will switch to this new product. The iPhone sales have decreased in the last couple of years by 14% and 3% as a result of the product not having big improvements, as well as iPhone usually starting to last longer than previous models, so I expect to see a 12% increase in sales next year and a gradual decrease in the growth of sales as more people upgrade, ending with just a 5% growth in iPhone [sales](https://postimg.cc/V0wfRpr7) in 2025. + +The next revenues stream is from the Mac, which has seen an increase in the past 2years, with revenues topping $28B this year after the huge demand from the work from home consumers. I [expect](https://postimg.cc/1405tm2b) this trend to continue as they plan to continue to launch better products and I can see the company having a similar growth next year before starting to decline slightly until 2025, also ending with a 5% growth. + +The iPad is currently the smallest revenue stream for Apple but has also seen an increase in demand in the past 2 years with a 13% average increase in revenues. I also expect the iPad to continue to grow in the next couple of years, especially with the learn-from-home environment for kids, and even after this period ends, the transformation for learning will implicate more digital usage. I [expect](https://postimg.cc/5XKtVsT0) the iPad to see some similar growth to the Macs, especially with the latest generation also bringing a new iPad air to the market. + +The 4th revenue stream and the fastest growing in the past 2 years, with an average growth of 33% are the wearables, home & accessories revenues. This have topped $30B this year, as Apple has also just launched the Apple Watch series 6 and also feature other great products like Apple TV, the Air Pods the Home Pod and the Home Pod mini alongside other third-party accessories. + +I gave this [revenue](https://postimg.cc/v4C4JQ4T) stream a growth of 20% starting next year with a gradual decrease to around 8% by 2025, as I believe this will become more & more popular as they start to offer more vertical integration. + +And last, but by no means least, the revenue stream that I expect to grow the most and the fastest is the revenue from the services that Apple offers. This includes revenues from Apple Care, Advertising, Cloud Services, Payment Services like Apple Card & Apple Pay and of course the digital content which includes fees from the App Store alongside subscription-based income including the new Apple One Bundle and Apple Fitness+ alongside the already know Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple News+, Apple TV+ and hopefully I don’t forget any others. + +So, I [expect](https://postimg.cc/svV7mDWR) this to become the clear 2nd biggest revenue stream for Apple by 2025, as I expect this to grow more than 20% next year, mainly due to the Apple One Bundle and Apple Fitness+ followed up by a slightly decreasing growth, ending with a 10% increase in revenues in 2025. + +I think this are fairly conservative base case scenarios for the revenues, as I expect them to continue to increase the [other](https://postimg.cc/1VFFgkxJ) revenue streams and not have such a large percentage of the revenues coming from the iPhone sales as you can see in this chart. + +In terms of expenses, I pretty much kept the same margins as in previous years, with a 68% expense ratio on product sales \[ [iPhone](https://postimg.cc/JDZ7jMnD) / [iPad](https://postimg.cc/Wd14CB9C) / [Mac](https://postimg.cc/q6GkZw2p) / [WHA](https://postimg.cc/211q9q8g) \] and 35% expense ratio on [SERVICES](https://postimg.cc/8sdLLrjH), as this are way more lucrative. + +In the past 3 years, the products [gross margin](https://postimg.cc/ykv1mfVP) was 32.7%, so I actually imply bigger expenses for the manufacturing and sales of products, as this is mostly impacted by the company’s supplier’s ability to make up for and demand, while for the services revenue, the gross margins for the last 3 years has been 63.5% on average, but I expect this to be more in-line with the 66% margin in this past year. So, if services manage to grow to about half the revenues from the iPhone, this will effectively double the gross revenues, as every buck gained in the service revenues account for 2$ in the product sales. + +So, I expect the total [revenues](https://postimg.cc/sMjByQ2n) for Apple to increase from $274B in 2020 to over $440B by 2025, increasing by approximately 10%/year, while I will keep the expense ratio pretty much in-line and have them increasing by 11%/year, this would bring the total gross income for Apple to $177B, increasing mainly due to the services revenues as I said earlier. This growth is just above the 4year [average](https://postimg.cc/Tp8g83mS), and below the 2018 levels, which we might see again with this 5G super-cycle and explosive growth in the services revenue. + +I also think the company will continue to invest in both Capital Expenditure and Operating expenses. + +I think the operating expenses will remain pretty much in line with the [previous](https://postimg.cc/2qBCfrnc) years, as this number has increased by 1% [annually](https://postimg.cc/Fd5JL9v8) both in R&D and SG&A. So, I will keep the exact percentages from previous years, as I expect the revenue to increase, thus I don’t see a big increase percentage wise. This would account for over $60B in operating expenses by 2025 and over $11B in Capital Expenditures by 2025, as I expect this to increase, mainly due to the possible EV developments or investments in self-driving capabilities alongside other manufacturing capabilities. You can see that the Capex [spending](https://postimg.cc/yDsRdpLy) has been decreasing in the past years with just over $8.8B in payments for business acquisitions and the other traditional Capex spending. Some people may use the cash generated by [investing](https://postimg.cc/Mn9nG6Mz) activities as Capex, but that is more unreliable. I also can see the Capex going back up, so I wanted to be safe and implied a 10% growth. + +This money would account for over $73B in [expenses](https://postimg.cc/dZnY91K1) and would bring the profit for the company to almost $104B before interest and taxes. + +Moving on, let’s see what interest income and expenses the [company](https://postimg.cc/cgy0x2ms) has had in the past few years. We can see a decrease in interest expense in the past few years as the company has been paying off debt, but they have also been generating less money in this department, with an overall decrease in this department of more than 50% in the past year, way less than the amount from 2018. So, for safety reasons, I used a 10% decline in both income and expenses [related](https://postimg.cc/QKgtZhZG) to interest, while increasing the other losses by 10%/year. + +This would bring the company pre-tax income to just over $104B in 2025. + +Let’s move on to taxes. I know the Federal income tax rate is 21% for the [company](https://postimg.cc/ykY39pq1), but the actual effective tax rate for the company was lower than 15% in the past year, mainly due to lower tax-rates on foreign earnings alongside tax-benefits and tax-settlements. The average effective tax rate has been just over 16% in the past 3 years, but with more and more of the revenues coming from outside the US, I think it’s safe to say that the company will have around a 15% effective tax rate by 2025, this obviously if nothing major changes in tax policy around the world. + +So, Apple would [have](https://postimg.cc/Wqc3ytKw) $88.6B in income after tax by 2025 and with the current outstanding shares standing at just under 17B, so I don’t even account for the company probably continuing to do share buybacks, this would mean a $5.22 [future](https://postimg.cc/4YytCLwL) earnings/share. And with today’s price for Apple just around 136$, that would mean to [company](https://postimg.cc/RNf1qH44) is trading at just over 26 times forward price to earnings. + +I don’t think Apple will ever trade at a discount again, with the current PE [standing](https://postimg.cc/RqwqHQ6s) at over 40, I believe this will eventually go down, probably to around 35, despite the increase in services revenue, which is highly valued by investors. I think we can see Apple trade somewhere near 35 [times](https://postimg.cc/5H98PKv2) P/E in 2025, especially if something big happens with the EV project, this could be even higher, just look at Tesla which trades at [insane](https://postimg.cc/sBZhxMk5) P/E. Of course, we also have to take into consideration the dividends that will be received from owning the stock, as Apple has started to pay dividends almost a decade ago and has 9 years of dividend growth, with a 10% annual rate of [growth](https://postimg.cc/CnbZMbD2) in the past 5 years. [Here](https://postimg.cc/7CLT1G8C) is the dividend growth history for the company, as I also went conservative on this [estimate](https://postimg.cc/Tp7LcjGr) and implied a 7% growth for the next 2 years, 6% for 2023 and 2024 and just 5% in 2025. + +So [here](https://postimg.cc/R3PK21QQ) are my 3 price targets for the company, [including](https://postimg.cc/JHR8JXvv) dividends but not reinvested. My bear case scenario is that Apple will trade at almost 165$ which implies a [return](https://postimg.cc/jCYzWhd2) of over 21% by 2025, while my base case scenario would see Apple trading at 195$ with a return of capital of 43%. I will also make the bull case for Apple trading at 225$ by 2025 with dividends included, which would imply just over 65% in gains by then. + +I think this is possible as Apple has also [continued](https://postimg.cc/fJj36jMt) to buy back shares of the company on a constant basis, as they continue to an impressive campaign with over $72B worth of common stock repurchased in 2020. They continue to buy back shares at a very fast pace, having repurchased over 1.3B shares in 2019 and 2018, while also issuing less stock every year. + +So here is the full [spreadsheet](https://postimg.cc/Z995KrzL) that I have projected for Apple by 2025 and the breakdown of everything i estimated \[ [1](https://postimg.cc/jCT7qdZJ) / [2](https://postimg.cc/DmcbSkMp) \] , if you do have another opinion or a suggestion please leave a comment down below, I think I have been conservative in most of my projections, but feel free to give your opinion. + +Keep in mind, these targets might sound ridiculous, but just [look](https://postimg.cc/V50nHCSn) at the growth Apple has had in the last 5years. The company has increased in value by more 400% in just the past 5years and is over 100.000% up since it started trading. So yes, the valuation is mad right now for the company. So, are you willing to bet against Apple? + +The company also has pristine [financials](https://postimg.cc/LYcYMxqf), with more than $65B in total assets compared to total liabilities, and more than $38B in cash and cash equivalents. + +So, what do I expect in the next couple of days, weeks and months for Apple? + +Let’s look at this [CHART](https://postimg.cc/7592T1c8), so starting with the stock split, Apple saw a correction within the September stock market pullback, in a buy the news & sell the event, after a huge runup post-announcement of the stock split. The stock entered a consolidation period, and didn’t have any big catalysts, especially with new iPhone lineup not being included in the Q4 results due to the late launch. The stock found some levels of resistance near the $120 levels that it struggled to get past but acted also as support after breaking them just before the recent news of the possible EV developments or self-driving-features to be licensed to other car manufacturers. After that news the stock spiked and has now reached the previous highs made before the stock split and is facing some resistance, if the stock pushes over $140 I think we can officially say that it broke the resistance at those levels and is not just a fake-out. But I think it’s likely that the stock will consolidate between 122 and 135$ in the next weeks until the next iPhone sales and quarterly results are released, as the stock has entered overbought territory again with an RSI over 70, the first time since the stock split. + +So, what would I do? Well, I own Apple stock, and I really believe this company will remain the biggest or one of the biggest in the future, so I would really add on any weakness that the stock shows before the next quarter earnings are released, as typically Q1 [earnings](https://postimg.cc/V5t0FPTF) are the best for the company due to increased holiday sales combined with the launch of new products. I think any entry below 130$ would be really nice to start and build a position or increase it if you already own the stock. As I believe Apple is one of the most stable stocks out there with large institutional [holders](https://postimg.cc/3kqG3XcK) like Vanguard, BlackRock and Berkshire owning over 900M shares each. + +Thank you everyone for reading! Hope you enjoyed the content! Be sure to leave a comment down below with your opinion on the stock market! + +Have a great day and see you next time! +https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm + +You can see a very specific breakdown per item here: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t02.htm + +>The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 1.2 percent +in March on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.8 percent in February, +the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, +the all items index increased 8.5 percent before seasonal adjustment. + +>Increases in the indexes for gasoline, shelter, and food were the largest +contributors to the seasonally adjusted all items increase. The gasoline +index rose 18.3 percent in March and accounted for over half of the all items +monthly increase; other energy component indexes also increased. The food index +rose 1.0 percent and the food at home index rose 1.5 percent. + +>The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.3 percent in March following +a 0.5-percent increase the prior month. The shelter index was by far the biggest +factor in the increase, with a broad set of other indexes also contributing, +including those for airline fares, household furnishings and operations, medical +care, and motor vehicle insurance. In contrast, the index for used cars and +trucks fell 3.8 percent over the month. + +>The all items index continued to accelerate, rising 8.5 percent for the 12 +months ending March, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending +December 1981. The all items less food and energy index rose 6.5 percent, the +largest 12-month change since the period ending August 1982. The energy index +rose 32.0 percent over the last year, and the food index increased 8.8 percent, +the largest 12-month increase since the period ending May 1981. +Hi all, + +This is a quick update to my post a couple of weeks ago, link below: + +https://www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/comments/osk42b/negotiating_current_salary_with_new_job_offer/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf + +So I received a firm offer and contract from the prospective employer and was offered 55k. + +After conversations with my current manager about the offer it has been countered with £47k. We discussed my personal development and they have also offered to fund a qualification that Ive been looking at associated to my role in addition to defining a clear career pathway. + +I think my decision has been made and im going to stay put. Ive gained a 6k salary increase and whilst a 14k jump would have been nice, its not enough to make me want to work for my previous manager again. A lot of the comments in my post took the pound signs out of my eyes and pushed me to think about this practically - so thanks! + +I feel like this has actually put me in a better position within my company, a comment that was made was that it shows my commitment to the business and desire to progress and push myself further. + +All in all I’m a very happy lady today! +posts and comment like [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Forex/comments/903qpw/people_only_profitable_with_cfdstocks_and_futures/) are confusing. sometimes people speak like almost all forexers loss money. +When I started learning about investing, for whatever reason, I decided to learn about US companies first rather than UK ones. I'm not sure why, but I just did. Because of that I found quite a good number of US monthly dividend stocks, but the dividend tax put me off a bit. + +Do we in the UK have good stocks/ETFs/Bonds available to us that provide monthly income? I tend to be drawn more towards monthly companies because I like to supplement my income. +Hello, question here about "set it and forget it" kinda investing, please let me know my logic is flawed, I'm open to learning. + +Suppose I had 30K, and I wish to invest it all in a single ETF" + +One could choose the growth route and select XGRO, VGRO, VEQT or XEQT (or any equivalent equity). Quarterly distribution, holdings are diversified and growth oriented, and are typically advised to grow capital early on. + +On the other hand, one could choose the dividend investments, like XEI, XDV or any monthly distribution of your choosing. Monthly, dividend oriented investments, typicalof holdings in established companies which ideally don't have much more growth, so their payout is higher. + +My question is simply this: in a TFSA, with the same starting amount (say 30k), over the same period of time (say 40 years), wouldn't more compounding terms be better? Wouldn't a monthly distribution on DRIP be so much stronger at building capital than growth investments also on DRIP? Or am I underestimating growth that much? What factor am I missing, or what in my understanding is flawed? Why is XGRO, VGRO, XEQT or VEQT advised instead of XEI or XDV? I've been trying to search this and figure it out, but I only arrive at the advice, and never why it is such. + +I appreciate the time. +I'm talking about both academic and workplace affirmative action. + +Are there any studies on this matter? I know that affirmative action is a thing in America, but it is also done to a lesser extent in places like China and Hungary. Is the success rate of each country different? + +How can you control for other factors? + + +Hi FatFIRE people, + +As the subject suggests, my plan has been retiring at 50. My plan was always to settle all debts up until 50 and be fully FI, since we started the FIRE journey in our 30s. Now both at early 40s. We live in Europe and don’t live extravagant and work hard to build a NW in the lower FatFIRE tier. + +After retiring I was not planning any new investments and plan was to secure net worth on index funds and live of rental income and CG. However I wonder if people already retired, that had same plans as I did and then opted to actively invest and have leveraged portfolios even then. If so, are you investing in new assets, leverage as before retirement? Curious to learn experience. I would also like to hear from those who either have similar plans or is on the opposite side of this. + +I understand that everyone has different plans for retiring and my wife and I want to be as laidback as possible and focus on our hobbies, do volunteering, travel and re-educate ourselves. E.g. I want to write a PhD and possible seek a tenure at at reputable European b school. Basically we want to limit our stress and with rental properties remaining in the portfolio I expect enough stress remains during retirement. + +EDIT: My own house will remain mortgaged throughout my early retirement and I do not consider this as leverage as it’s not part of my investment portfolio. +Also I would have access to very cheap and tax efficient credit in case I would remain leveraged. +DRS locked now around 90 million from 150 million of free float. They shorted OFFICIALLY 55 million based on sources we know. DO SIMPLE MATHS AND YOU COME TO THE POINT THAT THEY ARE AS FCKED AS JANUARY. WE NEED TO SHOW DOMINANCE AND NOT ALLOW THEM TO DO WHAT THEY WANT!! DRS now to end this circus sh*t show. + + +Look how they treat us, like conspiracy theorist, stupid people, a "cult", the big media is lying to you and Citadel and co look at us as their product. +WE ARE MORE, WE ARE THE GUYS WHO DECIDE WHEN WE STOP THE MUSIC, earlier or later they need to accept it. + + THEY STEAL OUR MONEY AND LAUGH ABOUT US. +If a guy in reallife steals 100 Euro of you, and you catch him, you beat the sh*t out of him. They try steal ALL your savings. WAKE UP GUYS!!! THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW!!!! + +If you want to become RICH, YOU NEED TO WORK!!! +DRS THE FASTER, THE FASTER YOU CAN BUY YOUR DIRTY LAMBO + +They have no other option than to keep shorting our stonk... TOGETHER WE ARE STRONG!!!! DRS IS WORKING. DO NOT SLOW DOWN RIGHT BEFORE VICTORY. INCREASE THE SPEED, SHOW THEM NO WEAKNESS!!!! + +Edit: let's hope for a big last short attack that we can DRS the free float faster and short squeeze after. +The hedgies became smarter and didn't dropped the price massive down lately because they don't want us to DRS faster +Hello everyone, + +Hope you are staying safe. + +I was just wondering what everyone thinks about Bank Australia. +At the moment I have an everyday account with CommBank and really happy with the app and website, but I was looking for a bank making a positive impact and found Bank Australia. + + +So, firstly is their whole "Responsible Banking" genuine? +And how would you rate their app/website compared to Commbank? +https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-54012055?__twitter_impression=true + +Seems like Pret are making some drastic moves to claw back business given the WFH shift - thoughts? I wonder if any other big names will be following suit with similar attempts soon? + +Obviously this is quite a gimmicky offer to draw people back through the door, but I can't help but think it's a pretty good deal if you're someone who gets takeaway coffees regularly (the article states you can get up to 5 coffees every day of the week for £20 per month). + +I feel like 'the price of a takeaway coffee' is often used as a unit of measurement for a small expense that can quickly add up when you get it regularly, and is a pretty common metaphor for encouraging saving (make your own coffee and watch the pounds roll in etc)... Maybe this will be the end of that?! +I'm a small ape. I'm trying to make sure my son never has to work a day in his life if he doesn't want to. I'm on the paycheck to paycheck train and was able to take some profits from the sticky floors and turn them into (I hope) rocket fuel. + +There's a lot of acrimony between the two (although the popcorn eating apes insist we're all friends). I just need to know if I made the right move. + +Edit: feeling the hugely warm welcome -- thanks apes and apettes. Not sure why some comments are being downvoted, but I'm feeling good about my decision and I'm trying to add some wrinkles to my brain. + +Edit 2: to clarify, I don't want my son to *have* to work. I'm still going to *ensure that he develops a work ethic*. Hell, *I'm* still going to work after this all shakes out. I might keep my tendies a secret from him until he's 25. He's still a tiny tot so there's a lot of time but I appreciate all of the comments below about not raising a lazy pos. Cheers! +If you were to make an ETF only portfolio that pays monthly and gives the highest yield, what ETFs would you use? + +I would think QYLD, JEPI, and SPHD could be a core foundation. Any other ETFs that would qualify for this type of portfolio? Would you consider any bond funds (like Pimco)? + +EDIT: SPHD, not SCHD +If you were to make an ETF only portfolio that pays monthly and gives the highest yield, what ETFs would you use? + +I would think QYLD, JEPI, and SPHD could be a core foundation. Any other ETFs that would qualify for this type of portfolio? Would you consider any bond funds (like Pimco)? + +EDIT: SPHD, not SCHD +I’d like to make a proposal. My proposal is that the entire market is fake, prices are controlled through dark pools, negative pressure existing under stocks in the form of swaps, naked shorts, shorts that have never been closed out, backroom deals, etc, and only in a few events do we see TRUE price discovery peeking through the overly manipulated/controlled system. Why? **Because they force buys through the lit market to one degree or another.** + +This isn’t really a revelation – or it shouldn’t be – we know that price and volume is manipulated by following $GME for the past 2 years (and really well before that, we as in retail just haven’t been paying attention prior to $GME). But what the HELL does that even mean? + +[You](https://preview.redd.it/waj80qfigpj91.png?width=490&format=png&auto=webp&s=b3367f8af1a4121e1e13c5ffbd74ad0aa5e5d00f) + +[The guy she told you not to worry about](https://preview.redd.it/07f8d8fkgpj91.png?width=490&format=png&auto=webp&s=0300d09717b1796bbf49b7e7b1cf9617ee28fe4a) + +[Charts with supporting documentation found here](https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.00223) + +The only way a situation claiming [infinite liquidity](https://twitter.com/shayne12_/status/1534740656102551554?s=20&t=ro9UJbXWsnkg050aY9gx0Q) exists in a world without infinite capital is if the entire market is carefully controlled. Think of throwing your actual cash into a big dryer bin as its tumbling. Your money enters the machine and the exact same amount moves out the other side. If you buy shares, they get internalized and IOUs given are off. If you buy calls, puts can be bought to negate the pressure. + +You’re then given an IOU for that cash, but the cash no longer exists to the degree you assume it does. This would explain why ETF growth has ballooned over the past 10 years and is expected to continue. The ETF market is heavily theorized to be jam-packed full of IOUs. + +[u/leavemeanon2 explains beautifully where the shares are.](https://www.reddit.com/user/leavemeanon2/comments/qiiklg/where_are_the_shares_a_beginners_guide_to_hiding/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +[separate bank account to prevent price discovery](https://preview.redd.it/zxbxg59ngpj91.jpg?width=995&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d55f4d0e9d31facdaaf3e33425de1651c474e551) + +In my previous post [linked here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/wssqzb/rcs_an_absolute_genius_yes_hes_playing_69741d/), I exclaimed that RegSho is the kicker that shot $GME to uranus territory. Towel stonk is on RegSho now and marching towards the T+35 dates. Other apes have speculated Opex shoots $GME to Uranus, other apes speculate buying through IEX shoots $GME to Uranus, others have speculated ComputerShare shoots $GME to Uranus. + +**REGSHO:** + +As mentioned in my previous post, RegSho is heavily theorized to have caused the Jan 2021 sneeze, as well as the Feb 24th mini sneeze when blew $GME from $50 to $200 after hours. Below is the data supporting this statement. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/qojh0puqgpj91.jpg?width=609&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8e228d7d777f1dd909de720b0cc91bf15ed09940 + +https://preview.redd.it/r7wl1yqsgpj91.jpg?width=584&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0ea9ff97caad648d3ca73f065f5c7240d68c598f + +https://preview.redd.it/p6zpo3ytgpj91.jpg?width=207&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=65144e54afc97f3d08d07e09f9d29406e1411692 + +***TL;DR – Market makers lost control of price due to buildup of FTDs and force closing. Sneeze happened because $GME no longer existed in a vacuum like the rest of the market.*** + +**OPEX:** + +**I am not a professional at options. I don’t even use them.** **I am not saying buy options, I am making connections between buys hitting lit market and forcing some semblance of true price discovery, which seems to be where the price action we are used to seeing in the market breaks down.** + +We all know when you trade options, market makers are on the other end of that bet. In order to properly hedge, they either have to buy or sell the underlying stocks. + +&#x200B; + +[I mean, yes they do. But not in the way this picture describes.](https://preview.redd.it/uhlgexcvgpj91.jpg?width=660&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d02495d6362e1512b77495d9ed618563366c1309) + +Towel Stonk Opex – today. We know towel stonk has had a ridiculous amount of interest from reddit over the past month, and we can only assume with that increased interest comes increased call option exposure. Well, something caused a 31% rip in pre-market on Aug 24, 2022 - and we can absolutely assume the rip in price **DID NOT HAPPEN** because of retail buying through brokers during pre-market. + +https://preview.redd.it/m7rh732ygpj91.jpg?width=554&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8162af40163abfc90a2081cceba9aa1d33511589 + +I would take it a step further than just towel stonk and say stocks are usually rather volatile around Opex/tri/quad witching because of the mass volume of calls/puts hitting the market at once. If we assume 100% of the shares you are holding are IOUs (unless you go to ComputerShare), then your buys and sells are not impacting the underlying price **unless they need to**. You’re buying IOUs, not actual shares. + +TLDR: ***Mass call exposure centralized to a few stocks causes mass appreciation in price based off market-maker hedging. Why do you think the majority of financial advisors you talk to advise that you invest in low fee broad index funds? Not only are you buying IOUs, but you are not centralizing risk in one stonk to put extra strain on the system ie; $GME. You’re spreading the risk to the system out over 500 different stocks in the S&P500.*** + +**ComputerShare:** + +Thanks to ComputerShare, we know our buys are only dealing in “real” shares, no IOUs allowed, therefore we know with certainty our buys are hitting the tape. CS usually has 2 batch buys per day, both of which have large volume hits (hell, any larger volume hit in $GME is huge when it comes to hitting the tape). That trade is not internalized, and real buying pressure shows up. + +https://preview.redd.it/zct9k2t1hpj91.jpg?width=927&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=92b8c80097c325d04e9a10bf5e81a71edcae8bb9 + +Another side benefit of ComputerShare (outside of direct ownership) is that the companies tradable float is being reduced. If a company has 100m total shares outstanding, and 50m are directly registered, only 50m shares are available to short. This increases the probability with each day that goes by of the stock hitting RegSho, which brings us back to example 1: forcing a huge wave of lit buys to hit the tape at once. + +*TLDR:* ***Not only does ComputerShare provide direct ownership of the shares that are being used to provide “infinite liquidity”, buys through ComputerShare hit the tape and go directly into your name. DRS’d shares are the plaque that builds up in arteries, which eventually causes the heart attack. It’s not necessarily @ 50%, 70%, 99%, just the more plaque that builds up the more strain that’s put on the system. The heart attack in this situation quite literally is the squeeze, and it happens whenever the system breaks.*** + +**IEX:** + +IEX we know hits the tape, so at least a real buy occurs. What happens to the share after that, nobody knows. Maybe you keep the real share, maybe it just goes to Fidelity and they have an increased share count since you’re the beneficial owner. I won’t speculate on where the share goes or the ownership of it – I’m only speculating on events that interrupt an “infinite liquidity” system. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/hbblce63hpj91.jpg?width=668&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8f8955c53aee475f1d93e9c913aca57d0c8c2f29 + +*TLDR:* ***Self-explanatory really. I’d venture to guess with a 2.4% market share, IEX and ComputerShare direct buys are probably tied for the least IMMEDIATE impact on price. It’s a hell of a lot easier to cover up my 2 share buy through IEX, 50 share buy through ComputerShare, than it is to cover up a 750 million share FTD pile-up from RegSho, or a call heavy Opex dump.*** + +Recap: + +What do these 4 events have in common? They all show some semblance of true price discovery. Two of these situations directly contribute to Violent Upside Potential (RegSho forced FTD closures, Opex). ComputerShare tightens the noose around hedgies neck while increasing the probability for VUP to occur (RegSho), and IEX forces shares to hit the lit market but can easily be countered unless there are millions of orders flowing through IEX. All 4 of these situations move completely against the "controlled" movement of the market, but they only occur when the ***people on the other side of the bet are forced to show price discovery.*** + +***Given the information above, who would it benefit the most to make sure DRS is criminalized, options are criminalized? Without Opex exposure, $GME will just limp along until it hits a certain point DRS'd, then it has a possibility of hitting reg sho. If sentiment around $GME can be controlled by the media, it will be very hard to get to that RegSho trigger without a super large DRS position.*** + +***Not DRSing is the literal definition of infinite liquidity, and you may as well be buying your $GME share exposure through ETFs - it gives the same effect to the underlying security.*** + +So yes, the entire market is fake. There is no right or wrong way to invest in $GME. There are, however, ways to help price discovery in the stonk you love. And there are absolutely ways to hurt price discovery (why the hell would anyone buy $GME exposure through XRT?). + +MOASS is just an equalization of supply and demand across the entire market. Such a major displacement of supply and demand requires a violent event for equalization. +I'm just wondering how regular people on regular incomes afford sydney? + +I'm from a smaller city in aus and I genuinely don't understand how to people, earning regular incomes, afford to pay for a house and live in Sydney comfortably. + +Are people living pay check to pay check? + +I'm 30 years old and would love to live there, but it doesn't seem to make financial sense for me because my family isn't from there and can't get help and would live a pretty uninteresting lifestyle based o what I could afford + +Edit: so far no one has really been able to give a concrete answer eg I get paid x amount, y amount goes towards mortgage, leaving me to live off z amount and save so much per month +I was just reading a recent thread posted in this sub about the IRS workers not working due to the shutdown (understandably), thus refunds will likely take longer. As I scrolled through the comments, I found a conversation and the gist of it was that if you get a tax refund, it's basically lending the government money? I'm 23 and have been filing independently for a couple of years now, and always looked forward to my returns because hey, it's money! But having read this I'm just very confused, and bummed that this was never really explained to me before along with many other aspects of finances and I've been self-teaching, so to speak. I'm just an unmarried person working full time at an hourly low-paying job. I'm not a student, and the only "Credit" I qualified for was for contributing to a ~~Roth IRA~~ 401k (I contribute to both but believe the credit applies to the 401k). And while my refunds have never been "huge", they've been over $1000 in the past couple of years. + +&#x200B; + +So, getting a refund is bad? And why is not owing nor getting money back a good thing in the first place? How does one get as close to "$0 owed/~~returned~~ refunded" as possible and what things can I do to achieve that? I feel silly asking, but dumb questions are better than no questions and I'd rather learn everything I can/should know while I'm still young and planning my future. Thanks! (If you wanna go ahead and ELI5, that'd be awesome haha) + +&#x200B; + +~~Not sure what's up with the downvotes. I literally posted this because I knew nothing and have never been taught much regarding taxes, and~~ *~~want~~* ~~to learn.~~ + +Edit: Wow, didn’t expect this to get that much attention. Thank you guys so much for all of the informative responses! I really appreciate it!! Now that I understand it it isn't difficult, but when you're in the dark about these things it can look intimidating. I wish they had a class or something when I was in high school that taught you the basics of this stuff, it's so important! +Hi fellow economists! + +I'm currently a sophomore student majoring in economics with a double minor in political science and global environmental sustainability with a \~3.6 GPA. I'm going to be spending this upcoming semester studying resource economics abroad in Italy (SO EXCITED), but I'm starting to think about the end of my undergraduate and what my future holds. + +There's not really a doubt in my mind that I want to become a policy analyst; I'm very passionate about economics and our political process, and have been told on multiple occasions "We need more people like you in our government." + +My question is: What can I start doing to help myself when I graduate? Once I come back from my semester abroad, I'll be joining my college's women in economics program and (obviously) keeping up my grades, but I feel like that's really not enough. + +Additionally, I'll be looking for more part time work when I get back. Should I consider finding a job in my schools economics department? Should I find a part-time job working for the city I live in? Should I just keep a normal "college student" job (barista, etc) and look for research opportunities? What about internships? + +Any and all feedback appreciated. +Roads are often cited as public goods AFAIK. However, public goods have to be both non excludable and non rivalrous. However, roads are excludable via toll gates, and are rivalrous to some extent in that the more people drive on a road past a point, the more congested it becomes to the point that traffic can grind to a halt, and if I occupy a space on that road, other's can't occupy that road space. + +So I am willing to hear some arguments against those points. +I watched a video on youtube about life in the 50s and noticed that most of the comments were about how affordable things were back then compared to now. They talked about you could easily support a family on one income and how it wasn't necessary to have a degree to make good money. Is this true? If so, why did the cost of living increase? +In all honesty i'm writing an essay on the weaknesses of technical analysis when dealing with securities tradings and I just cannot seem to understand the differences between the two. I'm not asking anyone to do my homework but it would be great if someone could steer me in the right direction. + +&#x200B; + +Am I right in basically saying that: + +EMH = Basically is just a way of saying markets are already perfect systems in accounting for any new information (thus rendering things like Fundamental Analysis useless) + +&#x200B; + +RW = Like brownian motion but the challenge then is to prove that technical analysis actually works and is better empirically than randomly selecting stocks? + +&#x200B; + +I do understand that EMH basically builds on RW but am not too sure why.. + +&#x200B; +I grew up to immigrant parents with domestic violence in the home. My mom is uneducated and never worked. I had to step up and pick up the pieces from an early age and provide not just for myself but for her. + +I have a good paying job but in a very unstable industry. I almost got fired/laid off 3 times. Bc of the high income / high instability rates in my career - I chose to invest in real estate and pay off my home asap. No payments = freedom to invest in myself / invest the money as I like without the worry of being potentially homeless. + + +I’m so proud I could cry. +(continued from Part 1, which is at [https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/msm49u/my\_second\_rebuttal\_to\_deleted\_but\_important\_bear/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/msm49u/my_second_rebuttal_to_deleted_but_important_bear/)) + +**3.2: The Second FTD Cycle, February 25-March 11** + +Next, regarding the 7.4m FTD reset period (which, according to the first graph, lasted from around February 25th to March 11th), you say that “Then next t+14 days we see only 7415200 resetted. This is a substantional drop to 14%percent short interest that is hidden.” There’s a few misconceptions here: + +Firstly, since this period of time has a lower number of FTDs in comparison to the 36 million FTD reset period, you assume that the number of FTDs that have been reset has *decreased* since early February. Or rather, you assume that this signifies a drop in “hidden” short interest. However, contrary to what you imply, the decrease in the number of FTDs from the second cycle in comparison to the number of FTDs from the first cycle is not the same as a decrease in short interest. + +What's important to understand is that reset FTDs are fundamentally dissimilar to short interest in that they are not a single quantitative variable which changes from cycle to cycle. Each cycle’s number of reset FTDs pertains to the mass blocks of buy-write trades with deep ITM calls in that individual cycle and is unrelated to the number of reset FTDs in previous cycles. As a result, the total number of FTDs being reset is cumulative (again, as is mentioned by the DD author) and isn't a single block which varies from cycle to cycle; rather, new FTD resets are separate blocks of their own, if that makes sense, that can be added to existing (and similarly separate) blocks of FTD resets. + +Basically, if 30 million FTDs are reset in January and 27 million FTDs are reset in February, the number of FTDs being reset hasn’t decreased by 3 million FTDs. This would mean that there is a singular block or pool of reset FTDs that is constantly changing from month to month, which isn’t the case. If you’d read the DD (and the SEC paper) more thoroughly, you would understand that the reported number of FTD resets are separate blocks which are *added* together—in concurrence with more batches of deep ITM calls being used each cycle (paired with the utilization of buy-write trades) to maintain hidden short positions—to calculate the cumulative number of reset FTDs (giving us a total of 57 million reset FTDs, in this hypothetical situation), something you misinterpreted by erroneously and inadvertently delineating the number of FTD resets as being the same as, or similar to, the short interest (which, in contrast to the FTD resets, actually is a single quantitative variable, or one monolithic “block”, and does vary from cycle to cycle, or between any two points in time), or even to regular, SEC-reported FTDs—which are one block and not the same as the combined, individual blocks of reset FTDs (this is pretty obvious given how normal FTDs are reported by the SEC on an overall, aggregate basis, while more FTDs are reset each cycle, with each cycle's FTDs comprising their own separate blocks)—and saying that the number of FTD resets being 36 million in the first cycle and 7.4 million in the second cycle equates to “hidden SI” being covered. So, when you say that "the OP seems to think there are 44million shorts but his post shows the contrary", you're the one who's actually wrong and misconstruing the DD: the author is talking about 44 million **cumulative** FTD resets (or added blocks of FTD resets), not a single block of FTD resets which decreased from 36.6 million to 7.4 million. + +Now, how and when do we know if there’s a decrease in actual short interest (and not just an increase in reset FTDs)? Keep in mind the aforementioned, proven correlation that an increase in reset FTDs results in a decrease in *reported* short interest (this is also observable in the graph and noted by the pertinent DD's author himself). Here's some pretty simple math: + +True, cumulative number of shorts = Obscured number of shorts + Reported number of shorts + +T = O + R + +If R decreases by a certain amount and O increases by the same amount, there has been no net change in T (i.e. T remains the same). + +Tangentially, if R decreases by a certain amount and O increases by an amount lesser than the amount R decreases by, T has indeed decreased—not by the amount R has decreased by, but by the difference between the amount R has decreased by and the amount O has increased by. Essentially, to see if there has been a net increase or decrease in the short interest, we look for discrepancies between the increase in the number of reset FTDs and the decrease in short interest. + +If you take a look at the second graph, we see that reported number of shorts decreased from 15 million shorts (conservative underestimate) at the end of the 36 million FTD cycle (around February 4th) to 10 million shorts at the end of the 7.4 million FTD cycle (around March 11th). Remember, an increase in reset FTDs means a(n artificial) decrease in reported short interest. So, a 5 million decrease in the number of reported shorts since the end of the first cycle, but a 7.4 million increase in the number of reset FTDs? Hmmm… + +For your sake, I’ll use a slight overestimate for the number of shorts at the end of the first FTD period; this will actually provide for the possibility of a number of shorts legitimately being covered between the ends of these two periods and (marginally) help your case. Just to mitigate any confusion, my use of 15 million in calculating the number of actual shares covered at the end of the first cycle yielded a lower short interest than was actually the case, and my incoming use of 20 million in comparing the decrease in the number of shorts between the ends of the two cycles to the increase in the number of FTDs during the second cycle will provide for the possibility of some shorts actually being delivered/closed within this time period (which, in my opinion, is likely the case; it’ll simply be a slight overestimation given how the actual number of shorts at the end of the first cycle seems to be around 18 million and not the full 20 million.) If I had used 15 million for this comparison, it would imply that not only had some relatively minuscule amount of shorts not been covered, but that short interest had actually increased within this time period (February 4 to March 11). This is basically what I'm trying to say: the 15 million underestimate and the 20 million overestimate both work in your favor in the specific calculations they are being used for. + +So, the number of reported shorts goes from 20 million at the end of the first cycle to 10 million at the end of the second cycle. We’ll have to recalculate our old short interest with this new 20 million figure: + +* 20 million shorts are 40% of the float (as opposed to 15 million being 30% of the float) +* 40% (reported) + 72% (obscured) = 112% short interest at the end of the 36 million FTD period +* 20m (reported) + 36m (obscured) = 56 million shorts at the end of the first cycle + +T (at the end of the first cycle)=56 million + +O (at the end of the first cycle)=36 million + +R (at the end of the first cycle)=20 million + +The number of reported shorts went from 20 million to 10 million between the ends of the two cycles, while the number of reset FTDs for the second cycle was 7.4 million (let's round down to 7 to give you another little advantage), so: + +O (at the end of the second cycle)=36m+7m=43 million + +R (at the end of the second cycle)=20m-10m=10 million + +Also: + +Change in O from end of cycle 1 to end of cycle 2= +7m + +Change in R from end of cycle 1 to end of cycle 2= -10m + +T=43m+10m=56m+7m-10m=**53m** + +Whichever way you do it, we have the new number of shorts at the end of the second FTD reset cycle (i.e. March 11th): 53 million. Now, this is a 6% decrease in short interest, going from 112% at the end of the first cycle to 106% at the end of the second one (remember, 106% is still a slight underestimate). + +Oh, what's that? You want to know what would happen if we used 15 million for the number of reported shorts in this calculation and aren't willing to just take my word for it? No problem, here you go: + +Using the 15 million figure, we calculated the total number of shorts at the end of the first cycle as 51 million (15m reported+36m obscured) + +O (at the end of the second cycle)=36m+7m=43 million + +R (at the end of the second cycle)=15m-5m=10 million (remember, in this calculation, we're saying that the number of reported shorts went from 15m to 10m between the ends of the two cycles, hence the -5 change) + +Change in O from end of cycle 1 to end of cycle 2= +7m + +Change in R from end of cycle 1 to end of cycle 2= -5m + +T=43m+10m=51m+7m-5m=**53m** + +"Wait a minute, this is the same number of total shorts we got when using 20 million; you said there would be a difference!" + +Well, keep in mind that we're looking at the change in the total number of shorts between the ends of the two cycles. + +* In the 15 million scenario, the total number of shorts went from 51 million at the end of the first cycle (15m reported+36m obscured) to 53 million at the end of the second cycle, thus actually yielding a net *increase* in the cumulative short interest, going from 102% (51m) to 106% (53m). This implies that around 2 million *more* shares were shorted between February 4 and March 11. +* In the 20 million scenario, the total number of shorts went from 56 million at the end of the first cycle (20m reported+36m obscured) to 53 million at the end of the second cycle, thus yielding a net *decrease* in the cumulative short interest, going from 112% (56m) to 106% (53m). This implies that around 3 million shares were covered between February 4 and March 11. + +As I've said before, given how the number of shorts at the end of the first cycle is closer to 20m than it is to 15m, the second scenario is more likely (though it still slightly overestimates the number of shorts covered between February 4 and March 11). + +**3.3: April Fools, or the Beginning of the Third FTD Reset Cycle** + +You go on to say, "On april it drops even further. We see this tallies up with the decreasing SI. So the hidden SI from janurary had enough volume on the dip rebound downwards to cover this hidden SI...Then on April it gets worse at only 1,033,500 resetted. So its safe to say that this number is more or less covered hence why you see a lack of deep itm activity." + +Apart from the already-addressed mischaracterization that less FTDs being reset in comparison to a previous cycle implies a decrease in short interest since the last cycle, there's another misapprehension here: + +[The mythical, all-seeing \\"third graph\\"](https://preview.redd.it/l9a33espoot61.png?width=1550&format=png&auto=webp&s=582fc44ead3daa04588195282152353547cf192a) + +the second pertinent DD (from the same author, at [https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/mi31m6/deep\_itm\_calls\_activity\_pt2\_april\_1st\_708000\_ftds/](https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/mi31m6/deep_itm_calls_activity_pt2_april_1st_708000_ftds/)), clearly states that the 1m FTD resets are *solely* from April 1, not all or some of April as you seem to imply. In fact, it is clearly stated that this is the beginning of a third FTD reset cycle, with 303k FTDs reset on the first day of the third cycle (March 31) and the aforementioned 1m FTDs reset on the second day of the cycle (April 1). This is also made painfully evident by the title ("DEEP ITM Calls Activity PT2 - April 1st - **708,000 FTDs reset** **today** \- *adding to the 44 million laundered shares* *we already found*) and the subsequent edit ("**1,033,500 shares as of market close April 1**"). This isn't "a lack of deep itm activity", it's the start of a new phase of said activity—which, actually, is a perfect segue into the next portion of my post... + +# PART 4: A NOT-SO-SLIGHT INTERLUDE + +**4.1: Tying Up Loose Ends; What is the Cumulative Short Interest?** + +So, we've established that the cumulative short interest ranged from 102% to 112% (depending on whether you use the 15 or 20 million figure for the number of reported shorts at the end of cycle 1) on February 4th, the end of the first reset cycle, and that the cumulative short interest was 106% (regardless of which figure you use) on March 11th, the end of the second reset cycle. If you look at the second graph, the reported short interest remains around 10% until March 16th-17th, which is when it drops to around 5% (which, coincidentally enough, lines up with an increase in reset FTDs, thus implying that the temporary decrease in reported short interest was at least partially artificial), before returning to 10% by March 26th, which is the last day short interest is reported. Thus, we can assume that the cumulative short interest did not change significantly between March 11th and March 26th. + +**4.2: DD Appreciation; Also, for the Love of God and All That is Good and Holy, Please Help Me** + +Throughout this post, a primary source of my data has been this oft-mentioned DD ([https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/mhv22h/the\_si\_is\_fake\_i\_found\_44000000\_million\_shorts/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=ios\_app&utm\_name=iossmf](https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/mhv22h/the_si_is_fake_i_found_44000000_million_shorts/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)). If you haven’t already read it, do yourself a favor and give it a read. Now, one must note that this DD was so obscenely meticulous and well-researched that even my bear friend here was inclined to agree, saying that, “its very evident of deep itm shorts hiding. Its not even a debate that their hiding” after taking “a long good \[look\] at the dd.” This DD contains the highly effective identification of certain deep ITM call options which were used to reset FTDs and, in turn, uses this to explicitly delineate the two FTD reset cycles (and the beginning of the third) which I have been analyzing thus far. In fact, the following quote is from the equally oft-cited SEC paper which I actually first came upon in this DD itself: + +“Trader A may enter a buy-write transaction, consisting of selling deep-in-the-money calls and buying shares of stock against the call sale. By doing so, Trader A appears to have purchased shares to meet the broker-dealer’s close-out obligation for the fail to deliver that resulted from the reverse conversion. In practice, however, the circumstances suggest that Trader A has no intention of delivering shares, and is instead re-establishing or extending a fail position. + +These circumstances vary. For example, Trader A may be engaging in buy-writes with a known counterparty, such as another market maker (Trader B) that Trader A pays to take the other side of its reset transactions. In this circumstance, Trader A and Trader B agree on a price at which the buy-write will be transacted. The trade is consummated as a spread, with the stock and option portions executed at the same time. Trader A sells calls to Trader B, and Trader A buys shares from Trader B. The size of the trade is dictated by how many shares Trader A is required to deliver to appear to have closed out the settlement fail arising from his short position and avoid a buy-in or large borrowing fees. Trader A knows or has reason to know that the counterparty to the buy-write will not deliver securities in settlement of the transaction. Rather, on the same day of the buy-write, Trader B will, in almost every case, exercise the deep in-the-money options it bought from Trader A in order to eliminate the short position created by selling shares to Trader A in the buy-write transaction, negating Trader A’s purchase of those shares. The two counterparties trade deep in-the-money calls with little to no open interest, so that Trader A knows that when Trader B exercises its calls, Trader A will be the one assigned on the exercised calls. As a result of the assignment on the exercised calls, Trader A has another delivery obligation. Trader A, or its broker-dealer, remains unable (or unwilling) to borrow shares to make delivery, and the reset transaction may result in a fail to deliver position at Trader A’s clearing firm. The result may be a persistent fail to deliver position in the security at issue. + +Trader A may also be engaging in buy-writes with unknown counterparties, but structured in a way that Trader A knows or has reason to know that the calls will be consistently exercised and assigned to Trader A. In particular, Trader A’s buy-writes involve deep in-the-money calls on hard to borrow securities with little to no open interest. The end result is very likely the same: Trader A, or its broker-dealer, remains unable (or unwilling) to borrow shares to make delivery on the assignment of the exercised calls, and the repeated reset transactions result in a persistent fail to deliver position at Trader A’s clearing firm in the security at issue.” + +Along with this footnote: + +“For example, a recent case found that a clearing firm violated Reg SHO by allowing its customers to use buy-writes to appear to satisfy their obligations and the clearing firm’s Rule 204 close-out obligation. According to the opinion, the customer used deep-in-the-money calls as part of the buy writes, and these calls were generally exercised the same day they were sold and assigned to the customer and shares were not delivered.” + +The eagle-eyed author of this DD accurately locates hallmarks of such behavior in blocks of deep ITM calls (and even defines additional characteristics), taking us down the buy-write rabbit hole while maintaining a surgical nose for detail all throughout the process. One thing I found particularly interesting was his relation of the FTD reset activity to unusual price movement or spikes in GME: + +1. **13th of January - aka 'The Day when people realised DFV might be right'** \- Open 20.42, High 38.65, Close 31.40 - the price doubles after 13 days of staying around the $20 level - 1.6m FTDs are reset that day with this activity. +2. **22nd January -** Open 42.59, High 76.76, Close 65.01. 2.9m FTD are reset that day, and 3m a day are reset until Jan 27. +3. **January 27 -** The day it really squoze (for now) - after closing at 147.98 the night before, GME opened at 354.83, reached a high of 380, and closed at 347.51. Immediately, 6.3m FTDs are reset that day, 4.68m the next day, and 3.5m+ a day for the two days thereafter. +4. As soon as the price is contained at around $50, this activity stops. +5. **February 24th - aka The Day We Understood We Aren't Crazy -** Open 44.70, Rally starting at 3:15pm to Close 91.71, Highs of 200 in Aftermarket. +6. **Feb 25 opens at 169.56. Deep ITM anomalies resume**, with 800k FTDs reset FEB25, 26, and 27th. Altogether, 7.15m FTDs would be reset until March 11th. + +Also note that March 10th (a day before the end of the second reset cycle) is the day of the infamous “flash crash”, or when GME hit a high of 348.50, plummeted to 172, before shooting back up and, touching the low 280s, eventually closing at 269.43. + +The reason I bring up this DD is because I want to ask its incredibly capable and knowledgeable author, [u/dejf2](https://www.reddit.com/u/dejf2/), for: + +1. An update on the third FTD reset cycle (the last one was on April 1st) +2. An update on the reported short interest (as, on March 31st, he said the data stopped at March 26th) +3. Feedback on, criticism of, and/or clarification on my post: since I draw upon a lot of the data you've provided, I'd like to know your opinion of how I've interpreted it + +The last time this guy was active was 5 days ago; apparently, he now researches GME full time and is currently writing a book on the subject ([https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mkjaxs/update\_on\_me\_contacting\_sec\_about\_the\_44m\_ftds/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=ios\_app&utm\_name=iossmf](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mkjaxs/update_on_me_contacting_sec_about_the_44m_ftds/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)). I am unsure if he is now solely active on Ko-fi (although that doesn't seem like the case, given how his last post on there was 6 days ago), but I wanted to reach out to him, somehow. Mods (or anyone), if you have a proverbial "inside line" to this guy, please let him know. I'd really, really like to get his opinion on my analysis. + +In fact, I'd like to extend this invitation to review my DD to anyone who has been tracking the suspicious deep ITM calls (along with other options-related strategies) potentially being used to reset FTDs and obscure short positions, as the title of this post suggests. + +In particular, I also want to see what [u/boneywankenobi](https://www.reddit.com/user/boneywankenobi/) (who had some interesting DD on current short interest and obscuring short positions at [https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/mjzx9w/full\_analysis\_of\_current\_gme\_si\_proof\_from\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/mjzx9w/full_analysis_of_current_gme_si_proof_from_the/)) and [u/Dan\_Bren](https://www.reddit.com/user/Dan_Bren/) (who has been consistently tracking deep ITM call activity) think about what I have to say. + +Additionally, I'd love for all prolific DD authors in general to take a look at the original Counter-DD by u/solarpanel200 (used to be at [https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mr5mot/the\_invisible\_shorts\_and\_the\_unfriendly\_whale](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mr5mot/the_invisible_shorts_and_the_unfriendly_whale), EDIT: can be found at [https://web.archive.org/web/20210415022513if\_/https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mr5mot/the\_invisible\_shorts\_and\_the\_unfriendly\_whale/](https://web.archive.org/web/20210415022513if_/https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mr5mot/the_invisible_shorts_and_the_unfriendly_whale/)) and evaluate the validity of his arguments for themselves. For a third time, if anyone can recover this post, it'd be much appreciated. + +Finally, this invitation is open to anyone who takes it seriously and offers evidence-backed suggestions, clarification, and/or criticism. + +# PART 5: FINAL RETURN TO THE DEEP + +**5.1: They're Married?** + +Moving on from FTD resets, you say “As for the married puts argument. Theres very little basis here. So its basically a way to prolong covering shorts to your broker dealer.” + +Admittedly, this was more of a misunderstanding between the two of us. I quoted passages from the SEC regarding married puts because, in your response to a comment on your counter-DD asking something like “What about the married calls?”, you replied with “married puts and calls are common misunderstandings it's an arbitrage options strategy that uses the word synthetic so people think it has to do with synthetic shares. Its merely a strategy that involves a synthetic position meaning the usage of another financial instrument to in play” (as I noted in my very first response) and essentially implied that this had nothing to do with obscuring short positions. I simply wanted to show you that married puts could potentially be relevant to the conversation. Since the majority of my argument focuses on FTD resets by means of buy-write trades using deep ITM calls, I have not researched and do not possess the pertinent data regarding other options-related strategies that can be used to reset FTDs and obscure short positions, which includes married puts and/or calls. This actually leads me into the next subsection... + +**5.2: Regarding Other Means of Obscuring Short Positions** + +Now, this is a slight divergence from the Deep, but I want to note that there has been massive speculation regarding the myriad of potential methods that could be in effect to mask short positions. I'd like to clarify that—as aforementioned—the figures (specifically, the number of shorts and the short interest at the end points of reset cycles 1 and 2) calculated in this DD are purely derived from data pertaining to FTD resets by means of buy-write trades. I cannot confirm the existence of other such practices in GME’s case, simply because I don’t have the data (and haven't done the research) to do so. There’s a reason why [u/dejf2](https://www.reddit.com/u/dejf2/)'s DD is so good: it's—in my opinion—the most concrete, thorough, and palpable thesis proving that short positions are being masked through the use of a known practice (along with providing a generous amount of pertinent and useful data which backs this up). At least, as far as I know. There might be others, but that's the best one I've seen. I'd love to see more of these, new or existing; if it's the latter, feel free to link them in the comments. But, to reiterate, I want to make it known that my DD does not address other potential means of short positions being obscured. If such methods are in practice—I'm not saying there are, but *if* there are—then the cumulative, true short interest would obviously be higher than the figures I've come up with. + +**5.3: They're Remarried? (Finishing Up)** + +"However in the Sec documents it says if the broker dealer knows or has a reason to know for failed delivery then he can close out the position himself. However in the case for gme there isnt any evidence of that. Theres some reddit post talking about high OI for puts but the OI has dropped to 2.5k now. Its not common for a stocks total OI to be higher than the float. Look at amc shares relative to their total open interest." + +Again, talking about the married puts. Not relevant to the conversation. + +"Also in addition to that must married puts use option flex contracts for it. For this strategy to work both put and calls must match each other identical in terms of expiration etc. So there is no indication I've seen anywhere that a mass number of married puts are being used. As mentioned by sec aswell if the broker - dealer has reason to believe you are doing this then they will force close the position. Which in this case if theres 70 to 250 million shares it would be glaringly obvious they do." + +More of the same. + +# PART 6: DID I MISS SOMETHING? + +"Let me know what you think if I missed something." + +Let you know if you missed something? Sure! Here goes: + +* Erroneously claiming that 69% of the original 141% short position was covered in late January and early February +* Misconstruing reset FTDs as a single block or variable which changes from time to time (and arguing that the number of reset FTDs being 36 million at the end of cycle 1 and 7.4 million at the end of cycle 2 means that said number decreased from 36.6 million to 7.4 million) instead of understanding that the number of reset FTDs is the cumulative summation of multiple, separate blocks (and that the number of reset FTDs at the end of cycle 2 is actually 44 million) +* Mistakenly characterizing the daily number of reset FTDs for April 1st as somehow representative for some or all of April (and repeating the second misinterpretation here as well) +* Concluding that this “lack of deep ITM activity" (once again misunderstanding the number of reset FTDs) equates to shorts being covered (something I—quite thoroughly, if I do say so myself—refute in this DD) + +No offense, but everything you said in your response to my initial rebuttal to your Counter DD was either a blatantly inaccurate misinterpretation of the data, or simply irrelevant to the point I was trying to make; mostly the former. Though, as I explained, the latter (with regards to married puts and calls) is partly my fault as well. + +To the rest of the readers: that's the closest you'll get to a TLDR out of me, you filthy animals. + +# PART 7: ABOUT THE AUTHOR + +**7.1:** u/tehdankdood **Sus? Transparency is the Best Policy...** + +I'm expecting a lot of you to go through my post and comment history in order to basically try and check me out, to gauge what I'm like, to see if there is still a possibility that I'm some sort of hyper-advanced, reverse psychology-employing, next-level shill (heads up: I am. Nah, I'm just kidding...unless?)—and there's nothing wrong with this. I did it with u/solarpanel200, and I've done so with several other users, both bullish and bearish on GME, to try and get a feel for their credibility, see what they've said in the past, and figure out whether or not there's something "off" about them. + +Let's talk about my account. First, it's a few years old, but there has been somewhat of a drop in general account activity (not that there was much of it anyways) since about a year ago, a drop which only ceased with my recent batch of GME-related comments (and now, this post). This is pretty easily explained: + +* I've always been a bit of a lurker +* I used Reddit a lot more 1 or 2 years ago, but my usage slowly tapered off and pretty much stopped until January of this year, when GME caused me to return and recommence lurking again + +Second, I have a couple of comments on r/teenagers from 1-2 years ago. This is because I am 19. This might inspire a lack of confidence in readers—I remember seeing a comment on r/gme_meltdown to the tune of "that subreddit is full of teenagers who don't know what they're talking about doing nonsensical DD and constantly moving the goalposts"—but hear me out. I want you to judge me not by my identity, but on the merits of my arguments, which are primarily backed by figures extrapolated from basic comparisons in data between two correlated factors (the reported number of shorts and the number of reset FTDs, or the number of obscured shorts), and some simple, related math, all this by means of drawing upon data from reliable sources. Anyone who actually reads said sources and applies a modicum of basic logic can see why I come to the conclusions I do. But, as I've said before, I do welcome similarly evidence-backed critique in response to my argument/s. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, my age is a nonfactor. It's irrelevant. + +**7.2: ...but Mindfulness is Pretty Good, Too** + +Me espousing support for taking opposing views and DDs into account and responding to them does not mean I will now try and refute every single GME bear thesis in existence. This is the first time I've done anything like this rebuttal, and while I found it to be incredibly insightful (this greatly deepened my understanding of the mechanics of short positions being massively obfuscated by means of FTD resets/buy-write trades employing deep ITM calls), it also took a lot of time, effort, and research. Surprising as it may sound, I do in fact have a life and other responsibilities outside of GME, and will act accordingly. In contrast to my Singaporean bear friend, who seemingly tried to do so on all his posts and replies, I will not be responding to every single comment on this post; however, I will try my best to respond to helpful comments or valid criticisms in a timely manner. All I'm saying is, don't get antsy if I don't reply to your barrage of PMs (I got a few just from my initial—and much shorter and less thorough—comment). Let's put it this way: I will try to be as helpful and responsive as my schedule and other practical considerations allow me to be. I appreciate your understanding! + +**7.3: Declaration of Sanity and Emotional Wellbeing** + +In light of several accounts being falsely reported for being a threat to themselves (and, in the case of u/[HeyItsPixeL](https://www.reddit.com/user/HeyItsPixeL/), spammed with messages like "you threatened to blow your fucking brains out last night" or "don't ever fucking threaten me with killing yourself again"; see: [https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/mctnn7/the\_psychological\_warfare\_is\_in\_the\_end\_phase\_and/](https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/mctnn7/the_psychological_warfare_is_in_the_end_phase_and/)), whether it be by shills/bad actors or trolls, I thought I'd make the following statement, just in case: + +I am of sound mind and in perfect mental health. I live a happy, content life and do not wish or intend to cause any sort of harm to myself or anyone else. Therefore, if my account is reported for such behavior (or the potential for such behavior), one must conclude that said reports are utterly and irrevocably false and treat them as such. + +**7.4: Disclaimer** + +I am not a financial advisor. I am by no means qualified to provide financial advice, nor am I attempting or purporting to do so. This is my own subjective opinion. As a rule of thumb, it's probably wise not to take anyone's word, including mine, as gospel; rather, you should do your own research and draw your own conclusions. These are mine. + +That is all. Have a good weekend. + +Edit: Formatting + +Edit 2: Given how the literal first comment on Part 1 of this DD was "No TL/DR for apes?", I think I might have to reconsider my anti-TLDR stance. I do think this entire post is pretty pertinent, but I guess the most relevant information (at least for said apes) is in **Part 4.1:** **Tying Up Loose Ends; What is the Cumulative Short Interest?**—if you're only going to read part of this DD, I suppose that's the section you should read. + +Edit 3: **Part 5.2:** **Regarding Other Means of Obscuring Short Positions** is relevant as well. + +Edit 4: A helpful user was able to dig up the original Counter DD (which my very first response is replying to) in its entirety: [https://web.archive.org/web/20210415022513if\_/https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mr5mot/the\_invisible\_shorts\_and\_the\_unfriendly\_whale/](https://web.archive.org/web/20210415022513if_/https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mr5mot/the_invisible_shorts_and_the_unfriendly_whale/). People who are willing and capable of evaluating, discussing, and potentially rebutting parts or the entirety of this DD: have at it. Like I've said already, I focused on the low borrow fees, along with the decrease in SEC-reported, normal FTDs, in my first response, so it would be nice to see someone cover some or all of the other stuff as well. + +Update+Clarification: I ended up sleeping in after staying up later last night to try and respond to some comments, so I just woke up. Scrolling through the comments now, I see some questions regarding the FTD Resets and their cumulative nature. Let me try and explain my reasoning, but I believe it’s possible (and probably likely) that you’ve come upon a flaw in my logic. However, as that is what I’m looking for (receiving valid critiques and getting thoroughly peer-reviewed), this is a good thing. + +Regarding this specific component of my arguments (FTD resets being cumulative), I think I don’t have as good of an understanding as I thought I did. My initial and potentially flawed (or at least incomplete) reasoning is as follows: +-The DD I draw upon clearly states that the number of FTD resets delineated are cumulative +-As I understand it, resetting FTDs can be used to mask short positions and make it seem like they’re closed while keeping them open for an indefinite amount of time. I should have dug deeper on what they need to do to maintain them and how this pertains to changes in the total number of reset FTDs instead of essentially assuming they simply remain unchanged each cycle. + +Now, the more I think about it, the more likely it is I made a mistake. Maybe I wasn’t thorough enough, maybe I didn’t take enough time, but regardless of the reason, it’s my fault, and I apologize. It is not my intent to spread misinformation, and I will explain how I will try and remedy this later in this comment. + +As for the extent to which this changes the conclusions I draw in the meat of my DD: + +In section 3.1, I solely focus on the first reset cycle. Accordingly, I do not calculate short interest by comparing the number of FTD resets at the ends of two cycles (as I do in 3.2), but only use the data for that one cycle. So, the short interest I come up with for that time period should still be accurate. + +Section 3.2 pretty much gets the brunt of my oversight, as it heavily relies on the total number of FTDs being cumulative and adds the pertinent data from both cycles together. It is possible that the short interest isn’t even close to what I posit at the end of the second cycle. I also may only be off by a bit, I don’t know. Further analysis is required. + +While most of section 3.3 is about how the FTD resets on March 31 and April 1 are the first two days of a new reset cycle (and that the latter is a single day’s resets and not representative of the resets for some or all of April), it does kind of assume that FTD resets are cumulative in the beginning. I don’t actually calculate short interest for this cycle (given how I only have two days’ worth of data and the reported short interest stops at March 26th), so I’d say the majority of this section is just simple assertions about the beginning of the third cycle which remain unaffected. + +There are no excuses for this. I should have done more meticulous research on the reset FTDs (and the general mechanics of FTDs) before coming to the conclusions I did. I thought I had, but I was obviously wrong. + +Now, what will I do to address this? Well, I’ll make up for the aforementioned lack of more meticulous research on reset FTDs by doing it now. Additionally, there’s a poster on here, u/gafgarian, who has written extensively about FTD mechanics (and even has a 35 page doc on the pertinence of FTDs to a squeeze—more specifically, an FTD squeeze instead of a short squeeze—which I will read as well) and is likely to be able to help me out. He does seem to be encouraging collaboration and peer review (along with a host of like-minded, similarly meticulous individuals), so I will be sure to reach out to him. + +The original DD (i.e. my second rebuttal) was written in two days. I rushed to understand dense concepts; in retrospect, it is obvious this was a mistake. For all my harping on the importance of evidence-backed argumentation, I was the one who ended up with the faulty/incomplete reasoning in the end. This time, I will take however long it takes to thoroughly update my understanding and my arguments, diving deeper into the research as well as making sure to reach out to others who understand the subject matter better than I do so they can clarify my understanding and offer their opinions on and/or critique what I have to say. + +I truly am sorry for this and hope to do better the next time around. + +Final Edit: Brief followup to this DD can be found at https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mt3bfn/followup_to_rebuttal_to_bear_thesistranscript_of/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 +Welcome to the Daily General Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +*** + +Thread guidelines: + +- Please refrain from discussing non-Ethereum related tokens here. You are welcome to discuss altcoins in the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread. +- All [sub rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/) apply here so please be familiar with them. + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Find the latest Altcoin Discussion thread in [this search listing](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/search?q=author%3Aautomoderator+title%3Aaltcoin&include_over_18=on&sort=new&t=all). + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +In today's edition of DDDD (Data-Driven DD), we’ll be going over over the details about what happened this week with GME, the drama around Robinhood and other brokers, and take a close look at some data to determine whether or not GME and other various meme / high SI stocks such as AMC, BBBY, FIZZ, LGND, and ~~BB~~ will continue 🚀🚀🚀in its short squeeze this week, and how this all could lead to widespread stock market crash and financial crisis. But first, something to cover my ass for the SEC investigators combing through this Subreddit + +Disclaimer - This is not financial advice, and a lot of the content below is my personal opinion and for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. In fact, the numbers, facts, or explanations presented below could be wrong and be made up and with some satire thrown in. Don't buy random options because some person on the internet says so. Do your own research and come to your own conclusions on what you should do with your own money, and how levered you want to be based on your personal risk tolerance. + +## What Exactly Happened at Robinhood This Week? + +There has been plenty of speculation this week about what exactly went down and unverified (although reasonable) rumors on why Robinhood did this. I’ll go over the top two theories before taking a deep dive into the “official” reason given by Robinhood. + +[**Pressure from the White House and Sequoia according to a Robinhood employee**](https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassActionRobinHood/comments/l723kf/robinhood_insider_information/) + +This statement has been [refuted by Sequoia](https://www.newsweek.com/sequoia-capitol-denies-pressuring-robinhood-stop-gamestop-trading-after-viral-reddit-post-1565269). I personally wouldn’t believe the Sequoia part since I don’t really know what they would gain from it - they’re a Venture Capital firm, not a hedge fund, and would not be actively shorting stocks let alone be trading in stocks. It could be possible that the White House, or someone from the government did contact Robinhood - actually, I’d be pretty shocked if no one called them at some point this week to ask wtf was going on.During this call, they may have been afraid that GameStop’s short squeeze would have triggered a major financial crisis due to hedge funds collapsing and de-grossing, causing a mass selloff similar to what was seen in 2008 and in March 2020 - I’ll talk more about this later. Basically, without Robinhood shutting down GME from being bought, it’s actually very possible we would have seen the rest of the stock market collapse last week, and this was something the Biden administration was trying to make sure didn’t happen in the first month in office. + +**Possible intervention from Citadel Securities** + +This was a theory I personally believed in initially and would have been a very obvious area of scrutiny for many people. The most straightforward one being the fact that Citadel (the hedge fund) dumped a few billion into Melvin to bail it out a [few days ago](https://www.wsj.com/articles/citadel-point72-to-invest-2-75-billion-into-melvin-capital-management-11611604340), who were the very well known shorts of GME. Citadel, the hedge fund, is owned by Citadel LLC, which happens to also run Citadel Securities - a market maker. If you don’t know what this is, go grow a few brain wrinkles and read my [previous post about this](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l5ygab/dddd_how_rwallstreetbets_created_a_financial/). Citadel Securities is effectively Robinhood’s sugar daddy, directly being responsible for around [40% of their revenue](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/18/a-controversial-part-of-robinhoods-business-tripled-in-sales-thanks-to-high-frequency-trading-firms.html) in 2018 through their payment for order flow (i.e. selling your trades to Citadel, giving them the right of first refusal, and [potentially giving you a worse price](https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-321); this is how they get 0% commission trades btw). + +Theoretically, Citadel the hedge fund and Citadel the market maker is run independently and sister companies both owned by Citadel LLC, but anyone can see this being a potential conflict of interest. There’s also a possibility that Citadel Securities losing billions of dollars being short so many GME calls (they write 99% of all options contracts) and probably not being perfectly Gamma and (especially) Vega hedged, so when those two greeks skyrocketed on GME they probably lost tons of money there. [According to WSB hero Chamath](https://twitter.com/chamath/status/1354947541125611526), he didn’t invest in Robinhood when they came to him on multiple occasions because he thought the founders lacked integrity, implying he believes they might have been the type of people to sell out their users (granted, they already literally do this) and do this type of shit. + +**The Official Reason - Clearing House Limitations** + +Let’s get to the [official reason put out by Robinhood](https://blog.robinhood.com/news/2021/1/28/an-update-on-market-volatility), which is that their clearing house, in this case the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp, suddenly increased their collateral requirements on GME trades drastically. Apparently, **Robinhood is running out of cash**, so they weren’t able to provide the cash collateral demanded by DTCC, and hence weren’t able to trade through them. Let’s dumb this down and talk about how brokerages work. + +Let’s talk about what a clearing house is and how they work. Imagine Bob wants to sell Dylan a share of GME. There’s a bunch of legal paperwork and logistics for actually transferring over the share, which can take a few days to finalize - this is called settlement. However, you don’t want people being able to back out of this exchange during this process for obvious reasons, so that’s where the clearing house comes in. Let’s call this clearing house Mary. What Mary does is facilitate (clear) this exchange, and ensures both Bob and Dylan follow through with their trade by having them both immediately give Mary cash as collateral while the exchange settles. If one party was no longer able to meet their end of the exchange (eg. Dylan goes bankrupt), Mary acts as an insurer and is responsible for buying the share from Bob instead. If it turned out that Bob was lying about actually owning a share and can't transfer it over to Dylan in time (failure to deliver), Mary is responsible for finding that share for him instead. + +Since GME suddenly became very volatile, and the financial soundness of some parties and their ability to deliver their side of the trade have been suddenly called into question ([at least on the seller’s side](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l97ykd/the_real_reason_wall_street_is_terrified_of_the/)), DTCC decided (...or due to pressure from other sources?) to increase the collateral needed for buying GME to be more than 10x of the proportion of the market value of whatever it was before. Most brokerages reacted to this by disabling margin trading. For some reason, Robinhood went one step further and disabled trading for all accounts, possibly due to their relatively small cash reserves compared to places like Fidelity, and the relatively large number of users who use margin in the platform. + +## What’s Robinhood Going To Do About GME? + +Robinhood’s decision to stop purchases of GME basically got hate from literally everyone, to the point where it somehow united the country in a beautiful way. Here’s a list of things that happened as a result of Robinhood’s decision, for fun + +* [Ted Cruz retweeted AOC saying he completely agreed with her](https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1354833603943931905) +* [Protests at NYSE and Robinhood HQ](https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/protesters-gather-at-robinhood-hq-nyse-in-response-to-restricted-stock-trades) +* [Class action lawsuit](https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/investing/lawsuit-robinhood-gamestop-wallstreetbets/index.html) +* [Someone paid to have an airplane](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l8rlyx/this_guy_is_flying_a_banner_saying_suck_my_nuts/) fly around the Bay Area over Robinhood’s office saying “Suck my nuts Robinhood” +* [Angry Robinhood employees were given DoorDash credits for some reason?](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l7y5ka/robinhood_staff_unhappy_about_the_trading_hault/) +* [Congressional investigation to Robinhood’s decision](https://www.businessinsider.com/robinhood-job-posting-federal-affairs-congress-hearing-gamestop-reddit-2021-1) +* [SEC investigation to Robinhood’s decision](https://www.cnet.com/news/robinhood-troubles-sec-will-closely-review-actions-that-restricted-amc-gamestop-stock-trades/) + +Clearly, this decision has single-handedly made Robinhood the most hated company in the world right now. It’s especially bad given the optics - their mission is to literally “democratize finance”, with the idea of empowering individual retail investors to be on the same level of institutions. This decision, whether intentional or not, has literally gone against everything about Robinhood’s image and mission, and will end the company if not fixed soon. **All of this right as Robinhood is planning to launch their IPO**. + +The people in charge of Robinhood likely know all of this and are doing everything they can to find cash and liquidity to put up the collateral needed to resume GME trading. So far we’ve seen them raise $1B from investors and $500M through lines of credit overnight, although based on the fact that GME is still restricted, that doesn’t seem to be enough. However, in my personal opinion, I think it's likely that Robinhood is doing everything they can to find more money given the situation, and once they do, **they will likely re-enable trading on GME. If that happens (which IMO will probably be some time next week), GME and all other high-SI stocks will absolutely** 🚀🌝\*\*.\*\* + +## How GME Almost Caused (and Still Can Cause) a Stock Market Crash + +Let’s go over something else interesting that went on as a result of the GME short squeeze - the fact that it started to affect the stock market overall. In fact, the stock market had the largest decline since October across all sectors on Wednesday when GME, AMC, and other high-SI stocks surged, with a very sharp recovery as the meme stocks fell after Robinhood suspending purchases; this was one of the biggest de-grossing of hedge funds in history. [Chamath wrote a great Twitter thread about this](https://twitter.com/chamath/status/1354883147523997697), so amazing that I’ll just copy-paste his tweets rather than try to explain it better myself. + +>*A children's book explanation of what's happening:* +> +>*1. If you are "smart money" you are allowed to take your $1 and leverage it up to $15+* +> +>*2. You can now buy $15 of stock AND if you promise to short companies, you can short $15 of stock as well* +> +>*3. In finance language, this means that you are $30 "gross" ($15 of longs + $15 of shorts) but $0 net (+$15 of longs -$15 of shorts). This makes everyone feel good because it feels like you are taking zero risk...but in reality, your $1 is exposed to $30 of risk.* +> +>*4. Now you go around and tell your friends about both your longs and your shorts and when you do it at a restaurant vs on Reddit, its called an "ideas dinner".* +> +>*5. You also publish your longs on a quarterly lag via an SEC rule. You don't have to tell anyone about your shorts.* +> +>*6. Now the less cool people who weren't invited to the ideas dinners, start copying your longs based on your report.* +> +>*7. You realize that publicizing your shorts is also a good idea so instead of only selling stocks, you also BUY options (puts) which has to be reported.* +> +>*8. Now everyone can see both your longs and your shorts and if you have a hot hand, you can likely predict that the cool people from the dinner as well as the less cool people monitoring your filings will copy you.* +> +>*9. But then an outsider notices that the math is way off!* +> +>*10. Apparently, some of these shorts that you own represent more than 100% of the entire stock of the company. Huh?* +> +>*11. So he grabs his chicken fingers and champagne and buys, starts a massive short squeeze. 12. Other's see what's happening and they jump in.* +> +>*13. Now a massive short squeeze starts. You have to cover your shorts ASAP. But the banks also notice that you don't have enough credit to cover the $30 they lent you and ask for more collateral. You now also have to sell your long positions.* +> +>*14. What happens next is that a cascade of short covering and long selling starts driving some stocks to the moon and others way down. Which stocks went up? Basically the ones that were the most heavily shorted by you and your buddies in the first place.* + +[Hedge fund grossing \/ de-grossing](https://preview.redd.it/c5we1d7e0se61.png?width=761&format=png&auto=webp&s=7a11131168d69e5f3aea93c8fd087a1478500ddc) + +In other words, as stocks like GME go up, the highly-leveraged hedge funds that are shorting these stocks are forced to sell their longs as they cover their shorts. Most retail investors are limited to 2x leverage, but since hedge funds are “hedged” by taking short and long positions, they can be up to 30x levered since theoretically they would be shielded from external events that cause all stocks to go up or down in price (i.e. Beta neutral), so they’re “safer”. To get out of these short positions, they will need to massively unwind their long positions as well so they can still have a reasonable “Net Exposure”, triggering a sell-off in those stocks. + +A very similar thing actually happened in March (with risk-parity) causing hedge funds to similarly massively de-gross, and literally everything from GLD to even AMZN’s stock price dropping as a result, even though theoretically COVID-19 would’ve been good for both from a fundamental basis, as we saw later on. It’s very likely that if Robinhood hadn’t stopped purchases of GME, many more hedge funds shorts would have had their shorts blow up and be forced to continue to de-gross causing a widespread stock market crash, potentially being the catalyst for finally popping the [decade-long liquidity (leverage)-fueled asset bubble we’ve been experiencing.](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/ghcfn5/dddd_the_20102020_liquidityfueled_asset_bubble/) In fact, this could still happen since it doesn’t look like hedge funds have learned their lesson and **are still heavily short GME with Net Shares Shorts barely moving this week** [**according to S3 Partners**](https://twitter.com/S3Partners/status/1355225495835709441)**.** Furthermore, despite seeing the largest de-grossing of hedge funds since 2009, **gross exposure (aka leverage) of hedge funds still remains** [**close to record-high levels**](https://www.reuters.com/article/retail-trading-hedgefunds/goldman-sees-hedge-fund-exposures-close-to-records-ongoing-sell-off-risk-after-gamestop-swings-idUSL1N2K60GW). + +**TLDR** + +In case your attention span was too short to read everything above, + +1. Robinhood is going to be doing everything they can to raise cash to resume GME purchases, when this happen GME 🚀🌝 +2. Much of the stock market’s value is held by over-leveraged hedge funds, so **if GME (and other common shorts) 🚀🌝 the rest of the stock market might collapse around it (EDIT - as hedge funds re-consider their long / short strategy), triggering a financial crisis** + +*Now, just to be clear, buying GME right now is joining a game of hot potato; the longer you hold the potato the more tendies you get to eat for dinner, but at some point this will all blow up and when it does someone will be the bagholder - and right now everyone is rooting for these bagholders to be the hedge funds that are short GME. That being said, with Short Interest barely moving this week, this day of reckoning doesn’t look like it’ll be coming in the next few days and for reasons mentioned above, it’s probably more likely for GME to reach $1K next week than the probability that it’ll fall below $100.* + +Or in other words, [I like these stocks](https://www.highshortinterest.com/). + +EDIT - Appearently S3 Partners just contradicted [their tweet on Friday](https://s3partners.com/Exclusive.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=announcement&utm_campaign=10ds) and now indicate that shares short of GME have dipped below 30M shares. Still highly shorted compared to most other stocks, fwiw. + +EDIT2 - Getting alot of questions on how one short position in a small cap can do this, and my answer is that GME alone wouldn't cause a financial crisis, but rather what GME represents, which is disproving that hedge funds that a long / short strategy (i.e. taking out additional leverage to short similar companies they long) is unviable; The word from my hedge fund friends is that this type of thing would have been considered a six-sigma event, or one in a billion chance of happening; which is obviously no longer true. Hedge funds seeing Melvin go down will probably start re-consider their short books. This on mass will cause a mass short-covering and also sell-off of their longs. Hedge funds levering up using cheap money has been the basis of the stock market's rise the past year - how do you think money magically goes from Powell's money printer to the stock market? +Welcome to the Daily General Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +Find the latest Daily Altcoin Discussion thread by selecting the top result on this [search page](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/search?q=Daily+Altcoin+Discussion&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new). + +*** + +The thread guidelines are as follows: + +- Please refrain from discussing non-Ethereum related tokens here. You are welcome to discuss altcoins in the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread. +- All sub rules apply here so please review our **[rules page](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/)** to become familiar with them. The rules page is also linked in the announcement bar above. +- If the top page becomes overloaded with memes, all but the top two voted may be removed. If we need to remove a bunch of memes from the top page, post memes in this thread first and upvote the best so the mods know which ones to keep + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +In a world where tomorrow isn't guaranteed, wouldn't it make more sense to have a preference for $10 today vs $11 tomorrow? + + If I choose between $50 today vs $100 tomorrow, and I believe the $50 today could place my life on a different trajectory (OR it is such a low amount that it doesn't make difference regardless), WHY not have a present-day preference? Especially if it is possible I could be hit by a bus tomorrow. + + OR is the key is that present-day basis is generally preferable until a certain rate on return point (say 50% interest) where one values $200 today over $300 a year from now. +Comcast Corporation (CMCSA), even if you're not from the USA there's a good chance you've heard about this company before. It's a global media and technology company with three primary businesses: Comcast Cable - its broadband segment, NBCUniversal and Sky. + +Comcast Cable is the largest and most profitable segment, comprising 53% of 2021 revenue and 76% of 2021 adjusted EBITDA. Comcast Cable is a leading provider of broadband, video (video on demand), voice (VOIP), wireless and other services to residential and business customers in the United States under the ISP brand Xfinity. Comcast achieves a 57% penetration rate among homes and businesses in its cable distribution footprint, which means there is room for growth on its existing network while at the same time being first choice for communications services for a large number of people. It has a total of 34.2 million customers, mainly centered in and around urban centers in the USA (non-rural). + +NBCUniversal is the second largest segment (31% of revenue, 18% of adjusted EBITDA with Media being the largest sub-sgement, then Studios, and then Theme Parks). The NBCUniversal business primarly comprises regional, national (USA Network) and international cable networks (CNBC, Telemundo) and owned local broadcast television stations. The Media segment primarily generates revenue from the sale of advertising on the television networks. The Media segment also includes the Direct-to-consumer-streaming platform Peacock, which generates ad revenue and subscription sales. + +The Studios business includes film and television studio production and distribution operations. Revenue generation comes from licensing film content to theaters and TV content to other networks. The Theme Parks sub-segment includes the Universal theme parks in Florida, California, Japan and China. + +Sky accounts for 16% of revenues and 6% of adjusted EBITDA. Sky is one of Europe's (primarly UK, Italy, Germany) leading entertainment companies mainly for its Sky Sports and Sky News broadcast networks. It also provides video, broadband, voice and wireless phone services as a cable operator. Revenue is generated through direct-to-consumer sales either via the subscription model or the immediate one-time-purchase access ticket (Sky Ticket). + +Over time, revenue has been [growing strongly](https://i.imgur.com/Ze0zMBZ.png), achieving a CAGR from 2014 to 2021 of 7.8%. COVID-19 caused 2020 to be a bit of a down year. I make a conservative revenue forecast: 1.5% growth this year, a dip of -2% the next year and then a gradual return to a 3.5% growth rate. This lies far below historical data and is motivated by the following current events: + +* General inflationary recession - People will have to make choices as to what to spend their money on and entertainment may well be the first to go. +* Cord cutters - New adds to Comcast's customer base have been very low, near flat. Comcast's Xfinity cable network uses mostly traditional DSL technology. There are alternative technologies available: Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) basically makes use of wireless technology to connect to the internet. I've used this a couple of years ago when I lived in a small rural town and I can tell from experience that this is only for small-time internet users. If you want to stream video, work remotely (video meetings, perhaps large uploads) or want to game, this tech is not a suitable replacement. Another alternative technology is Fibre to the home (FTTH). This is a more expensive but also more performant technology. Considering the inflation recession ahead, the DSL-based tech of Comcast's Xfinity may be the perfect middle ground between a fast-enough and stable internet connection, e.g. for remote work, while also being relatively affordable. +* Advertisement meltdown - Like the tech giants Meta, Snap, Google/Alphabet, Comcast also generates some revenue through advertisements. When aggregate ad spend gets cut, Comcast will also notice this, although not to the extent of the aforementioned. + +As a result, some short-term uncertainty and perhaps pain lies ahead. + +Expenses mainly derive from production and licensing of original or supplemental content for its broadcast and streaming networks, including sports licensing (e.g. broadcasting rights to the Olympics in 2021, Formula 1 in the UK and Germany, Cricket in the UK, Soccer in Italy). There are also expenses pertaining to the Theme Park business (esp. labor and cost of goods sold) as well as costs for the broadband and cable business, including procurement of settop-boxes and the like. Overall, both operating margins as well as net margins have been [relatively stable over time](https://i.imgur.com/aHBJr1S.png). I forecast that margins remain approximately as they were, with a small dip for the coming years to represent the inflationary recession we may well be heading into. + +Capital expenditures have been mostly predictable, growing steadily. The cable communications segment is the main driver of CapEx and no major bumps are expected at the moment. + +The company has relatively high debt (2.88x leverage ratio on EBITDA), however, almost all of its debt is fixed at the low interest rates of the previous years and very long-term (>10 years). This insulates the company from interest rate risk to a certain extent. However, if the company decides to roll-over maturing debt by refinancing at the now higher rates, this will cause some pain. Luckily, the company's management has all available options open to them: [Cashflows have been strong](https://i.imgur.com/ZmJCRqw.png), which means the company can either focus on retaining some cash to pay down debt without refinancing, or it can continue to return cash to shareholders through either dividend increases or share buybacks. + +Apropos returns to shareholders: The company's track record in this regard has been stellar. The current dividend yield lies at 3.48%, owing to the share price taking a dive the this year (down 39% YTD). The company's share buybacks have also been strong, resulting in a -2.14% CAGR of shares outstanding in the last 10 years. + +Using the assumptions on revenue growth and margins discussed above, which in my opinion are quite conservative, I come to an [average valuation of $37.42 per share](https://i.imgur.com/oOSzPfR.png). Compared to the current stock price of $31.00, this represents a price-appreciation upside of 20%. The main risks lie in the short-term risk factors, but they may well turn out to be less big of a deal than currently expected by market participants. + +What do you think? Have you been eyeing Comcast as well, or do you think there are major problems with the company? +Just wondering how many of you build comprehensive DCF models when looking to value a business. Most books I've read such as You Can Be A Stock Market Genius or The Warren Buffett way seems very back of the envelope. Often when I look at a business I'm wondering am I over / underthinking valuation. + +Would love to hear some insight +As many of you know, META has two business segments: + +1. Family of Apps: a mature line of business with proven cashflow generation and consistent margins. Includes Instagram, FB, Messenger, and Whatsapp. Can be valued intrinsically using DCF. +2. Reality Labs: new line of business with unproven cashflow generation. Speculative growth business. + +My question is, would it be accurate to say that buying META is like buying a portfolio consisting of: + +1. A proven blue-chip FAANG stock making up 90-98% of the portfolio +2. An unproven growth stock making up 2-10% of the portfolio + +The weightings above are based on the respective size of the businesses in terms of revenue, expenses, capex etc. + +Why is it that META has such negative sentiment around its Reality Labs arm to the point that it drags down the value of the entire company, yet Reality Labs is no different than a company like LMND, U, RIVN, etc. that are all unprofitable and speculative plays, yet the market values them at billions of dollars? It seems the market is pricing Reality Labs at NEGATIVE value while pricing other, similar, speculative companies in the billions. + +Is there something I'm missing in this point of view? +Having saw a post of r/Australia of what is your favourite sign of a Cash-Up Bogan, I am curious as to what ppl on this subreddit observe & perceive as signs of Stealth Wealth & Old Money in Australia? +Full disclaimer: I own some ETH. I've seen a lot of posts here and in /r/ethereum talking about high fees. I've also seen a lot of extremely misleading statements here and there about how high fees are right now and will try and simplify things a bit. I'll do my best to remain impartial, and feel free to correct me and I'll edit my post. All plans are subject to change, the following is based on my current understanding and recollection of developer statements. + +>What is happening? + +* ETH fees are high right now. The best place to see gas costs (how much you'll need to pay for a transaction vs how quickly you want it) is here: https://ethgasstation.info/ + +* Smart contracts and ERC-20 tokens consume much more gas than a basic transfer. While a typical transfer might be $3 a poorly written smart contract could consume $100 in gas. This variation leads to lots of confusion on various forums. An absolute metric crap ton of tokens run on ETH, so ETH being congested causes lots of downstream effects, tokens that consume lots of gas are disproportionately effected. + +>Why is this happening? + + * [Utilization is through the roof right now](https://txstreet.com/v/eth-btc). At post time ETH is achieving 16.14 TPS vs BTC's 4.00. Despite being 4 times faster the demand for on-chain (L1) transactions is overwhelming. At the bottom of [this page, make sure to scroll down](https://ethgasstation.info/index.php) you can see that blocks are at 100% right now. That means people are constantly outbidding each other to make it in. + + * At post time [Uniswap](https://ethgasstation.info/gasguzzlers.php) is the biggest gas guzzler. People are using Decentralized Exchanges (dex'es) a ton and its consuming a huge chunk of block space and people are paying a premium for it. + +>How can I save money? + + * ETH demand fluctuates heavily throughout the day, it's not uncommon for fees to drop 10x in an hour. If you are not in a hurry waiting a bit for a slow period and broadcasting a median gas transaction can save you a TON of money + + * Some wallets/apps are designed to be super user friendly, and unfortunately they hardcode the fastest possible gas costs for a good user experience (UX). Unfortunately that's a very bad idea when gas is high and only causes rates to climb even more. EIP-1559 will fix this, more on that later + + * Don't interact with smart contracts if you don't have to. It sucks, I know. But the fact is that using a smart contract is way more expensive than normal transactions. When gas is a fraction of a penny nobody cares, but its not right now and this is where we are. Last I checked, L1 [ETH](https://ycharts.com/indicators/ethereum_average_transaction_fee) transfers are still cheaper than [BTC](https://ycharts.com/indicators/bitcoin_average_transaction_fee). Not much of a consolation, but it's not a *total* disaster yet. EDIT: It appears the last 2 days ETH has flipped BTC on transaction costs. $17 USD still seems really really high, as of post-time a $5 transaction would go through within a few minutes) + +>What is being done about this? (sorted by est delivery date) + + * Berlin upgrade: Est 1-2 months, will adjust gas costs of various transactions for certain core operations. Should help fees overall on many contracts. + + * EIP-1559: Est "this summer, but maybe Q3": A huge overhaul to the fee system. Block sizes are FLEXIBLE, targeting 50% full. When a block exceeds 50% full the base fee increases. When it drops below 50% the base fee decreases. Fees are burned (nice deflationary side effect). This means a few things: A) Spikes in transactions can make the next block instead of clogging the mem pool B) costs are MUCH more easy to calculate, and block include time estimation is much easier. C) The improved predictability/include time means shitty apps won't have a reason to set absurd fees for a good UX, driving "gas inflation" like we see now. There's a lot more to EIP-1559, but that's the gist of how it should impact transactions + + * 2.0 Phase 0: Already live, but the beacon chain won't impact 1.0 until "the merge". Baseline TPS should be higher than 1.0, and its also environmentally friendly :) + + * 2.0 Phase 1: Est end of 2021, Sharding will first scale to 64 shards (eventually 1024) for a 64x scaling effect on the beacon chain. + + * The Merge: Some call this Phase 1.5, but it is planned for 2022. This will move ETH 1.0 as a shard on to 2.0, and all finality will occur on the beacon chain. At this point ETH's core TPS should be 64-100x faster than what we have today + + * 2.0 Phase 2: Est end of 2022/2023, Execution Environments aka sharded smart contracts allow for smart contracts to share data across shards so that DeFi/Dex'es etc benefit from 2.0's massive scalability + +>What other out-of-order improvements are coming? + + * Various L2 technologies are already live, and several smart contracts are upgrading to them now. This will let you pay on L1 to "get in", then perform a lot of cheap transactions on L2. Right now every trade on uniswap clogs L1. When it runs on L2 all those trades are off-chain and gas fees are only driven up by deposits/withdrawals. This should have a massive impact on overall gas costs. The good news is the insane fees on some contracts act as an INCENTIVE to get L2 up and running faster. + +I know a lot of people are unhappy with the current situation, but a lot of progress has been made and a lot of exciting progress is on the horizon! I hope this post helps :) +Do you know **$GAMESAFE** ? + +If not, don't worry it's a brand new token that has been released 10 days ago. You still have an opportunity to join 👁️‍🗨️ + +**GAMESAFE** want to release a promising gaming marketplace where you will be able trade,sell, and buy **Digital Games** with **$GAMESAFE** token. No **service that made the connection between gaming and smartchain**, the team of **$GAMESAFE** launched their presale where they've raised 100bnb. Actually the token is listed on PancakeSwap. + +Not a financial advice but this could become the next **$GMR** , GMR launched on May 2021, they are at $199,923,563 marketcap. Imagine if **$GAMESAFE** reach an equivalent level? That would be a x50-75 for all holders. Time to choose color of your future porsche😊 + +**$GAMESAFE** has grown steadily **in the past 96 hours.** + +* ATH 8.5M MarketCap +* 2500+ Telegram Members +* 4000 Diamond Hands 💎 +* They've requested Coingecko,CMC and Blockfolio listing +* Awesome marketing strategy (Tiktok, twitter and youtube promoted content with influencers) +* AMA went live today +* Big influencer marketing today, 800K twitter followers ! + +Tokenomics are simple and easy to understand. Total Supply of 1,000,000,000,000,000, with half of it burned at the launchment. 10% tax, where 5% goes to holders and 5% goes to liquidity pool which is locked for one year. + +☄️ Features list: + +👼 Token launched 1st may so it's still new + +🤚 10% tax shared between holders and liquidity pool + +🙌 Ownership renounced, and liquidity pool is locked for one year + +🔥 Half of total supply burned + +🌐 **Utility Links** + +*Pancakeswap:* [https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?inputCurrency=0x70a44672B9BBcF4D49dCEaA610eB580BD3c94c52](https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?inputCurrency=0x70a44672B9BBcF4D49dCEaA610eB580BD3c94c52) + +*Website*: [https://gamesafe.io/](https://gamesafe.io/) + +*Telegram*: [https://t.me/gamesafegroup](https://t.me/gamesafegroup) + +*Twitter*: [https://twitter.com/gamesafetoken](https://twitter.com/gamesafetoken) + +*Contract*: [https://bscscan.com/address/0x70a44672B9BBcF4D49dCEaA610eB580BD3c94c52#code](https://bscscan.com/address/0x70a44672B9BBcF4D49dCEaA610eB580BD3c94c52#code) + +*Youtube video on 120k account*: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlv3oMTpokA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlv3oMTpokA) +**Introduction**: This post is part of an ongoing monthly early-retirement series that will continue indefinitely, provided that the voting reflects the view that it is still seen as relevant to the community. I suppose that this is my way of giving back to a movement that helped me tremendously on my journey. As this post has become increasingly popular based on the number of views and comments, and as my desire to spend a great deal of the first day of every month on reddit has significantly waned, **my responses will be very limited going forward**. Career and background summaries are provided at the end and repeated every month. Please check there to find answers to potential questions. + +**Model**: I wish to maintain a portfolio that began in June 2017 at $1,025,772. I will use a maximum withdrawal rate of 3% of the year’s starting balance, provided that the portfolio remains above $1M. This amount is $2564 per month for 2017, based on the June 2017 starting balance of $1,025,772. Should the portfolio drop below $1M, I will lock back into a maximum $30k/yr guardrail withdrawal until the market recovers. I realize that this is not how the holy Trinity works, but since 3% is well within historically safe territory for indefinite portfolio survival, and since our withdrawal rate has actually averaged below 2.5% of the original portfolio balance thus far due to earning additional income, we have some flexibility. + +**Spending**: Living expenses for the month came to $3618. This is $1054 over the 2017 monthly targeted amount of $2564. Our spending was 41.1% over budget for the month, now 19.7% over for the year. We generated $1227 of income this month from my wife's part-time fun job at the library and some of my old book royalties. Our investment withdrawal was $2665 this month, thus our pro-rated annual withdrawal rate is 3.12% for the month and 2.19% for the year. Without the additional income stream, our pro-rated annual withdrawal rate would have been 4.07% for the month and 3.59% for the year. + +**Investments**: The portfolio went from $1,098,383 to $1,111,949 (a 1.24% increase for the month), which dropped down to a new total of (drum-roll) $1,109,284 after paying the bills. This is an 8.1% increase from the original starting balance of $1,025,772, even after withdrawals of $13,992 for living expenses over seven months. Since retirement, capital income from the investment portfolio has produced the equivalent of a full-time employee generating $80.36/hr of labor income. VTSAX (61% AA) went up 0.7% this month (19.0% for the year); VFWAX (21% AA) went up 1.4% (23.7% for the year); VWLUX (18% AA) did what it was supposed to do. + +**Reflections**: Our investments are once again at an all-time high, primarily due to passage of the tax cut for wealthy job creators like myself. /s Spending continued to be over budget in December due to the $1100 property tax, $400 six-month car insurance premium, and $200 payment for trees. This should settle back down next month. The increase in the new year-end balance from $1,025,772 to $1,109,284 means our spending budget will increase from $2564 to $2773 in 2018. I’m gonna get some extra cheese on my Whopper! + +**Experiences**: I broke the three-hour barrier in the marathon by going 2:58:18 on 34 miles per week of running during the training cycle. I consider this to be my greatest personal accomplishment since retirement, especially considering the healthy amount of skepticism shared by the running community on being able to do so with less than 50 miles per week. I finally played all of the PS1 games that I purchased nearly a decade ago, including Chrono Cross, Dragon Warrior VII, Xenogears, and Final Fantasy V. I’m still volunteering at the natural history museum. I’ve watched a few of the new movies that are expected to compete for awards this season. I planted a lot of trees and picked up a lot of litter. I made a fairly detailed map of our property. Looking back at this partial year, it’s hard for me to comprehend how much time I’ve spent housekeeping, cooking, weightlifting, running, swimming, volunteering, writing, exploring, building, gaming, reading, studying, internetting, mapping, napping, planting, listening to music, watching movies, picking up litter, and visiting family. My life expectancy is fifty more years, but I feel like I’ve lived a lifetime in just these past seven months. I would not return to retail pharmacy for triple the salary. I do not know what real stress is. I do not know what alarm clocks are. My life is so much better than it was before. I hope everyone here finds this peace. + +**Upcoming**: The following is a rough plan for 2018: half-marathon in February (1:24?), full-marathon in April (2:55?), two-week vacation across Middle America in April, half Ironman in August (5:15?), three-week vacation across Northern Japan in September, half-marathon in October, and full-marathon in December. Other projects for 2018 without set dates: construct an astronomy exhibit for the museum (possibly opening my own small museum), become a volunteer running coach (possibly becoming certified through RRCA), regain some proficiency in Japanese before the trip, play all of the Nintendo Gamecube games that I bought ten years ago and never touched, bench press my body weight (155), bowl a 200 game or possibly a 600 series (last bowled 200 when I was in a league eighteen years ago), watch Game of Thrones, play Final Fantasy XV all the way through once it gets a PC release, and significantly improve the appearance of our driveway. I’ll also be doing whatever the fuck I want. + +**Career**: I am a former retail pharmacist who hated his profession for the following reasons: unacceptable amounts of stress, lack of civility from the general public, capitalism gone amok, fundamental disagreement with the overuse of pharmacotherapy as an answer for underlying health issues, and a severe opiate crisis that few have yet to appreciate. I attended college for eight years to earn a bachelors and doctorate before joining the workforce for nearly twelve years, entirely with CVS. $150k in education costs were covered by academic scholarships ($25k), employment during college ($20k), prior savings from high school employment ($5k), revenue from an eBay business while in college ($10k), and massive help from my parents ($90k). + +**Background**: I retired at the age of 38 on June 6, 2017, the day before the twentieth anniversary of my high school graduation. I am married with no kids and generated over 95% of the family income while employed. We live in LCOL rural TN. Our asset allocation goal is approximately 60% VTSAX (total US stock market) / 20% VFWAX (total INTL stock market) / 20% VWLUX (US municipal bonds). We also hold roughly $400k in house, land, and belongings not included in the portfolio. My spending model places no dependence upon supplemental income (future employment?), social security ($10k/yr?), inheritance ($500k?), house equity (no heirs), universal health care (probable?), or universal basic income (possible?). The final balance will be left to charities and worthy causes. + +Usually after somewhat decent pump, the coin starts sidewaying, or slowly dipping. A telegram admin/member makes a post that the coin is about to pump/is pumping on chances that new people will buy the coin and then other telegram member with reddit accounts more than 1 year older start commenting. What actually happens is that few more people start buying, it slowly pumps up and the bigger holders start quickly selling and it dips even more. + +&#x200B; + +Also what I've noticed that usually, after first pump it's 50/50 investment, it may pump again, but most likely it will just drop down and you'll lose your investment. + +Key giveaway: if you plan to invest in a shitcoin, atleast quickly view the TG and see what the chat is up to. Most likely you will see the members being impatient and some of them panicking because they're dipping. + +Smarter advice: probably don't invest in shitcoins, you may get lucky once and go up x5, but most probably you will just burn yourself and coin dev and his few friends will walk out rich. +So I graduated HSC in 2016. + +My parents let me use their credit card to purchase a subscription to an educational resources site to help me get a better ATAR. + +I used their service for a few months, it was great. Then I cancelled my subscription when I finished the HSC. Or so I thought? + +My parent's don't check their credit card history at all apparently. I got an email today from the same company, the first correspondence in 3 years saying the payment had bounced for the month. Horrified, I checked my parent's account transaction and sure enough, they have been charged for the past 3 years. Oh my god. + +At $82.40 per month for 3 years, I now owe my parents approximately $3,000. Being a broke uni student, this is not amazing news. + +I have already reached out to the company to explain the situation, perhaps they will show some mercy? + +Is there anything else I can do at this stage? + +&#x200B; + +UPDATE: +Found an email in my old inbox stating that I had cancelled the subscription. Looks like I do have some evidence now. +I’m reading about how there’s (unsurprisingly) a lot of reratings in late stage tech companies right now eg Instacart/Stripe etc from 2021 exuberance that is following the pummeling of public valuations in similar companies. + +The thing is I haven’t at all heard of any major companies raising new money at a lower valuation in a downround. I assume most companies would try to avoid this entirely and at worst raise at the same valuation if they were running out of money or try to raise debt financing instead of equity. + +But considering all these factors I’m finding it hard to justify joining a late stage company right now when valuation is so nebulous making it hard to know what equity is really worth, and especially if the latest round was at the height of 2021. + +Has anyone considered an offer or taken one very recently? How did you evaluate the offer? +The cryptocurrency market Wednesday saw a big correction with prices of major currencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB and others crashing as much as 30% within 24 hours. This came in the **tweets from Elon**, then a backdrop of Chinese regulators Tuesday announcing a crackdown on cryptocurrencies. Lots of investors sold their cryptocurrencies, which led to a drop in the price of Bitcoin and altcoins. + +One cryptocurrency community has declared war against Elon Musk with a new project called **ElonMute** which aims to mute his Twitter account to stop him from manipulating the crypto market. ElonMute is a 100% community-driven project and has its own token called **ElonMute** available on Binance Smart Chain and Pancakeswap. + +The ElonMute token initiative has received a positive response from the community. Within 24 hours of being born, the number of members of the Telegram channel quickly reached a thousand people. The value of the token also increased rapidly by 12 times. With the growing wave of Elon Musk's backlash, the token promises to grow more spectacularly in the future. + +It’s time to stop Elon from his irresponsible tweets. Join us to mute him! **ElonMute**. + +&#x200B; + +💎 **Tokenonomics** + +✅ Static Supply: 1T tokens + +✅ 50% added for initial PancakeSwap liquidity and locked permanently. + +✅ 50% of the tokens burnt initially + +✅ 8% Tax on each transaction = 💧7% Back to LP + 🔥 1% Reflection to holders + +✅ Rug-proof. Liquidity Locked. Ownership renounced. + +&#x200B; + +💬 **Website & Social Media** + +📌 **Wesbite**: [https://www.elonmute.com](https://www.elonmute.com/) + +📌 **Telegram**: [https://t.me/ElonMute\_official](https://t.me/ElonMute_official) + +📌 **Twitter**: [https://twitter.com/ElonMuteToken](https://twitter.com/ElonMuteToken) + +📌 **PancakeSwap (10% Slippage)**: [https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?inputCurrency=0x21DfE72c29D7806213D9EB67fA91D7bd9C70767c](https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?inputCurrency=0x21DfE72c29D7806213D9EB67fA91D7bd9C70767c) + +📌 **Contract:** [https://bscscan.com/token/0x21dfe72c29d7806213d9eb67fa91d7bd9c70767c](https://bscscan.com/token/0x21dfe72c29d7806213d9eb67fa91d7bd9c70767c) +Hey all, + +So I'm 31, have a net worth of around 3m (1.4m in taxable accounts, 250 in retirement, ~1-3m in company stock which I'm actively cashing out). + +I'm currently paying a financial advice + tax prep company 8k a year for on demand advice and tax prep. This is worth the money for me: I trust them, they know what they're talking about, and they've already given me great advice such as using a mega back door Roth 401k rollover and backdoor Roth IRA. My situation is sort of complex as well with international tax obligations. + +For an extra fee on top of the 8k, (.9% up to 1m, .7% up to 2m, .5% over 3m etc.), I can pay them to take ownership of all the investments. I'm actively debating it. On the one hand, I trust them, and I'm not super active in managing my own money -- I stick it all in robo advisors basically. Also, they've pointed out the benefits of allocating assets correctly across the different buckets of my portfolio (taxed, tax-deferred, tax-free). I DONT do this on my own and probably never will. + +On the flip side, I'm scared of giving up so much control, it will likely be a hassle if I ever fire this company, etc. It's also a decent amount of money to pay them... + +Just wondering how you guys manage this and if you have any advice? +Really not sure if this is the right sub, but I am close to my wit's end. + +I am a doctor who owns a cleaning company on the side. + +It started up as a side hustle in medical school, and now brings in ~20k/pa on top of my £40k/pa wage. + +I like the extra income, however the side gig has morphed into a bit of a beast. + +Running a service based business means I am ultimately responsible for managing staff (particularly difficult at the moment), dealing with prickly customers who don't like the smell of the dish soap or that X cleaner didn't smile at them enough, or upset because their clean was cancelled this week. + +I have had enough. + +I have tried a few times to get a part time GM in to take over my responsibilities, but all that happens is that they drop the ball and I have to pick it back up again, so it doesn't really save me work. For example, one cleaner called in sick last week, but the current manager didn't tell their clients and we received a series of negative reviews online as a result. The manager was apologetic, but says their children were sick and they just didn't get around to it. This isn't the first time. On other occasions separate managers have given the wrong addresses to the cleaners, not ordered product on time, etc, and I just don't have enough time to manage the manager/keep hiring new ones as well as my other job. + +I keep reading about how one should just 'start a business' to improve one's passive income, but I don't see how a business could ever be 'passive income'. To me, it's just another job. There will always need to be someone at the top hiring, firing and managing the managers. + +I am sick of getting home from a busy day seeing patients back to back and then having to deal with problem customer emails the manager has forwarded on for my consideration, or finally taking time off and being harassed on holiday because the cleaners have run out of all cleaning supplies. Quite frankly I am sick of the ridiculous customer complaints also - people are almost comically entitled. + +I guess my question is: is this normal, or am I missing something?? Does anyone else feel this way? + +If so, why do people advise to 'start a business' for passive income? It's just taking on another, shittier, job. But that's not what the internet preaches. Everywhere I look, successful personal finance is synonymous with 'start a business' and then quit your job on your millions. +So today S&P500 dropped about 2 point something%, ending about 3% below its ATH. Of course, the market being 3% under its ATH is nothing to write home about, but the fact that it dropped by two percentage points in a single day seemed to raise some concerns. + +So I wondered: how common is it for the market to drop by two percentage points or more in a single day, and does this tell us anything about its likely return after, say, 100 days (this is likely much shorter than the time horizon of many of us here, but longer periods would likely make the effect - if any - of the drop harder to notice)? + +So I downloaded from yahoo finance the daily S&P500 data for the 1994-2021 period and played around a little with it trying to see if any correlation could be found. + +This graph shows the percentage change from the previous day versus the percentage return after 100 days: + +[One day fluctuations](https://imgur.com/a/FzScbjp) + +Not seeing much of a correlation between one-day fluctuations and 100-days returns here. Also worth noting is that the days which saw a drop of 2% or more from the previous day were uncommon but not *that* uncommon (I found 299 of them in 6998 days, that is, about one every 23 days). + +I tried anyway to try to see if I could find a correlation, just for completeness' sake, and the result is what you would expect from that graph: + +[No correlation](https://imgur.com/a/0Lt9SRt) + +If anything, it would seem that the change from the previous day might be slightly *negatively* correlated to the 100-days return - i.e., great days might lead to poorer returns after 100 days - but the correlation coefficient is so low and the standard error so high that the only reasonable conclusion is that one-day changes are of no predictive value for 100-days returns. + +But what about extremes? What if we consider only the "bad" days in which the market dropped by more than 2%? Here is what we get: + +[Bad days](https://imgur.com/a/6Pd1kN8) + +Let us compare this with the (235 out of 6998) days in which the market rose by more than 2%: + +[Good days](https://imgur.com/a/q1Cl1eR) + +About the same mean, slightly lower standard deviation but that's too close to say anything meaningful. For completeness's sake, I also looked at the "meh days" in which the market did not change by more than 2% in either direction from the previous day: for those days, the average return after 100 days was by 4% - more or less in line with the others - and the standard deviation was by by 0.09 -- lower than the others, but not enough that I'd be confident making any conclusions out of this. + +In conclusion: the fact that the market dropped by more than 2% today tells us nothing meaningful about what it will do in the next 100 days. Is it possible that the market will crash soon? Sure, that is always possible; but today's drop, in itself, tells us nothing about its chances. +Only downside I can think of is if bbby tanks this week but my breakeven cost will be ~$9 which I don’t think it’ll drop under + +Edit: in the title I meant ITM* +I came into \~$6 million post-tax recently. I'm from the East Coast originally and I spent most of my adult life in San Francisco and kind of hate what it has turned into. I moved to Seattle for tax reasons. It's nice here, except the rainy season is about as bad as the stereotype, and it's a little too introverted for me. + +I used to write mobile apps and manufacture and sell niche electronic devices, mainly on Amazon. I'm taking a break from that but will probably do it again, at a slower pace, at some point. It's pretty flexible location-wise, I do a lot of the work myself and use remote foreign contractors and manufacturers. + +I'm open to living pretty much anywhere in the US. My family is spread out, I don't own any property. My friends are in San Francisco or spread out. I'm a 31 year old single guy. Housing-wise, I'd like to get a warehouse loft condo, but I'm flexible. + +Where should I consider living? I'm open to basically all no or low income tax states. The shortlist is: + +1. Austin +2. Chattanooga +3. Houston +4. Miami + +Where else should I consider? I've ruled out California, especially San Francisco, due to taxes and unfriendliness to small businesses. +*The Jungle Beat will be posted every trading day at 4:20 pm NYSE time!* + +https://preview.redd.it/3zwnhvkj5m971.png?width=1426&format=png&auto=webp&s=5d83447f4d4ee2055469cc9645f8f185d4eea940 + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# 🎤🎸🥁 🦍Welcome to the Jungle🦍🥁🎸🎤 + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# Today's Recap 📈 + +# $GME Closing Price: $199.56 + +&#x200B; + +Open Price: $204.00 + +Daily High: $204.77 + +Daily Low: $193.71 + +Volume: 2.74 MM + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# 🖍🍎🚌GME 101🚌🍎🖍 + +&#x200B; + +*If you're new to Superstonk, start here!* + +&#x200B; + +[Superstonk FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index/faq#wiki_how_do_i.2C_as_a_retail_investor.2C_stand_a_chance_against_the_hedge_funds.3F) (Updates coming soon) + +[Superstonk Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index) + +**NEW!!** We will be having a "Smooth Brain Sunday Megathread" every Sunday as a place to ask all the questions you've been wanting to get answered! Please be advised that all answers provided are from individual users and, as always, any information you receive requires doing your own due diligence!! + +The apes of [r/Superstonk](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/) sincerely appreciate the time and effort put into getting this information out there. 🦍🤝💪 + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# Hope all the Americans here had a safe and happy 4th of July! + +&#x200B; + +[credit u\/cleareyeswow](https://preview.redd.it/ke2vpvng6m971.png?width=1596&format=png&auto=webp&s=22c05205385e9c33a02732a4639f494be17d8b46) + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# Gamestop Expands Fulfillment Footprint- Now Leasing 1.23 Million sq. ft. of warehouse space across both coasts + +&#x200B; + +Gamestop announced this morning that they added an additional 530K sqft fulfillment center on the West Coast to their already existing East Coast footprint of 700K sq ft. + +&#x200B; + +**BULLISH AF** 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 + +https://preview.redd.it/qs3itmt60m971.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=ac80aa7b8db273643c29409a19f63e3df552a5e3 + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# Community Spotlight + +[**Diamantenhände 💎👐**](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/oeowsy/diamantenh%C3%A4nde_german_market_is_open/) **Shout Out** + +&#x200B; + +Every trading day for the longest time, u/DerGurkenraspler gave us a live update from Germany. While taking some time away due to personal reasons, u/Parsnip has carried the torch with the daily updates like clockwork. It was pointed out that OP DerGurkenraspler has since deleted his account. So I really would just like to say if you're reading this, Superstonk wishes you well and we hope you are safe and healthy and happy! And also, all the love and good vibes to Parsnip for continuing the daily posts. The community built in the comments of these posts are what makes Superstonk so incredible and unique. Thank you for making the jungle beautiful!! 💖💖💖 + +&#x200B; + +**Just a little confirmation bias - GameStop's contract source code from their NFT website...THE ONE AND ONLY** by u/Justbeingpunny + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/99s0m30kcn971.png?width=708&format=png&auto=webp&s=3eb2949007859c7ef48d5600b0b60513ff88022f + +also peep the actual Gamestop ticker- GME in the token code 👀 + +&#x200B; + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# Updates on Automod Requirements, Satori Approval, Superstonk Bot, and more + +&#x200B; + +[credit u\/xcantdj](https://preview.redd.it/x9fara0w8m971.png?width=840&format=png&auto=webp&s=e8524c2a69ac491c8e3053fd8ab701ec002c4f75) + +&#x200B; + +💡 ***Most*** **posts screenshotting comments will be removed for spam.** The upvotes and awards provide the proper visibility, within context of the entire post it's associated with. This is sufficient for bringing proper content to visibility. Posting screenshots like this is a known shill tactic to acquire karma ("karma farming") because they know it's popular, relevant content that will get them lots of awards and upvotes. There might be a few exceptions as this is largely at moderator discretion, thus it not being a blanket rule. We try to let the spirit of democracy reign and votes decide, but as we grow, the need to curate quality content grows as well. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/hryk0cj9nm971.jpg?width=590&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3213d258455194be4e3f0e8dc04947fd2e83962b + +💡 **Any posts made "in favor of someone who doesn't fit the automod reqs" will be removed for circumventing our sub rules. Often times this content is from a shill account, trying to spread FUD.** If someone wishes to submit a post to the sub, but they don't meet the requirements, please direct them to [www.superstonkbot.net](https://www.superstonkbot.net) + +Superstonk bot is an anonymous DD submission tool that anyone in the world can access. Submitted posts are then reviewed by a team of community members- which does include mods like u/Jsmar18, u/Leaglese, u/hey_madie, and others- and is subsequently approved for posting if they meet community requirements. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/6b8rzttzpm971.jpg?width=611&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=705e7b521b44255fa6606b90e82c9c37351e2ced + +&#x200B; + +💡 **Satori Approval is Limited by Reddit to how many accounts can be approved per day.** If you have commented !apeprove! I assure you that your name is on the list of those up for review. Please note that being placed on this list does not necessarily guarantee your approval, it only ensures you are reviewed ahead of the general membership. It also surpasses the karma and age requirements if you are approved, so even if you don't meet the rising requirements, you are already an approved user and will continue to enjoy free access to all aspects of the sub. Once an ape, always an ape (until you leave, I guess). **You will receive a message once you are approved!** + +*Approved users are still bound by the regular automod requirements* + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/e0myxcu8rm971.jpg?width=684&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eb07fda359171641e32adbca858737d9c3c562d1 + +💡 **New Karma and Age requirements** + +https://preview.redd.it/e9j4x17zrm971.png?width=473&format=png&auto=webp&s=fa71bb4c5b2c90964338a56036676b837a889ca2 + +*Once again I reiterate, once approved, you bypass these requirements.* + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +💡**Crossposting now limited with only named subs being an exception.** r/GME and r/DDintoGME have been added to the automod "safe list" of approved crossposts coming in and out of the sub. Any other subs are still restricted from crossposting to and from Superstonk. This is part of our continued effort to fight brigading, and we really appreciate your cooperation in implementing all these emergency rules to protect the sub. We will strive to continue to ease the earlier restrictions as is appropriate. + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# The Media Narrative is Shifting + +&#x200B; + +As the $GME ~~world domination~~ saga unravels, MSM is getting the hint that they need to say *something*. So we're seeing more and more stories talking about Gamestop, "meme stocks", and a general impending market crash. + +&#x200B; + +Business Insider had an interesting article on it this morning. No I won't link it. I don't like giving them clicks. You'll see it at the top of your Broker news most likely. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/kdpuxbc19m971.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f99411d30b9718a6005652d61bff8ea92c86173c + +&#x200B; + +Remember that Leon Cooperman is the infamous "Fair share is a bullshit concept" dude. It's part of the lore of GME and we mustn't forget. [Link for reference.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI-nItz56Fs) + +&#x200B; + +**We also saw a shoutout this morning from Yahoo Finance.** + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/0w8pcnaojm971.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a5096e7ae618ce7e12fa490b2045fac1c9edc6f7 + +So let me get this straight. + +&#x200B; + +We are considered a valid source of information- albeit just as a barometer of public sentiment at this time, but still- if we are a community worth lurking, and quoting then why the continued silence on the issues we discuss in this community? + +&#x200B; + +Where's the article covering the [House of Cards?](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nlwqyv/house_of_cards_part_3/) + +&#x200B; + +How about a link to the [Superstonk Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index)? + +&#x200B; + +Say "Naked Shorts" like CNBC did and link some of the DD we have explaining it. + +&#x200B; + +[Here's my Beanie Baby DD from months ago explaining it ELIA](https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/m7aem7/eli5_dd_for_apes_with_crayon_drawings_no_amount/) *warning: this is originally from early February (I deleted OP during the migration but was requested to repost) and is reflected in some of the terminology and information we knew at the time. Remember this was written looong before Superstonk!* + +&#x200B; + +It appears the media is beginning to craft a narrative around a market collapse. It will be interesting to see how it's written. + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# !powerup! 🎮 Power to the Players 🛑 flair + +We had a lot of fun debuting the new flair on Friday and turning everything from the sub to our twitters to match Gamestop's sleek new colors! We wanted to capture the excitement of the new branding campaign seen across Gamestop's socials, and it really took off! We even got a fun 4th of July tweet from the man RC himself, which I choose to believe was his way of taking part of the 4th of July Flair Friday Fun. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/9rl32uv4xm971.jpg?width=1063&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7dde54f0d256c9e11a5d76f70c24cd615ce84b69 + +So be sure to drop a comment with !powerup! to get your fancy, limited edition flair! + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# We Like the Company! We Support the Company! + +&#x200B; + +Obviously you're a shareholder because you love Gamestop and have high hopes for its future. Supporting the company you love on the retail front is a great way for a shareholder to ensure a business' success! Here are several ways you can show your public support for Gamestop; + +* [**Shop at Gamestop.com**](https://www.gamestop.com/) +* [**Become a PowerUp Rewards Member**](https://www.gamestop.com/poweruprewards/) +* [**... Which gets you a subscription to Game Informer Magazine**](https://www.gameinformer.com/) +* [**Follow Gamestop on Twitter**](https://twitter.com/GameStop) +* [**Subscribe to Gamestop's YouTube Channel**](https://www.youtube.com/user/gamestopvideo) +* [**Follow Gamestop on Twitch**](https://www.twitch.tv/gamestop) +* [**Follow Gamestop on Instagram**](https://www.instagram.com/gamestop/?hl=en) +* [**Follow Gamestop on Facebook**](https://www.facebook.com/GameStop) +* [**Apple Devices- Download the Gamestop App**](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gamestop/id406033647) **(Link to App Store)** +* [**Android Devices- Download the Gamestop App**](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gamestop.powerup) **(Link to Play Shop)** +* **Brands owned by Gamestop; ThinkGeek, GameInformer,** [**MicroMania**](https://www.micromania.fr/)**, and** [**EB Games**](https://www.ebgames.ca/) +* [**Gamestop Ireland**](https://www.gamestop.ie/)**,** [**Gamestop Germany**](https://www.gamestop.de/) +* [**NEW! Gamestop Discord**](https://t.co/TkbaCsiHQM?amp=1) + +Please remember apes, as you are interacting with Gamestop Social Media, that their objective is to reach gamers and promote their brand to their demographic. Yes it's fun when they tweet MOASS and Chickie Tendies, but let's not flood them with comments about Ken, Naked Short Selling, and Mayonnaise. Let's show them support by joining, contributing to, and expanding their robust community of gamers! + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# 🚨 Reddit down 🚨 + +# With Reddit having issues during high traffic, exciting moments in this saga, we have discussed what to do if Reddit has an outage. + +**IF REDDIT GOES DOWN AT A PIVOTAL MOMENT A LARGE PORTION OF THE MOD TEAM IS ON TWITTER.** + +[https://twitter.com/ByeTriangle](https://twitter.com/ByeTriangle) + +[https://twitter.com/PinkCatsOnAcid](https://twitter.com/PinkCatsOnAcid) + +[https://twitter.com/RedChessQueen99](https://twitter.com/RedChessQueen99) + +[https://twitter.com/rensole](https://twitter.com/rensole) + +[https://twitter.com/u\_sharkbaitlol](https://twitter.com/u_sharkbaitlol) + +[https://twitter.com/BradduckF](https://twitter.com/BradduckF) + +**IF THERE IS SOMETHING BIG GOING ON WHILE THE OUTAGE IS HAPPENING WE MAY ALSO UTILIZE THE "EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM" TO RELAY INFO:** + +[SuperstonkLive YouTube - Emergency Broadcast System](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI4EET9NJPWxUuXGlG6fxPA) + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +***OOK OOK*** + +***"I may have been early, but I am not wrong"*** + +https://preview.redd.it/z3oz93bcxm971.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=d41e072fd35ce70f291862ccf38a8a3eab74f439 +Good morning Apetown! + +As promised [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nb5sh6/maybe_we_missed_some_triangles/gxxo5zm?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nb4tbl/ryan_cohen_tweet/gxxiq6y?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), I went to the GameStop the one and only ChairMan himself was at last night to see if I could do some digging around into whether there was some hidden meaning in the games displayed in his tweet. + +**TL;DR: Inconclusive. EDIT: Some apes find it more conclusive than I did. Conspicuously placed on the "D" shelf was Crash. H/T to** u/Noderpsy **and** u/Kuzuuryu1. + +Sorry my simian sisters and brothers. That's not to say, though, that you can't draw your own conclusions from the pics I took. + +As you can see it's definitely the same GameStop: + +&#x200B; + +[Not seen here: Ryan \\"The Hedgeclipper\\" Cohen](https://preview.redd.it/aso34jysqwy61.jpg?width=3120&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=049728f71fe7f7d025c67066c9a20612fa486bb1) + +(One of the reasons why it took a little longer than expected was because there was an actual patron there, who was *very* enthusiastic about talking about the MCU and WWE -- hence Ry-Guy's new nickname above.) + +But, and I know this is what you're really here for, here's a picture of The Rack: + +&#x200B; + +[Little bit of column A, little bit of column B.](https://preview.redd.it/fwi291ajrwy61.jpg?width=3120&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a03b9bb307195edc7634c0b814c0574b34d0c13d) + +So, since you very discerning apes were able to make out the blurry images next to The Hedgeclipper in his tweet (some of you have been mixing carrots into your banana smoothies!), you'll no doubt see that there are some titles that are the same (Children of Morta, Crackdown, etc.), some that are new (Spyro, some pre-used games), and some that are conspicuously missing (Crash, Valhalla, The Surge). + +I asked the employee who opened (who I was going to take a picture of, but he declined becoming Internet famous -- I'll get to him more in a sec though) if he was there last night, and he said that he had left around 5:30, and that he wasn't aware that The Hedgeclipper was there afterward until I told him. I also saw him straightening the display before the store opened and asked if he had rearranged that particular shelf before I got there, and he said that he hadn't, that he was mostly just putting headphones on to the right of this shelf. + +So, what to believe? Did the closer do his normal duty and make it look good? Possible. Did Sñr Cohen purposefully place them there? The world may never know... + +For what it's worth, the rest of the titles were pretty much entirely arranged alphabetically, so if there's any indication the ones in The Hedgeclipper's tweet *were not*, I would be mui suspiciado (or something, I'm not a Spanish-speaking ape). Your eyes are better than mine, so I'll let you decide that. + +Just a couple other notes from my visit: + +* The aforementioned employee said that he works there entirely because he enjoys it, that he's a retired Marine who was shot twice in Afghanistan, so he doesn't have to work at all if he doesn't want to. +* I asked how many people worked at that store, and he said about 5. Rest assured, fellow apes, all of them will be well taken care of when this is all over. +* He doesn't do social media, like, at all, so he was not aware of what's about to happen. Because he was helping customers before, during, and after my visit, I was unable to inform him more unfortunately. +* I've had a nagging unease in the back of my mind since this all started, because I recalled early in the pandemic that some GameStop stores refused to close because they were "essential". I asked if that was the case at this location, and he said no, since the whole mall was closed, but also that every story on the East Coast closed anyway; it was just in states that didn't require closing at all that they remained open. Now, nothing is a given, but I have a feeling that this is the sort of practice that will definitely change under The Hedgeclipper. No ape left behind. + +Hopefully this scratches your itch, fellow apes. + +To the moon! :) +Any advice for someone planning to have multiple children in a few years time? I’m mid 20s married, earn about 85k-95k per year. I️ max out my IRA and have about 15k in savings. Counterpart makes about 35k. + +Edit: Thank you all for the great responses!! +Here's a summary of Today's Jobs Report and why it differed from expectations. + +1. 594 thousand people ~~lost jobs.~~ have lost employment. +2. Only 104 thousand people are considered newly unemployed from that. +3. 490 thousand have left the labour force (since they are not actively seeking employment) +4. Hours worked has dropped 8% + +This is due to: + +A: Out of the \~500k+ new people on Jobseeker, the majority are NOT actively looking for unemployment. This would not usually be the case, since people on Jobseeker have a mutual obligation to be looking for employment. This is however suspended. + +B: As well all know, Jobkeeper is keeping those stood down temporarily paid to help businesses survive. Those not working and stood down are still considered employed (as would be expected). Hence total jobs lost is for now great compared to other economies like the U.S. + +Point A explains the large drop in participation, as the majority of people joining Jobseeker have been removed from the Labour Force. Likewise, they are not included in the unemployed either as they are not seeking employment. + +Expect this to have a signfiicant impact when Mutual Obligations are reinstated.(and as Jobseeker's doubling is wound back). + +**We're effectively at around 9% unemployment if Jobseeker did not have mutual obligations frozen.** + +**1.31 million (unemployed march + jobs lost april) /13.7 million (labour pool march) = 9.56% unemployment (+-0.5%)** + +**This is excluding businesses being bailed out by Jobkeeper and not considering reduced working hours or underemployment.** + +ABS Link below for Reference for Employment Classifications + +&#x200B; + +[ABS Explanations](https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/6202.0Main%20Features15Apr%202020?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=6202.0&issue=Apr+2020&num&view&fbclid=IwAR3c5NU7PR08QJMMGuw5vsFQu4t5bIHnB2wqTn60lvAHg61t9VGisnOaSxU) +Pretty sure I'm going to get downvoted for this especially with how people literally worship Elon. But fuck him and his manipulation. + +He has brought a level of toxicity to the crypto space that should be shunned rather than welcomed. Whether it is shilling noobs into a massively over inflated meme coin that has no long term prospects due to an infinite marker cap or announcing that his company has bought thousands of bitcoins AFTER buying them to pump the price further for his own gain. His actions are both irresponsible and dare I say it outright illegal. + +On top of this he is now taking advantage of NFTs with some idiot offering $1mill+ for a tweet. + +If Elon wants to invest in bitcoin thats great but the way he acts and manipulates the market is no better than those shitty pump and dump telegram channels. + +Edit - the downvoters are easily startled, but they will soon be back. And in greater numbers + +I did not expect this much controversy on a post! + +Edit 2 - corrected some miss information (my bad) +As someone who is just starting out in their FIRE journey, the #1 advice I hear from all the "successful" people and on the Internet in general is to read lots of books, talk to mentors, surround yourself with successful people and so on. + +As I consider most of the people here to be "successful" in life, I'm interested in hearing how big a role these things played in your fatFIRE journey, or if these are just buzzwords invented by self-proclaimed Internet gurus to sell their content. + + +*Welcome back and it feels good to be writing up posts again. I was asked to write up the recent relation between ETF's and the GME dip's we've been witnessing in the last several trading days.* ***I have included a TLDR for the crayon eating apes with an attention span of a 2-month-old dog. Also due to wsb guidelines, i am unable to mention these etf tickers due to their market cap. Please bear with me (not the 🐻🌈)*** + +Anyone questions? Feel free to DM and I'll respond in 10-15 working days (jk) + +Hedge Funds covering up $GME shorts through ETF cloaking + +*I would like to present a few common terminologies before starting this post which may aid in helping you apes comprehend this more clearly.* + +**Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF)-** An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of security that tracks an index, sector, commodity, or another asset, but which can be purchased or sold on a stock exchange the same as a regular stock. An ETF can be structured to track anything from the price of an individual commodity to a large and diverse collection of securities. ETFs can even be structured to track specific investment strategies. You can consider them as a hybrid of mutual funds. + +**Short Selling-** Short selling is the process of selling shares that you don't own, but have instead borrowed, likely from a brokerage. Most people short sell shares for two reasons: + +1. They expect the share price to decline. Short-sellers hope to sell shares at a high price today and use the proceeds to buy back the borrowed shares at a lower price sometime in the future in a bid to profit. +2. They want to hedge or offset a position held in another security. For example, if you have sold a [put option](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/put.asp), an offsetting position would be to short sell the underlying security. + +**Authorized Participants -** An authorized participant is an organization that has the right to create and redeem shares of an exchange-traded fund (ETF). They provide a large portion of the liquidity in the ETF market by obtaining the underlying assets required to create the shares of an ETF. When there is a shortage of ETF shares in the market, authorized participants create more. Likewise, as ETF borrow costs increase, APs are less likely to borrow shares to hedge their position, and more likely to fail-to-deliver. + +In a typical transaction, the borrower of a stock posts collateral of 102% to 105% of the shares' value in cash, government securities or a bank letter of credit. If the ETF needs to sell the stock, it can recall it from the borrower. But if the borrower for any reason isn't able to deliver the shares, the ETF is repaid through the collateral instead, although that can have adverse tax consequences for the ETF. + +**$GME relationship: Let's look at the past trend of an ETF with GME** + +Now I'm not claiming today's red day was entirely due to etf's being shorted or their shares being lent out, but there is significant evidence that leads me to believe this may be one of the key factors. + +&#x200B; + +[Notice how the assets plummet suddenly after the first short squeeze?](https://preview.redd.it/ge6epulq4bn61.png?width=688&format=png&auto=webp&s=2b84a08585e0d2b57f4cab485d2ae0b466c42605) + +&#x200B; + +*By law, a fund can have no more than one-third of its total assets in securities on loan. Few ETFs or other funds ever reach that ceiling, and ETFs are considered to be more conservative lenders than other funds. Market makers are continually creating new ETF shares (by presenting the fund with a basket of securities represented in the ETF) and redeeming others (and getting the underlying securities in return), so the number of ETF shares outstanding fluctuates. Because the supply isn't fixed, there really is no impact on performance when an ETF is net short, industry participants say. The prices of ETF shares typically stay very close to the value of the underlying holdings.* + +***ETF shares borrowed today saw significant lending. Suspicious, isn't it?*** + +Credit to [u/hkzor](https://www.reddit.com/u/hkzor/) for providing these images: + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +[ETF 1: 6.5M available last week to 4M today](https://preview.redd.it/0vkjixsk4bn61.png?width=387&format=png&auto=webp&s=4160a26d935c7e32ceb0947872a9be36b42417b1) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +[ETF 2: 1.3M available last week to 850k today](https://preview.redd.it/upqsjgpl4bn61.png?width=388&format=png&auto=webp&s=7c94b5ed3dd2b2426dacbcd5a9564bd226dc48e8) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +[ETF 3: 900k last week to 500k today](https://preview.redd.it/fxca18jm4bn61.png?width=434&format=png&auto=webp&s=9052e6bba2197671977783472dde2f9e14388f9f) + +Just taking into account **Three** ETF lendings, **you could see 3.35 Million shares were borrowed in today's trading session.** + +Short Sellers effectively manipulate pricing by borrowing shares in a company in order to sell them with downward pressure, coupling it with High-Frequency Machines being used, the price of a security can significantly drop in a rapid succession as we've been witnessing for the past few trading days. + +**The HF's have most likely synthetically shorted GME via ETF's to drive its price down since then**. They can also legally disguise their short position via synthetic longs, and there's concrete evidence that they have done this on the various articles posted before. + +**When coupled with synthetic longs via options, gives the appearance of shorts covering when they haven't, takes GME off the threshold security list when it shouldn't be**, and provides the ability to naked short GME again. This was the missing piece of how GME could actually be shorted without appearing so. This solves the NYSE threshold securities issue and the ability to drive GME down outside of buying a put. + +**Ultimately they have to cover these shorts sometime or another, if the ETF's recall their shares back that would mean an absolute fuckery of melvin and citadel, given they are still paying massive SI without the numbers actually showing up the threshold index**. + +The Link Between Failure to Delivers and ETF's + +ETF's are a growing force in financial markets and constitute almost 25% of US equity trading volume, therefore please keep in mind that not all shares shorted with specific ETF's are directly linked to GME. The one's I used as evidence is either because $GME is a major part of their portfolio or the ETF is retail orientated. + +**Failure To Deliver -** A condition where two investors agree to the purchase/sale of a security at a given price but the seller fails to deliver the security in a timely manner. + +&#x200B; + +[The daily volume of Failure to deliver traded in the past](https://preview.redd.it/h7263a5f4bn61.png?width=588&format=png&auto=webp&s=f7576c75223e5ddf8959093fafaea48d12586046) + +&#x200B; + +[ETF's being shorted in the past](https://preview.redd.it/kw9k81jg4bn61.png?width=801&format=png&auto=webp&s=976a2e44cdd6327ed13ee81021e913ae02c6ad0f) + +&#x200B; + +Comparing both charts depict how the recent increase in Failure to deliver has had a direct correlation with ETF volume being shorted. Point being? The finance industry has used ETF's as a way of covering up their Failure to deliver's way before $GME. + +**Authorized Participant Arbitrage Option: Operational Shorting** + +When faced with "excessive buying" pressure as we have witnessed with $GME, Authorized Participants and Market may sell shares as "Naked" and then locate or create the shares at a later time (up to T+6 for bona fide market making). However, delaying past T+3 results in a failure to deliver **but AP/Market Makers are allowed to fail past T+3 because they are "making markets" and have an additional three days to settle trades (a total of T+6). This choice of shorting can also lock in a profit if options are used to hedge their exposure but with less capital outlay.** I won't go too in-depth about options hedging in this post because I want to keep the topic on the point of ETF's. However, I see a lot of misconception regarding calls and delta hedging which leads to misinformation being spread. + +**TLDR** + +**Do NOT WORRY about the price decreasing, this is all synthetically created to kick down the eventual outcome down the road through lending ETF shares and recent data proves that**. **Over 3.5 million shares were lent out through etf's yesterday and their failure to deliver's are accumulating each and every day. It's like maxing your credit card to pay off the debt on your other credit card. Does it solve the issue? No. It only delays it and makes it worse. Secondly, there is no volume to back up the current dip and just goes on to show you how this is all synthetically created to spread FUD. People who cheer for GME being put on the Shortlist need to realise that has no significant impact as hedge funds have other ways or artificially decreasing the price.** + +**Can't stop, won't stop. Gamestop.🙌💎** + +As always, + +Lambos or Instant Noodles🚀🚗 +Just came across this article (another Sunday afternoon trawling through the internet), from Silver Doctors back in February '21. Not sure if it was posted here then, but really good read. We need more of these articles hitting the internet! + +&#x200B; + +A few quotes highlighted below. + +Link [Naked Short Selling: The Truth Is Much Worse Than You Have Been Told – Silver Doctors](https://www.silverdoctors.com/headlines/world-news/naked-short-selling-the-truth-is-much-worse-than-you-have-been-told/) + +&#x200B; + +**Naked short sellers are not motivated by moral and ethical reasons, but by profit alone.** They attack good, but weak and vulnerable companies. **They are not the saviors of capital markets, but the destroyers.** + +&#x200B; + +*“If you control the settlement system, you can do whatever you want,”* the source said. *“The compliance officers have no teeth because the banks are making big money. They over-lend the stocks; they lend from cash account shares to cover some of these fails … for instance, if there are 20 million shares they sold ‘long’, they can cover by borrowing from cash account shares.”* + +&#x200B; + +"When you have the ability to sell an unlimited number of non-existent phantom shares in a publicly-traded company, you then have the power to destroy and manipulate the share price at your own will." + +&#x200B; + +"Big banks and financial institutions are turning a blind eye to some of the accounts that routinely participate in these illegal transactions because of the large fees they collect from them. These institutions are actively facilitating the destruction of shareholder value in return for short term windfalls in the form of trading fees. They are a major part of the problem and are complicit in aiding these accounts to create counterfeit shares." + +&#x200B; + +The short-sellers and funds who participate in this manipulation almost always finance undisclosed “short reports” which they research & prepare in advance, before paying well-known short-selling groups to publish and market their reports (often without any form of disclosure) to broad audiences in order to further push the stock down artificially. There’s no doubt that these reports are intended to create maximum fear amongst retail investors and to push them to sell their shares as quickly as possible.  + +***That is market manipulation. Plain and simple.***  +When I joined ING, I loved it. Great customer service. + +For a bank without branches, it is particularly important that they give amazing and prompt service on the phone. However it appears they've gutted their customer facing staff. + +If you call, people are waiting for hours to speak to someone. This is unacceptable. +Reviews on their facebook page and productreview are scathing. +I just lodged a disputed transaction, and they said that would start investigating in 33 business days! WTH? + +As far as I'm concerned, this isn't a baseline functioning bank. + +Is something going on? Is it on the verge of bankruptcy or being shut down? +Did they just launch with resources, take on lots of customers, then just shut down the resources and milking them? +Following a [thread about expense tracking apps](https://old.reddit.com/r/AusFinance/comments/b7oijg/best_expense_trackermanagement_app/) last week, I got curious about Pocketbook's automation feature that requires you to hand over your bank login details. This is a Bad Idea by any measure. Pocketbook has a [list of supported banks](https://help.getpocketbook.com/hc/en-us/articles/219507828-Which-bank-s-do-we-currently-support-), so I set about contacting each of those banks to see how mutual the support was. + +Most contact was made via their Facebook support teams, with a few talks via phone, email or live chat. I am still waiting to hear back from a handful of them, and will update the table when I do. + +Note: This is not an attempted takedown of Pocketbook, which by all accounts is a very reputable and popular app. It's just a look at the banks' take on one particular feature, which is not mandatory to use (as you can just download your transaction data and load it manually). The cautions herein can be applied to any expense tracking app, micro-investing apps that have a roundup function, and also Poli payments. + +Screenshot of table for mobile users: https://i.imgur.com/UcamQ6B.png + +Bank | Supported | Statement +---|---|---- +Macquarie Bank | Yes | I was told via a return phone call that Pocketbook is officially supported. The service rep was not highly technical, but [this article confirms Mac bank's API support for Pocketbook](https://www.finder.com.au/pocketbook-integrates-with-macquaries-open-banking-platform). This means the app gets its own unique code for access, and you don't have to give it your bank login. +Bank of Queensland | Yes | "Yes Pocketbook is supported, however you need to have internet banking. What you need to do in internet banking, is set up a user ID for pocketbook." *(It sounds as if BoQ allows you to set up a separate read-only login).* +Bendigo Bank | Yes-ish | I was told over the phone that it works, but they advise against sharing login credentials. +Beyond Bank | Yes-ish | "It is not officially supported, however it has previously been confirmed to work. It will request that you log into your Internet Banking and will then use this to access the account information." *(I don't feel like this was a very strong endorsement, or a guarantee of protections.)* +Teachers Mutual Bank | Yes-ish | "We generally don't support any third party apps and advise against putting banking credentials into any third party apps. However, it is up to you whether or not you would like to utilise." +AMEX | No | I was told via live chat that Pocketbook is not supported. +ANZ | No | "We don’t endorse or recommend the use of third party software or websites to access ANZ Internet Banking. This is due to the risk of providing your customer registration number and Password to a third party who may not have the same security as ANZ therefore potentially exposing your personal details." +Commonwealth | No | "We do not endorse using this product, please do not disclose your netbank client number and password to any third party." +National Australia Bank | No | "With Pocketbook you would need to log into the App using your Internet Banking details - We do not recommend providing your log in details to a third party, and must advise if you do so you may be liable for any fraudulent transactions that occur" +Westpac | No | "The Westpac Group does not have a working agreement with Pocketbook, and does not endorse or recommend the use of third party software or password managers that store log-in credentials." +Bank of Melbourne | No | "The Westpac Group, including Bank of Melbourne, does not have a working agreement with Pocketbook, and doesn't endorse or recommend the use of third party software or password managers that store log-in credentials. " +BankSA | No | "The Westpac Group, including BanSA, does not have a working agreement with Pocketbook, and doesn't endorse or recommend the use of third party software or password managers that store log-in credentials." +Bankwest | No | "We don't support Pocketbook or any other third parties that request your online banking log in details to access your information I'm sorry. Providing a third party your PAN and secure code is a breach of our account access terms and conditions and in turn removes your protection under our No Loss Security Guarantee. " +CUA | No | "CUA does not support any 3rd party system that accesses members details (as Pocketbook does), and it is considered a violation of CUA's terms and conditions to use them." +IMB Bank | No | "We do not support them." +ING Direct | No | "We don't officially support Pocketbook. ING do not endorse, promote or authorize the use of account aggregation services. We don't recommend providing your access code to a third party under any circumstances, if you do you may be liable for unauthorized transactions." +St George | No | "St.George does not have a working agreement with Pocketbook, and does not endorse or recommend the use of third party software or password managers that store log-in credentials. " +UBank | No | "Our site and products aren't compatible with any third party programs or apps. This would also be a breach of our Terms & Conditions. If you wish to review your accounts or transactions, you'll need to login to our website or UBank app manually." +CitiBank | No | "Citi does not officially support Pocketbook, nor are we affiliated with the app. No API access is provided, and Citi customers who did want to use the Pocketbook app would have to provide their credentials to enable the third party to download information ... Please note that if you decide to provide your credentials, you would be doing so at your own risk." +ME Bank | No | "We do not endorse or authorise the use of account aggregation services in connection with your account ... Please remember that if you break your agreement with us not to disclose your PIN to another person, you will be liable for any transactions on your account made using your PIN. There is also a risk that information about your account obtained by an account aggregation service provider or its employees may be misused." +Coles Mastercard | TBC | Honestly, I gave up trying to get through their automated phone system. +28 Degrees | TBC | Reply not received +HSBC | TBC | Reply not received +Suncorp | TBC | Reply not received + +----- + +Takeaways: + +* Macquarie Bank and Bank of Queensland are the only two that offer a full endorsement of the app, each using their own method that doesn't require your primary bank login. +* With all the other banks, your only guarantee of safety is to load your data manually. Even if Pocketbook is 100% safe and never causes a problem, if you get defrauded via other avenues and the bank finds out you shared your login, they may deny you compensation. +* It's interesting that the Westpac Group is also against password managers. If you're using one, maybe not a good idea to disclose it to them. + +----- + +^\(Thank ^you ^for ^the ^gold, ^stranger!) + +^8/4/2019: ^ME ^Bank ^response ^added + +^10/4/2019: ^CitiBank ^response ^added + +^15/4/2019: ^Guess ^I'm ^not ^getting ^the ^missing ^responses +I just want some insight on what people who have been doing this for years think. Is market harder then usual? I trade NQ mainly and lately the bulls and bears have been fighting on hardcore it seems like. Seems like both sides can't seem to catch a hold on. Most days are range, but with insane moves in both direction. + +Whats your guys take on current condition? + The last time ETH reached ATH was just less than a week ago and now we are back to the sky! + +Congratulation to all ETH holders who have held it through the consolidation of long and hurtful months. It sucks when you see other coins pumping but ETH stays where it is, but nothing hurts more than selling the coins you believe in to chase the coins that are pumping just to miss the pump of the coins you believe in. (been there done that) + +Let's celebrate today and hope ETH can find footing above the previous ATH. To infinity and beyond!! +[NY Times article](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/30/business/the-tax-cut-buybacks-business-investment.html) which admits that short term data won't tell the whole tale. + +What do you think - long-term investment as touted or stock buy-back/automation implementation? +[https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-03-17/coronavirus-stock-crash-is-time-to-do-nothing-don-t-be-buffett-k7vef8o8?sref=5M6fXPU6](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-03-17/coronavirus-stock-crash-is-time-to-do-nothing-don-t-be-buffett-k7vef8o8?sref=5M6fXPU6) + +The following is an opinion piece posted on **Bloomberg** yesterday. The author, John Authers, essentially make an argument for investors to simply do nothing. + +>Extreme situations create opportunities; they also offer the chance to lose ungodly sums of money. That is why we need to be careful with what psychologists call activity bias. It is a natural emotion, [as I have written before](https://www.ft.com/content/7a4c06c4-dbc8-11dc-bc82-0000779fd2ac), and doing nothing requires great self-discipline. But it is often what the situation calls for. + +He calls for investors to stop attempting to buy the dip by referring to a [famous op-ed that Warren Buffett wrote for the New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/opinion/17buffett.html?dbk) during the financial crash urging people to buy more. + +Later on, he cites John C. Bogle's advice on what do during times of volatility in the markets: + +>*“My rule — and it’s good only about 99% of the time, so I have to be careful here — when these crises come along, the best rule you can possible follow is not “Don’t stand there, do something,” but “Don’t do something, stand there!”* + +Although I don't necessarily agree the conclusions, as someone who has been adding to their portfolio during this market freefall, it made me ponder if I should just stop looking at my investing app for opportunity. +I recently watched Frontline's program [The Card Game](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/creditcards/) on the credit card industry and it got me thinking. Because of the recession, the current interest rates on treasury bills is practically zero percent. I am getting about 1.5% APR in my ING "high yield" savings account. But then credit card interest rates are going up in a way that especially hurts poor people. I would love if there was a way that I could pool my money with other people to make loans out to people with huge credit card debts and charge half of the interest that the banks are charging. This is similar to the micro-loan idea. + +My question is whether such a service could exist? I imagine that there would need to be some social networking aspect to it: the people loaning the money will need a way to check up on the person they loaned the money to in order to make sure that they don't do something stupid, like buying a new motorcycle. + +I realize that the question is a bit simplistic, but I think that the general question is still valid. +We’re all pretty pissed off about what happened today but chin up, fam - this gave us more time to buy shares. I’d like you all to consider using that anger, frustration, disappointment (insert emotion here) in a productive manner. + +The financial services committee meets tomorrow to discuss the Stock Exchange and “investor protection” (🙄). + +The meeting begins at 2:00p EST and this gives us an opportunity to contribute something simple to our cause. If you can spare a few minutes tomorrow before the meeting, write the committee members an email, pick up the phone and leave a message, send them a fucking pigeon - whatever you can do to (respectfully) make yourselves heard. Personally, I’ll be doing the same in between meetings and work obligations. + +There’s strength in numbers. Remind the committee that we’re paying attention and that they have a job to do on our behalf. + +Contact info for committee members can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/triqw2/here_are_the_contact_info_for_the_members_of_the/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=ios_app&amp;utm_name=iossmf + +Link to the meeting: https://financialservices.house.gov/events/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=409152 + +Thanks in advance to anyone who opts to participate. Love all of you degenerates. 💕 + +Edit: the memo details proposed legislation that they’ll be voting on. Changes to ATS rules is included and Citadel is mentioned here as well (included that section below). Other noteworthy mentions include addressing changes to Exchange liability (immunity) and self-regulation. + +“While majority of stock trading volume takes place on registered stock exchanges, over 40% of securities are traded through two major categories of non-exchange trading and execution venues:33 Alternative Trading Systems (sometimes referred to as “dark pools”) and “internalizers.” ATSs usually cater to large, institutional investors who do not want to signal to the markets in advance of their large orders, whereas “internalizers” execute orders internally, without going through an exchange. + +Neither of these non-exchange trading venues are under the same regulatory and member supervision obligations that exchanges must follow. There are roughly 30 SEC registered ATSs which execute stock trades.34 The market dominance of some capital market participants raises concerns about systemic risk and, in particular, correlated risks arising from the relationship between financial institutions. For example, Citadel LLC is a multi-service hedge fund and financial services company, and its subsidiary, Citadel Securities LLC, which is a broker-dealer, is one of the largest market makers and, according to its website, executes “approximately 47% of all U.S.-listed retail volume.”35 Citadel Securities also, reportedly, handles almost as much trading volume as Nasdaq.36 Further, Citadel Securities along with market maker Virtu Financial, “account for more of the overall equity market than the New York Stock Exchange.”37 With respect to Citadel, some have raised concerns about a single market maker managing such a large volume of retail order flow, and what that means in terms of pricing.38 Others have questioned whether Citadel has such dominance in our financial markets that it poses a systemic risk to the entire U.S. financial system.” + +Memo: https://financialservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hhrg-117-ba16-20220330-sd002.pdf +I've seen a lot of people thinking 30million per share is not possible and it's fucking pissing me off. Their argument is always the same: Not enough money, Fed will stop it, be realistic, blablabla. There is no valid point they can tell you. This is FUD. + +Here's what I think: You do you. Just don't regret selling too early. + +**Not everyone will sell at the same time**. I will just continue holding since I know such numbers in the millions are possible because of the infinite squeeze. More than 100% of the float shorted -> HF buys a share -> gets canceled against a naked short/synthetic share -> People diamond hand -> Infinity squeeze. It's as simple as that. +I was wondering what single decision on expenses people feel made the biggest impact on there FIRE goals. Our best decision was to buy a house well within our means. When we purchased it it the total cost was 110% of our annual income, we put down 20% which brought out housing costs (prop taxes, insurance, mortgage) to 10.5% of income. Now 12 years later our housing costs are just 4.5% of income. We have no intention of moving and with sporadic additional principal payments over the years we now have $48k left, which I am going to knock out this year as our rate is 6.125%. Since I lack discipline in other areas of my budget (dining out specifically), this one single decision has made a tremendous impact our us being able to achieve our FIRE goals. +[https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/13/inflation-rose-0point1percent-in-august-even-with-sharp-drop-in-gas-prices.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/13/inflation-rose-0point1percent-in-august-even-with-sharp-drop-in-gas-prices.html) + +&#x200B; + + + +Inflation rose more than expected in August even as gas prices helped give consumers a little bit of a break, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. + +The consumer price index, which tracks a broad swath of goods and services, increased 0.1% for the month and 8.3% over the past year. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, CPI rose 0.6% from July and 6.3% from the same month in 2021. + +Economists had been expecting headline inflation to fall 0.1% and core to increase 0.3%, according to Dow Jones estimates. The respective year-over-year estimates were 8% and 6%. +Am I the only one who thinks there's too many coincidences happening right in front of our faces so quickly? First, an old video surfaces from a Hedge fund manager talking about how the first sneeze was caused by options which spurs all sorts of posts about option plays and crashes Reddit two nights ago. Secondly, AH yesterday and Premarket today is up 20%+ on a speculation piece with no actual references from GS announcing the NFT marketplace, and lastly, the sub that started this all is wall to wall posts about GME and option plays all of a sudden? As much as I want to believe that our journey is finally coming to an end, I can only think back to how many times we thought "This is it" and been deeply disappointed by the outcome. + +I don't have an opinion on options I am a smooth brain who only Buys, DSR, and HODL. Do what you will with your money. I just think there are too many moving pieces that are lining up so quickly and its either a red herring to blame reddit for the increase in price or they're going to crash the price and try to take the momentum out of our sails. Then again, it could trade sideways. +All of reddit/ social media is basically a trash can. Too much political talk and plain toxic. I love coming here cause we all here for one thing, no politics, no bullshit. If we can print money off it, we in, we don’t care which side. Bull gang, bear gang , whatever gang. + +&#x200B; + +It’s impossible for us to be a cult, at the end of the day, this is the Wild West where everyone for themselves. If you don’t like the way some people are betting or don’t like one of the gangs , you’re always free bet against them. Unlike other online forms, I love how most don't care about arguing or proving our point to others, cause the proof is in the pudding. Either you can make money or you can’t. + +I fucking love you all, props to the mods, never change WSB +&#x200B; + +[https://preview.redd.it/0c1wlapvver61.jpg?width=1629&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=01743a9c62812e50660f8ae3629c6a3246a7e638](https://preview.redd.it/0c1wlapvver61.jpg?width=1629&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=01743a9c62812e50660f8ae3629c6a3246a7e638) + +# HOLY SHIT! + +Dear Apes, + +I decided to do some homework today. I know some of this is not new information but I contacted my broker and started asking questions. This was the part I found shocking...(I'm removing the reps name so not to get them in trouble) and that I had no idea that I couldn't call back my shares or even have a vote in the proxies .... + +14:58 **TD**: \*I can remove your margin for you. That would allow you to have the ability to vote in the proxies.\* + +14:58 **Anonymous**: I still would like to know the answer about switching over from margin to cash and if that would cause my shares to be recalled, if they are lent out short + +14:59 **TD**: *It will* + +14:59 **Anonymous**: wait are you saying I wouldn't have been able to vote in the proxies if I stayed on margin? + +14:59 **TD**: \*And you would then have the ability to vote the proxy.\* + +14:59 **Anonymous**: Wait wait go back, are you saying that if I stayed on margin, would I not been able to vote in the upcoming proxies? + +15:00 **TD**: \*If you stayed on margin you would not. Correct.\* + +15:01 **Anonymous**: interesting. so you are saying all those people who are on margin accounts, they don't actually get to vote in the annual meetings? + +15:01 **TD**: They would not have a vote if they were on a margin account. + +# Breakdown: + +**If you are on margin, not only are your shares able to be lent without your consent (Basically, you gave them consent when you signed up for margin) BUT that you can't recall your shares for the Annual meeting, nor will you have the right to vote in the proxies. Also, people have been asking, I have a zero margin balance and extra cash sitting in the account and this was still the conversation.** + +&#x200B; + +**I knew about the lending of shares but I didn't realize you can't even vote or recall your shares on margin.** I'm sure most of you all didn't realize that part either. I know some of you are annoyed I hadn't switched but I have a feeling I'm not the only one. I know there was DD that told everyone to switch to cash, but I know I didn't. I doubt that I'm the only Ape who didn't switch over to cash either because I thought I wouldn't be able to trade options. Well guess what, I confirmed with them. You can still buy options on cash only. + +# From this conversation, if your shares are sold short on your margin account....this would force your broker to actually call back the shares lent short. If everyone was to call or message their brokers this week, and to switch to cash only, if your shares were lent out they would recalled. You would also be allowed to vote in the upcoming Proxy vote. + +**At this point, if you are on Margin you don't have any rights as a GameStop shareholder and your shares are definitely being used as ammo against any long shareholder of GME. I had no idea that I couldn't recall my own shares or even not have my vote counted on margin.......OH SHIT!** + +&#x200B; + +I switched today. Will you ensure your shares are yours for the upcoming vote? All you have to do is call or message your broker to switch you over like I just did. + +&#x200B; + +To anyone saying this isn't DD. I called up and confirmed for Apes how the process works. In an edit I will include every brokers number and directions on how to do it. **If anyone has made the switch from margin to cash before, please help the community out by posting directions on how you did it and which broker!!** + +&#x200B; + +==================================================================== + +**Edit 1:** Some people are saying to not make the switch until the meeting has been announced. Personally, I already did it but you all do whatever you want. **The main thing I want is for Apes to be aware of the power to call back shares lent short by our brokers is only done by switching to a cash account and that you will not have voting rights unless you make that switch.** + +**Edit 2:** For those of you annoyed, because you all switched back in Jan, I'm sorry that I didn't do it. I thought it was going to effect my ability to trade options and I have 2 brokerages that I was dealing with/switching over. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only ape who didn't make the switch back then. But we do have an opportunity to spread this message around and get every ape the ability to vote/recall their shares. + +**Edit 3:** [**https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l2n5wv/most\_of\_you\_are\_helping\_the\_gme\_shorts\_and\_you/**](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l2n5wv/most_of_you_are_helping_the_gme_shorts_and_you/) + +This was linked to me. I never read it until now. It only have like 5k upvotes at the time and I wasn't following WSBs as often after my ban for "Copying and pasting DD" on WSB during the run up. + +============================================================================== + +# How to Instructions gathered from you guys: + +# TD Ameritrade: + +[GodOfThunder39](https://www.reddit.com/user/GodOfThunder39/)[16 minutes ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mktkdj/holy_shit_you_must_read_this_actually_important/gthsuod/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +On TD Ameritrade... + +Click on My Profile->General at the top + +On the right side, it should say "Margin Trading None" + +If it says something else, then you should get it changed. + +[masterexec](https://www.reddit.com/user/masterexec/)[6 hours ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mktkdj/holy_shit_you_must_read_this_actually_important/gtic0zn/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)·*edited 5 hours ago* + +Well. I just got off the phone with TDA and was told in no uncertain terms that it made no difference whatsoever if you have a margin account or cash account, they **DO LEND OUR SHARES. PERIOD.** The only way you can prevent lending is to request physical certificates held in YOUR NAME, and was told that it can cost anywhere from $200-$700 depending on the company(stock). Then the issue becomes trading (selling) you will have to send them back to them to initiate a trade ( sale). I don’t know how this can be legal, but it was absolutely clear that is what they are doing. 100% clear they are lending shares. + +**Edit: if you are with TDA, you need to call to confirm yourself. I’m livid.** + +\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +&#x200B; + +# WeBull + +[NugQuest](https://www.reddit.com/user/NugQuest/) + +WeBull users remember: it will take approximately 6 business days on a best efforts basis to switch from margin account to cash account. During this time, you will **NOT** be able to trade or make a withdrawal. + +***Edit\* Add-On*** + +You can turn off the lending program on WeBull though. Not sure if that helps or not but the more you know. + +**How to change from Margin to Cash WeBull:** + +1. Go to the Home page +2. Click \[Account\] Tap +3. Scroll down to find \[Change Account Type\] +4. Submit your application + +*Please note: This function is supported on our mobile app only, not on desktop.* + +\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +[You\_Still\_Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/user/You_Still_Reddit/)**💎🙌** + +On the app = Got to: Your account(middle button at bottom), click More, Account Details (scroll to bottom, “cash” or “margin” shown here), Change Account Type, then click “Exit Now” under “share lending program” and follow the prompts. + +Edit: [u/khashi1](https://www.reddit.com/u/khashi1/) steps for Webull, account status is also in this menu to see if you have a cash or margin account. + +[You\_Still\_Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/user/You_Still_Reddit/)**💎🙌** + +My Webull was also set to cash account so I thought I was good. **Turns out, they have a “share lending program” that you HAVE to opt out of. It automatically enrolls you when you setup the account.** + +&#x200B; + +\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +# IBKR: + +[alias\_\_grace](https://www.reddit.com/user/alias__grace/)[3 hours ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mktkdj/holy_shit_you_must_read_this_actually_important/gtiqia2/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +If someone already posted this, please disregards and kindly give your karma to the first 🦍 + +IBKR Web: + +Log in (duh) > Settings > Account Setting > Configuration (right side of screen) > Click the cog next to "Account Type: Margin" > Downgrade to Cash + +IBKR Mobile: + +Log in (again duh) > Account Management > Account Settings > Configuration (scroll down a bit) > Click on the cog next to "Account Type: Margin" > Downgrade to cash + +NB: You will need to settle any owed cash + any short positions (🙄ffs) if you have them as they are not allowed on Cash accounts. + +And boom 🚀 + +Buy. Hodl. Moon. + +from [mpg111](https://www.reddit.com/user/mpg111) via [/r/Superstonk](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk) sent just now + +Correction to IBKR: you don't have to convert to cash account, it should be enough to turn off participation in „Stock Yield Enhancement Program“ - there is a setting for that. + +&#x200B; + +\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +# EToro: Got a message that said that you all don't get to vote. If that is true please DM me or comment letting me know. Need to confirm. + +# + +# [Wardvvhzn](https://www.reddit.com/user/Wardvvhzn): I can't seem to send you a picture, but got an answer in my email. This is what I received: "Please note, after reviewing in your inquiry below, with our team leaders, please note that we do not support the meeting, since you are not the actual owner of the stock" So no one on eToro can actually vote + +\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +# Fidelity: + +[Born\_Departure\_8180](https://www.reddit.com/user/Born_Departure_8180) + +Fidelity - can’t switch to cash online need to call and switch did mine today and asked, you can only apply for margin online not switch from margin to cash.... they haven’t allowed that feature yet. Hope those helps! GME TO THE MOON + +Also for those that don’t know, on fidelity easy way to tell if you are on margin account If you see a white circle with a black “M” next to your quantity of stock, your shares are on MARGINCASH=NO “M” next to quantity + +\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +&#x200B; + +# Robinhood: + +from [wuzzzat](https://www.reddit.com/user/wuzzzat) via [/r/Superstonk](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk) sent 24 minutes ago + +Robinhood app, click the "person " icon on bottom right, then the 3 lines at top right. Choose "investing" at the top. Go all the way to the bottom and click "day trading options". You can downgrade to cash account there. I think that does it. Someone please confirm + +&#x200B; + + 1. alternative instructions for iphone + +by [u/ShowMeTheMoney7373](https://www.reddit.com/u/ShowMeTheMoney7373/) + +on iphones this is all i could find + +1. settings (top left 3 horizontal bars) +2. help +3. contact support +4. trading +5. description: (1.)(a) i would like to switch to a cash acct. (2) (must also add these 3 issues otherwise they will receive an email asking these same questions and it will take longer): (b) confirm that you have $0.00 in unsettled funds and no pending transactions (c) your feedback on why you no longer want robinhood instant (d) your understanding that you might not be able to re-upgrade to RH Instant at a later date. +6. they will send an email confirming once it has been changed over to a cash acct + +2. android might additionally require disabling options + +by [u/ShowMeTheMoney7373](https://www.reddit.com/u/ShowMeTheMoney7373/) + +back to android phones. they also have to disable options trading as it is only available for instant and gold. to remove + +1. tap the person profile +2. tap menu icon- 3 horizontal bars +3. investing +4. options trading +5. remove options trading + +\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +# E-Trade: + +from [dnatterSD](https://www.reddit.com/user/dnatterSD) via [/r/Superstonk](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk) sent 15 minutes ago + +ETRADE UPDATE + +Just got off the phone with ETRADE support. These are as close to their words as I could recall. + +1. If you are on a margin account your shares **"may"** be lent out, but **"typically"** unless you using your margin they do not lend them. +2. Even if your shares are lent out the **owner of record** "me" would still **have/maintain** the voting rights. +3. In order to remove the margin from my account:a. **Must** have all trades settled. aka T+2b. **Must** "call" ETRADE support **800-387-2331** and request to have your margin removedc. The margin removal will take **1 business day** to remove and account will be unable + +Hope this helps. + +# + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +&#x200B; + +# Stake (hellostake) : I've never heard of it but if someone can write it up that would be helpful + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +# Trading 212: + +from [Vimalathasan](https://www.reddit.com/user/Vimalathasan) via [/r/Superstonk](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk) sent an hour ago + +So for Trading212 If you have a ISA account, it's against the UK law to lend out your share But in regards to voting They don't have the option set up yet and they don't have a timeframe as to when they will get it done so essentially if you have Trading212 you cannot vote. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +&#x200B; + +# Degiro: Need information +Idk about you apes.....but these next two weeks just feel special...it feels different... + +I want to address thoughts you probably have had: + +“This is too good to be true” +“Nothing like this happens to me” + +Well I’m here to say....FUCK THOSE THOUGHTS YOU MOTHERFUCKER. You know this feels different! MAN UP AND WAKE UP TOMORROW MORNING WITH A GIANT SMILE ON YOUR FACE BECAUSE YOU HAD THE BALLS TO TRUST YOURSELF AND YOUR FELLOWS APES ON A ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY THAT FRANKLY MOST OF THE WORLD IS ASLEEP ON. + +YOU DO FUCKING DESERVE IT BECAUSE ITS WHAT IS MEANT TO HAPPEN. FUCK MEDIA PIGS, FUCK THE HEDGIES, FUCK CRAMER, FUCK ALL THE SHILLS. + +YOU BE PROUD OF WHAT YOU HAVE DONE. IM HOLDING BECAUSE I BELIEVE IN GAMESTOP. + +video games have brought me so much joy in my life and allowed to escape a lot of my pain growing up. Well I think this is the universe correcting itself and saying “it’s time for the good guys to take the reigns now” + +LETS. FUCKING. GO. + +APES TO THE MOON 🌙 + +Sincerely, +Ape 🦍 +https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/29/trump-hits-the-fed-again-ahead-of-rate-decision-this-week.html + +“The E.U. and China will further lower interest rates and pump money into their systems,” Trump tweeted. + +“In the meantime, and with very low inflation, our Fed does nothing - and probably will do very little by comparison,” he added. “Too bad!” + +The president has taken to lambasting the U.S. central bank for what he sees as its efforts to rein in the American economy, including four rate hikes in 2018. +We’ve seen a lower cost and more innovative board of directors confirmed, we’ve got shareholder meeting confirmed for effective dates. We are actively being given misinformation by the MSM, falsified or missing data reported. We have capital, we have rising sales and our share price has dropped $10. + +It’s fucking hilarious that good news means lower price and the powers that be ignore it, hopefully they are at least battening down the hatches for the MOASS that’s about rain down on them. + +Probably going to buy more, and then fuckin do it again. + +Stay hard. +Hi, + +I'm looking for someone who may be able to help me. There are some free services online for people in my position that so far I have been a little intimidated about using. + +I have stage 4 pancreatic cancer and don't have a lot of time left so I have been working on getting all my things in order. I have a 401k with only about 15k in it. When I pass I'm sure my medical debt from 2020 will be a problem. From what I've been told the 401k would be an asset they could take to try to pay it. I would like it to be used for this current year's medical expenses, including if I may need to pay for room and board at a hospice facility. + +A little information about me that may or may not be helpful. I am 30f and was diagnosed December 2020. My cancer has left me unable to work and am currently on SSD. I have a husband and daughter and we own a home in MN, USA. I just gave my car to my sister and have no other assets or large accounts other than my 401k. + +I've looked into pulling the money from my 401k and was told there is an extra penalty for pulling money out before retirement age. But, I'm dying... shouldn't there be a way to avoid that penalty? Fidelity(my servicer) had no more information for me. + +Am I in the right place? + +Thanks in advance! +*Obligatory not financial advice disclaimer.* + +[Link to the official NSCC-2021-002 document.](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/06/24/2021-13413/self-regulatory-organizations-national-securities-clearing-corporation-notice-of-filing-of-partial) + +Great summary by u/criand: It turns monthly liquidity checks into 24/7 liquidity checks. If a members positions makes it so they don't have enough liquidity posted, Marge calls. If they don't post sufficient liquidity within ONE HOUR then they'll be snapped and their positions liquidated/they default. + +**Overview** + +On 6/24/21 this rule went into effect. It's been a total of 8 trading days, so low sample size, but is beginning to show a trend. Since that time we've seen a couple of different data points arise that indicate the rule is causing the SHFs to scramble. + +**Low Volume** + +Per this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/of2utv/i_cant_hear_you_closing_with_260_mil_volume_5th/) by u/edgar510, since 6/24 we've had 5 of the top 10 lowest YTD daily volume. Low volume could be an indicator of low liquidity and the noose tightening. In the past when we've had weeks of sideways trading and low volume, it's inevitably lead to a breakout to the upside. + +**Lower Highs and Lower Lows** + +Since that time, we've started to see lower highs and lower lows. Opening that day we started a run-up to $227, but ultimate got knocked down to a low of $211 and closed at $212. Only one other day since then (6/28) did we have a run-up go past $220. We haven't been below $200 since 5/24 when we closed at $180.01 and yesterday we closed at $199.56. + +&#x200B; + +[https:\/\/www.nyse.com\/quote\/XNYS:GME](https://preview.redd.it/83mj8lexfs971.png?width=2592&format=png&auto=webp&s=3470659e635e54418e029b4b77022842b715a730) + +&#x200B; + +**Theory/Speculation** + +Since the implementation, the SHFs have been very diligent about price suppression. We're no stranger to them trying to lower the price, but I believe we are starting to reach an apex between liquidity and their short position. Everyday they bleed money from their position, but are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Either they use money to suppress the price lower than yesterday or they let it run higher and risk failing the liquidity check. + +I believe at this time, the cost to lower the price more than yesterday is less than the cost of their position increasing because of price. They may even know what price will trigger a failed liquidity, so spend the money to lower it further. For instance (completely arbitrary numbers), if the price today stays above $198 it'll cost them $10B and a failed liquidity, but to lower the price below that to say $190 it'll cost them $5B and another day. Eventually these numbers will converge as the cost to keep suppressing the price will outweigh the cost to let the price rise. In either scenario they'll be fuk and price goes boom. + +Another aspect to this could be coordinated efforts to ensure smaller SHFs don't fail the margin call. We know $350 seems to be a big barrier and we always see a strong short attack when we get close. That may be the bigger SHFs (Shitadel, SUS, P72, etc) coordinating that. At this point, they may know the price that will fail smaller SHFs and work to ensure they don't fail their margin call. If they do, the price will rip due to closing out their position and put $350 in the rearview mirror, causing a domino effect. + +We could see the price to continue to slowly trend slightly lower. This is also speculated by u/possibly6 in a recent post [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/of4zjh/elliott_waves_gme_wen_the_fck_moon/) (*What I want you to take away from the above visual is in the event that our reversal doesn't begin tomorrow from today's low, lower bound of the channel comes out to around 175*). + +I expect we'll continue to have record low volume days. All until the apex converges or a catalyst causes the price to jump and the house of cards to come falling down. + +Buy, Hodl, and Buckle up! +**Historical Post Earnings Moves MEGA Compilation (Week 5) - $HD, $WMT, $TGT, $LOW, $CSCO, $GOEV, $XL, $SE and More** + +&nbsp; + +What's poppin' bull gang, Flux here with Week 5 of the Historical Post Earnings Moves MEGA Compilation. I hope you all made some good money following the spreadsheet last week, cause it's time to do it all again! Earnings season is slowly coming to an end, so this weeks spreadsheet is a little smaller than prior weeks, but that's alright, there's still money to be made. + +&nbsp; + +All that being said, I fucking love earnings season. It’s an absolute battleground out there. Insane volatility, breaking announcements, and huge moves being made every single day for weeks at a time. What’s not to love? Anyone has a chance to pick the correct tickers, roll the dice, and amass a small fortune. That being said, the unpredictable nature of earnings season often makes or breaks traders - many find that they’re one bad trade away from a complete blowout, so you always need to think about each trade critically. No shame in sitting it out altogether. + +&nbsp; + + +--- + +#The Spreadsheet + +To aid us in planning our trades this week, [**I've compiled a spreadsheet consisting of all of the Historical Post Earnings Moves of EVERY stock reporting earnings this week**](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tiIuvRFHYgqLQpe7HdDYNQ1ZkQGA55gLKc0A_jJQKiQ/edit?usp=sharing). Using this spreadsheet, we can determine which options to buy or sell to minimize risk and maximize probability for ANY given ticker. Obviously, past performance isn’t indicative of future success, but we can still use these numbers to gain a general idea of the expected earnings move of a given stock. Gone are the days of getting randomly blown out due to lack of information! If you’re struggling to find a given stock, click on the ticker symbol on the index page, it should hyperlink you straight to the table! If the above link isn’t working for you, refer to the link below! + +&nbsp; + +[Spreadsheet HERE](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tiIuvRFHYgqLQpe7HdDYNQ1ZkQGA55gLKc0A_jJQKiQ/edit?usp=sharing) + +&nbsp; + +Please note that scraping and compiling this data took *hours*. If the sheet has helped you out in any way, please drop an upvote or a comment and peep my socials! It would mean alot to me. Most websites also require you to pay for this data, which I think is a load of shit. + +&nbsp; + +--- + +#Interesting Observations and Sample Plays + +Below I’ve compiled some interesting observations which can further aid us in making trades this week, alongside some sample plays for those who are new to playing earnings and need some guidance. If I missed anything, feel free to bring it to my attention! + +&nbsp; + +- **Expect larger moves coming out of retailers this week**. Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart, and Target all have fairly conservative historical moves, but will likely break trend this earnings. Last quarter was fucking *massive* for these retail giants, as the holidays combined with stimulus cheques will likely lead to insane profits among them. Expect a large move to happen for each corresponding retailer, to either the upside or downside. + +&nbsp; + +- **Lots of Chinese tech companies report this week.** If you're looking for a fun little collateral play, you can take a look at various Chinese tech ETFs and paly options on them. The IV on the ETFs is general lower than the ones on the individual tickers, although most of the tickers move in tandem with one another. If one beats, they usually all beat, and vice versa. + +&nbsp; + +- **Don't fall for the Solar trap**. Solar has been heavily beat down all throughout earnings season, and as a result you may be inclined to buy Puts. Canadian Solar and Maxeon Solar have both slid extremely far following the movements of their peers throughout earnings, and are likely primed for a reversal. There isn't much farther for these stocks to go down, and as a result, a terrible earnings for both of these companies is already priced in. If they even match estimates, or put up a beat, they will likely move upwards. This exact situation occurred with Nikola two weeks back. I would look to play a neutral to bullish strategy on these tickers. + +&nbsp; + +Obviously, since I gave data on over 50 companies, there's plenty that I’ve missed. Dive in, have a look around, and have some fun with it! Use the spreadsheet to aid you in picking the safest strikes, and get the best risk-reward possible. Feel free to share your findings too, I’d love to see what you guys come up with. + +&nbsp; + +--- + +# Conclusion + +We’ve got an insane lineup of companies reporting earnings this week, meaning there’s a huge variety of plays to be made for traders of all skills and styles! Use the [spreadsheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tiIuvRFHYgqLQpe7HdDYNQ1ZkQGA55gLKc0A_jJQKiQ/edit?usp=sharing) to determine which stocks offer the best risk to reward ratio, and play accordingly! If enough people found these useful, I'll continue making them throughout the earnings season! If the sheet has helped you out in any way, please consider dropping an upvote or a comment, and checking out my socials, it would mean a lot to me! **Happy Trading Everybody! :)** +I'll type this out, but I want to be careful with advice-giving. What I remember back then was a lot of people being wrong but confident. + +In 2008, I received an inheritance and the funds were available in January of 2009. + +I wasn't the brightest at the time (or now, actually), but I was confident in one thing - the US was not going anywhere, and this was an incredible opportunity for buying into the stock market. + +I did my diligence, as deeply as an early 20's college kid with no idea what he was doing would do. There were forums attached to Google Finance at the time - like Reddit, with people who sounded sensible giving sensible-sounding advice. I used those to get ideas of what to look at. + +I compiled a portfolio of American and Canadian blue chips - bought the Canadian banks, bought Kinder Morgan, bought J&J, bought Bank of America... and some others I can't remember. I bought my shares as the market dropped. + +Down went the markets, and down went my portfolio as the drop went on. + +Anxiety began to build as I saw my money drop, and it increased as more and more people started talking of a "depression". Scary headlines that made me doubt my initial position began wearing on me. + +"Hold on to your hats kids, DOW 6000 is coming!" was being shouted in the news and others - and I bet on that. I PULLED OUT... in expectation of further drops. + +DOW 6000 did not materialize, and when markets corrected - it ramped up quickly. I did not know how to gauge the recovery - buying in a drop is easy, but judging "dead cat bounces", as they say, was beyond me. I nervously watched as stocks went up, and up, and up, while I sat at the bottom with less money than I had at the beginning. + +There was a point where the drops became too much, and I became nervous - and reacted on that. + +If you need to take some Celexa to keep your cool through this - go to your doctor - but I know, back then, at that time - that was what I needed to do, and I still regret not doing it. +Even if you win in a 50/50 match you still will lose $35K. I just wonder who is stupid enough to do this. You think this is the end? + +&#x200B; + +[Pretty awesome deal huh? It will be worthless after playing Basketball game keep this in mind](https://preview.redd.it/r070po96iql81.jpg?width=837&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dff873094c6ce2dc310ba7dd2c709ea85a305cc9) + +Wait this is not the end, in another NFT you can also watch a movie with him just by paying $35K. + +&#x200B; + +[$35K for a goddamn movie?](https://preview.redd.it/zivr7abiiql81.jpg?width=445&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c3a5098d4c430326983b8352618c0b7fc7e67adb) + +You can also have Balls shaving experience with him, Price? Well only for $100K. + +&#x200B; + +[I have no idea who in the hell would do this.](https://preview.redd.it/1izcqozpiql81.jpg?width=1121&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5758faa9aa64aa22cf16958642ec38fb74c8ceaf) + +[Here are rest of the deals.](https://preview.redd.it/rj7ak420jql81.jpg?width=1753&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e79c32cee412480555d3ceb6cc6dda81d31f455) + +Please stay away from these so called celebrities they are not your friends. They are scamming their own fanbase. They are nothing but bunch of scammers. + +He's also involved in fake giveaways which were never given to his followers. + +&#x200B; + +[One of the examples.](https://preview.redd.it/c1vb6inkjql81.jpg?width=1283&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=20241dd9f4133d864d99c116a461c93c181b83b6) + +[He never replied.](https://preview.redd.it/2hro9r1qjql81.jpg?width=485&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5110cececc00123f0a6c5f4472c5a1496e08a15) + +[his BTC address shows he has 0 transactions.](https://preview.redd.it/ctk0v2dujql81.jpg?width=1283&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e26288413f4578539c42b86a64a00f7ba40e760) + + +Source: [https://twitter.com/coffeebreak\_YT/status/1500213278609481729](https://twitter.com/coffeebreak_YT/status/1500213278609481729) +Hi everyone, + +After watching ETH fall from $4,700 to $900 I was excited to buy under $1,000 for the first time in quite a while. Unfortunately when the time came, FUD was at an all time high and I was convinced I should just buy a little at $900 and wait for $400 to buy much more. + +Can we get back to the doom and gloom for a bit longer? + +The world economy is collapsing, crypto is fake, merge never, solana is faster, NFT ugly JPEG, copy/paste, interest rates, liquidity, blah blah. + +No way it won’t go to $400, maybe less. Keep spreading this and sell all your ETH to me thanks. +Say I get paid $700 every two weeks. +700 divided by 14 is $50. So now I know I have to spend less than $50 per day to have some money leftover. + +I've tried other methods like keeping spreadsheets and writing down everytime I spend money but it always gets overwhelming and I don't really understand the data. + +I'm not good at math at all, numbers confuse me. So this method has really been easy for me to "visualize" so to speak. + +It's been keeping me more aware too, I'll go days without spending any money if I don't have to. +I am 34 and going forward, I think I can realistically afford $100 a week to put into stocks. My expenses are going to be going up substantially as I’m going to be paying for daycare in Sept. + +So I have been trying to develop a group of low risk “base stocks” which pay dividends. I plan on holding for life and allowing the dividends paid to supplement my investing going forward. + +I have a little over $21k in my brokerage and dividends already pay me an average of $18.61 per week, which i reinvest. + +Once I hit $100k or so in my investment account, I intend to make some more risky plays, as it won’t be such a struggle to get money into the market (as my dividends will be paying out approx $100/week). + +Anyone else doing similar? +Let's start this one off with an actual look at Kenneth C. Griffin and Citadel's situation: + +[You are correct, Kenneth. RIP Citadel.](https://preview.redd.it/fgvro6kxgod81.png?width=1960&format=png&auto=webp&s=7dcfbd305922267b67745ea1fc18421c7be8e9a4) + +So, I came across this awesome article from April of 2020 by "Courage & Conviction Investing" on Seeking Alpha, and it really drives this home. IF: + +* GME shorts were already trapped by their own positions almost 2 years ago +* And people were slowly but surely buying up GME at absurdly low prices +* And then the Jan 2021 sneeze happened, and no one sold +* And all we've done for over a year straight is buy, DRS, and hodl +* And all we're continuing to do is buy, DRS, and hodl +* Then this is one more extremely solid historical confirmation of what we already knew: +* **Not only have the shorts not closed, they were** ***already*** **in an inescapable dilemma of their own creation BEFORE the Jan 2021 sneeze ever even happened** + +# + +# THE SHORTS ARE TRAPPED RIDING A GME TIGER THAT HAS ONLY GOTTEN BIGGER + HUNGRIER, AND THEY CANNOT GET OFF WITHOUT BEING EATEN. + +&#x200B; + +Simply put, GameStop IS FUNDAMENTALLY INEVITABLE. The author ends the article with this outstanding sequence: + +&#x200B; + +*"When I synthesize the situation, I have no idea how the shorts will dismount from this tiger. There is a phrase in Bob Dylan's recently released masterpiece, Murder Most Foul:* + +>*"Greatest magic trick ever under the sun..."* + +*The world awaits the greatest magic trick. As for me, I'm long and betting on that hungry tiger."* + +&#x200B; + +🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 + +🟣🟣🟣🟣 + +🟣 + +&#x200B; + +**Without further ado, here's the archived article link, and the text of the article below- cheers, and NFA but DANG you should buy some of this unreal dip and DRS your shares!** + +* Archive link to article: [https://archive.today/8CO9h](https://archive.today/8CO9h) +* Full text of the article below: + +# GameStop: The Shorts Are Riding A Tiger, Not Knowing How To Get Off Without Being Eaten + +Apr. 26, 2020 6:30 PM ET**GameStop Corp. (GME)** **AMZN, TGT, WMT 193 Comments 21 Likes** + +## Summary + +* Short interest for the period ending April 15, 2020, was released on April 24th, after the bell. There were 58.84 million shares sold short. +* This marks a remarkable increase, from 55.99 million, considering the April 20th proxy vote eligibility issue. +* We learned that GameStop has $772 million of liquidity, as of April 4th. + +I have been closely following (many that know me might even say obsessively so) financial markets since high school. I'm turning 40 this fall, so we are talking over twenty years of being a Stock Market Addict (I'm paraphrasing two book titles, [Jim Cramer's Confessions of A Street Addict](https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Street-Addict-James-Cramer/dp/0743224876/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) and [Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/reminiscences-of-a-stock-operator-edwin-lefevre/1100298425?ean=9780471770886)). By the way, I read both books in my early twenties and liked them both. + +Let me save you the suspense, today's article isn't a book review, rather it is a follow up to my popular recent article, ***(see archive article to click on removed link*** [***https://archive.today/8CO9h***](https://archive.today/8CO9h) ***or just search the article he cites here)*** *It Only Takes A Spark For A Short Squeeze Inferno*, published on April 12, 2020, here on SA. + +The origins of today's title are from the recesses of my mind, when I recalled reading about an infamous letter from Indian IT services company founder, [Byrraju Ramalinga Raju](https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&q=Byrraju+Ramalinga+Raju&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgVuLSz9U3SDI3KcireMToyi3w8sc9YSmbSWtOXmM04-IKzsgvd80rySypFNLgYoOy5Lj4pJC0aTBI8XAh8XkWsYo5VRYVJWaVKgQl5ibmZOalJwJZWaUA3w5C0W8AAAA), and his former firm, Satyam Computer Services. For perspective, some equate this accounting scandal to the likes Enron, here in the U.S. + +Raju famously described carrying out his elaborate fraud as: + +>**Riding A Tiger, Not Knowing How To Get Off Without Being Eaten** + +I would argue that the GameStop (GME) shorts are presently atop that tiger, clinging on for dear life, with their mind in hyperdrive desperately trying to work out a MacGyveresque dismount. + +On Friday, April 24th, after the bell, the short interest data was reported for the period ending April 15, 2020. [Per the WSJ](https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/GME?mod=quote_search), 58.84 million shares of GameStop were sold short. To jog readers' memories, there were 55.99 million shares of GameStop sold short as of March 31, 2020 and 62.5 million shares sold short as of March 13th. + +https://preview.redd.it/ppuwoerpiod81.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=46a98996a0c94ab0efdf4211b808645e12c08ae1 + +📷Source: shortsqueeze .com + +Besides the compelling valuation in concert with the widely anticipated catalyst, late November 2020 launch dates for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, I'm absolutely fascinated by this altitude sickness inducing short interest. I have an outsized interest in short squeezes, bordering on tornado chaser obsession, and I have never seen a setup this compelling. Although it is hard to argue the counterfactual, I would argue that Edwin Lefevre would be long shares of GameStop, given the unique setup. Remember, as of March 20, 2020, and per GameStop's 10-K, there were only 64,457,992 shares of GME in existence. + +Yet if we look at the data now that is available, 58.84 million shares were sold short out of an entire share count of 64.46 million shares. In other words, 91.3% of all of GME's shares were sold short. + +Now recall my last article, along with the excellent reporting by SA Contributor ***(see archive article to click on removed link*** [***https://archive.today/8CO9h***](https://archive.today/8CO9h) ***or just search his profile on SA)*** Justin Doepierala, who has carried the in-depth GameStop reporting baton, that unless moved by GME's management team, April 20, 2020 could be the record date for voting eligibility. If we look at the tale of the tape, and Michael Burry's disclosure on April 9th was probably the catalyst, GameStop trading volume crested to a year-to-date high water mark on April 14th. However, after that upwards of 66% rally ($6.47 per share as the intra-day high) from its April 9th closing price, to its April 14th intra-day high, shares of GME traded lower and on lower volume. The only real exception to the declining pattern, since April 14th, was a 15% rally on April 20th, as some shareholders might have made sure to be long shares so that they could vote in the highly contested proxy fight between Hestia/Permit Capital and GameStop's management over two coveted board seats. + +So, if we unpack everything, I'm kind of shocked that short interest actually increased for the period ending April 15th, despite the upward share price momentum, and given the fact that Dimensional (7.1 million shares), Donald Foss (3.5 million), Michael Burry (3.4 million shares), and Must Asset Management (3.3 million shares) would have logically requested their shares be returned from securities lending programs. Please note, I did catch up with Justin, over the phone, and he politely noted that his fund is long roughly 500,000 shares, not the 350,000 shares I cited in my last piece (sorry for the oversight, Justin). + +By the way, I'm already assuming that Permit/Hestia has recalled their shares from loan, simply because they wouldn't go to the trouble and expense of waging a proxy war and then somehow forget to call in their shares from loan, so as to be ineligible to vote. Therefore, we can safely assume that Permit/Hestia ([long 4.668 million shares of its April 24, 2020 proxy filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326380/000092189520001185/defc14a12166002_04242020.htm)) shares aren't out on loan. This then only leaves 59.912 million shares in existence that could be shorted. And lo and behold, as of April 15, 2020, 58.84 million out of 59.912 million (98.2%) were sold short. + +https://preview.redd.it/ruwnuwzuiod81.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=01c3a86bcbcddb74c55d88a411e19747194b3ab3 + +📷Source: Yahoo Finance + +So, if we put this all together, I can't for the life of me work out how and why, collectively, this group of hedge funds is riding this tiger. Moreover, I have no idea whatsoever, how they will dismount without getting eaten. I'm not even sure under the coaching of Isaac Van Amburgh that they could pull this off. + +## Fundamental update + +From a fundamental standpoint, [GameStop provided an update](https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1326380/000132638020000037/gme-20200421.htm) on April 21, 2020. + +Most importantly, they noted total liquidity of $772 million, as of April 4th. + +>"As of April 4, 2020, the Company had approximately $772 million in total cash and liquidity (approximately $706 million in cash and $66 million in availability on its revolver). The Company continues to expect it has sufficient liquidity and financial flexibility to navigate the current environment." + +Recall that when GameStop published its 10-K, on March 27, 2020, they reported $769.7 million of liquidity. + +>"Our principal sources of liquidity are cash from operations, cash on hand and our revolving credit facility. As of February 1, 2020, we had total cash on hand of $499.4 million and an additional $270.3 million of available borrowing capacity under our $420 million revolving credit facility, which was undrawn as of February 1, 2020." + +So despite Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), and Amazon (AMZN) being able to be remain fully open, when the vast majority of speciality retail, and retail in general, are forced to be closed due to government COVID-19 mandates, GameStop isn't burning cash at the alarming rate hoped for by the hardcore shorts. + +Also, on April 21, 2020, we learned that shelter in place mandates tend to drive more people to play video games. Was this really not intuitive? + +[Hmmm... How are those fundamentals doing these days in 2022? ;\)](https://preview.redd.it/ievliekwiod81.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=c61cc9ee84fe340190512afeac0a5df11e539949) + +📷Source: Seeking Alpha + +## Conclusion + +As of April 15th, there were 58.84 million shares of GameStop sold short. Excluding Hestia/Permit's 4.668 million shares, as there is no way they would have forgotten to call back their shares from loan and be ineligible to vote, 98.2% of GameStop shares were sold short. Given the price action, from April 16th to April 20th, as well as relatively lower trading volume, considering the circumstances, how many shares were actually called back and are actually eligible to vote in the proxy? + +I find it highly unlikely, if not impossible that Dimensional (7.1 million shares), Donald Foss (3.5 million), Michael Burry (3.4 million shares), and Must Asset Management (3.3 million shares), collectively controlling 17.3 million shares, as of the most recently available reporting data, didn't ask their prime brokers to have their shares recalled from loan. + +Therefore, I'm shocked that as of April 15, 2020, the reported short interest wasn't in the mid to high 40 million share range. + +Now the other nuance, and Justin pointed this out, is that GameStop's management can slightly move the goalposts by slightly delaying the annual meeting date and subsequent record date for voting eligibility. We will only know when GameStop's management officially announces it. + +But even then, would Dimensional, Foss, Burry, and Must Asset play Russian roulette trying to guess that GameStop's management would extend the voting date and therefore didn't want to forgo earnings an extra week of annualized interest north of 100% to lend their shares? + +Enclosed below, you can see that last week, the daily cost to borrow GameStop short hit a high water mark of 140%. It was 97.6% as of Friday's close, and only 10,000 shares could be located for borrow. + +https://preview.redd.it/a3bdq644jod81.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=3635519f2c0be7e3475d1ac704626cfa720a65aa + +📷 [Source: Interactive Brokers](https://iborrowdesk.com/report/gme) + +This coming Friday is May 1st. The shelter in play mandate will most likely be in place for May and maybe even for June. I live in Massachusetts and school has been canceled for rest of the year, and daycares are mandated closed until June 29th. + +We saw that March 2020 was the best month for video games in twelve years and we learned from GameStop's April 21st update that sales are holding up nicely despite being limited to curbside pick up and only online sales channels. As of April 4, 2020, the company had $772 million of liquidity. + +Given GameStop's strong liquidity, I would hope that they are buying every single 6.75% 3/15/2021 (cusip:36467WAB5) bond that anyone is willing to sell them at $0.80 on the dollar or less. If GameStop was able to retire $50 million (face value) of bonds at $0.80 on the dollar that would save $10 million as well as the 6.75% interest expense. That is very accretive to a company that only has a market capitalization of $308 million (as of April 24th). + +https://preview.redd.it/eili0ny5jod81.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=d46c752e03fa44de7feb7fd4c7d87c5a88f3d7ce + +📷Source: Fidelity + +When I synthesize the situation, I have no idea how the shorts will dismount from this tiger. There is a phrase in Bob Dylan's recently released masterpiece, Murder Most Foul: + +>"Greatest magic trick ever under the sun..." + +The world awaits the greatest magic trick. As for me, I'm long and betting on that hungry tiger. + +🟣 + +🟣🟣🟣🟣 + +🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 + +&#x200B; + +***EDIT:*** + +* *IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY, GO CHECK OUT* u/Freadom6\*'s POST EXPLORING ALL THE HIGHLY SHORTED STOCKS FROM 2020/2021:\* [***https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/q1w5z8/the\_short\_game\_exposed\_exploring\_leverage\_in\_75/***](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/q1w5z8/the_short_game_exposed_exploring_leverage_in_75/) ***---*** *Freadom6 also let me know* *you can Google "heavily shorted stocks October 2020 seeking alpha" to find the other article discussing GME and the heavily shorted stocks ;)* + +* 🟣 *ALSO, DRS YOUR SHARES UNTIL YOUR FINGERS BLEED* 🟣*:* [***https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ptvaka/when\_you\_wish\_upon\_a\_star\_a\_complete\_guide\_to/***](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ptvaka/when_you_wish_upon_a_star_a_complete_guide_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) +I have started studying forex for a month and a half and, even though the 90% statistic scares me, I continue using market simulators for trades and stockpile pdf's to read. But taking all of this into account, will it be enough or is there a threshold I must cross to join the 10%? Does it take time and expertise or a sharp mind? I myself have autism, I find that I'm not too intelligent or clever when it comes to understanding market movements. I have +30 books to read by now, so I won't be hitting that threshold soon, but I want to know if I will be able or not to succeed in this. +I finally got to watch the full video and there were a couple of things she mentioned that I felt were real big. + +In answer to the question "What can we do?" she responded that we can go to nasaa.org and +inspectors-of-election.com. + + +[NASAA.ORG](https://www.nasaa.org/) + +At the top of the home page is a button to [contact your regulator](https://www.nasaa.org/contact-your-regulator/) and show them all the wonderful DD. She stated that this was the organization that brought the NYSE to the Overstock panel to answer questions. + +[Inspectors of Elections](http://inspectors-of-election.com/) (No https unfortunately) + +She mentioned this one was organized by a guy named[ Carl Hadberg](https://carlhagberg.com/). When there's a shareholder vote and there are more votes than shares exist, the results should not be accepted. Instead, they call these guys and that's where evidence like naked shorts and FTD fuckery gets brought to light. + +If this was already posted, sorry, but I didn't see it yet and I thought it was important for everyone to see. + +Edit0: This might be late night thinking, but I wonder what effect having apes from around the world utilizing these links would do as well. + +Edit1: +u/sillyorganism had the same idea and made a template for apes to use in another post: +https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/n1rgr2/please_read_and_take_action_dr_t_suggested/ +I hope this helps! + +Edit2:Some folks have commented stating the template gives off tin foil hat vibes and seems a bit emotive, but it's a good jumping off point you can use to formulate a well thought out, mature submission. +Warning: Very long (but also super interesting, I promise)! + +**What if I told you that you could anonymously borrow $200+ million dollars in the blink of an eye without posting any collateral, and without even assuming any liability for the loan?** + +This sounds impossible on many levels, and would be an outrageous concept in traditional finance, but it is a reality in DeFi. With a little effort, you could be borrowing millions of dollars by the end of the day with no collateral. + +Of course, there are a few limitations that I have not yet mentioned. For one thing, as far as I know, there is still no user-friendly way to do this. You would need to be able to write and deploy the Solidity smart contract yourself (there are a few guides on how to do this floating around the web). Eventually, it is expected that Aave and other protocols will offer flash loans in their user interface rather than requiring that you interact directly with their lending pools using your own smart contract. + +The next limitation of flash loans is absolutely critical: the loan must be repaid (with interest, which is usually a bit under 1%) within seconds of when you take it out. More specifically, it must be repaid by the time the Ethereum transaction ends. + +The third limitation is that everything you do with the funds in between borrowing them and returning them must happen inside the Ethereum ecosystem; you cannot move those assets off the Ethereum network. + +This still doesn’t make sense, right? What happens if you don’t or can’t repay it? What does it even mean to repay a loan inside the same transaction that you took it in? What is the point of having $200 million for 10 seconds? To answer these questions, we need to take a look at how flash loans actually work. + +The first thing we need to understand is Ethereum transactions. Thanks to smart contracts, Ethereum transactions aren’t just a simple transfer of assets; they can contain any arbitrary logic. Moreover, these transactions can contain more transactions inside themselves (and these transactions can even contain transactions in themselves). So, Ethereum transactions can nest in each other. The top-level transaction can *only* succeed if every single transaction it contains also succeeds. + +This last sentence is a very important concept known as *atomicity* (which comes from ancient Greek for “indivisible”). For smart contract platforms, the property of atomicity means that a transaction must either entirely succeed or entirely fail; it can’t partly succeed. So, if a single sub-transaction inside a top-level transaction fails, then the *entire* top-level transaction will fail, which means every sub-transaction it contains will fail, and therefore nothing at all will actually happen on the blockchain, besides a record of the failed transaction. + +Only once a transaction has fully succeeded is it added to the blockchain as an immutable fact of history. Until that moment, *everything that happens on the Ethereum network is reversible*. Ethereum knows how to backtrack any arbitrary sequence of transactions in the case that the parent transaction has failed. + +For example, let’s say I make a transaction containing 3 sub-transactions; one involving borrowing something on Aave, another involving selling something on SushiSwap, and the third involving buying something on Uniswap. Now, let’s say the Aave transaction succeeds, the SushiSwap transaction succeeds, but then the Uniswap fails (due to insufficient gas limit for example). This failure causes the entire top-level transaction to fail, which will cause the SushiSwap sell and the Aave borrow to reverse. In effect, those things never actually happened. All that is added to the blockchain is a record of that failed transaction that was attempted. + +If, however, all 3 transactions succeed, then the top-level transaction will complete successfully, and it will then be added to the blockchain, meaning all 3 sub-transactions have actually happened, and now can’t be reversed. + +This finally brings us back to flash loans. When you take out a flash loan, an Ethereum transaction begins. The first sub-transaction inside this top-level transaction is the actual transferring of the funds you are borrowing to your address. Next, you are free to do any sequence of transactions you like in order to try to turn a profit on the funds you’ve borrowed. You can interact with any protocols, DEXes, AMMs, or whatever kind of contracts you like, in whatever way and whatever order. The only limit is that you cannot move the funds outside of the Ethereum network; otherwise, you would simply be able to take the money and run, since the loan is anonymous and uncollateralized. + +No matter what sub-transactions you include in the smart contract, the very last sub-transaction of a flash loan must always be full repayment of the loan with interest. If you succeed in repaying the loan and interest, then the entire flash loan transaction will complete successfully. The lender will get their funds back plus interest, and you get to keep any additional profits you managed to create with whatever you did between borrowing and returning the funds. This entire transaction will now be added to the blockchain as an immutable fact of history. + +If, however, you cannot repay the loan with interest by the end of the top-level transaction (say you somehow managed to lose some of the funds in the few seconds since the flash loan started), then the final sub-transaction (the repayment one) will fail. Due to atomicity, this will cause the whole flash loan transaction to fail, meaning every sub-transaction will fail, reversing every action taken by your smart contract, including even the first sub-transaction in which you received the borrowed funds. + +In other words, **if you can’t repay your flash loan with interest by the end of the transaction, then you never even borrowed the funds in the first place**! Flash loans are thus kind of like Schrodinger's loans: if they turn a profit, then they are real; otherwise, they never existed. + +So, how does one actually use the funds to turn a profit during the few seconds between the beginning and end of the flash loan transaction? The only real use-case people have worked out so far is arbitrage (the act of taking advantage of a price difference between two markets for the same asset, and then buying in the cheaper market and selling in the more expensive one and pocketing the difference). So, a realistic flash loan smart contract would most likely involve a bot that is searching for sufficiently large arbitrage opportunities, and then, upon finding one, taking out a huge flash loan, using those funds to execute the arbitrage play in a huge way, and then repaying the funds and pocketing the profit. + +In a sense, a flash loan is like a brief, anonymous partnership between two parties who each bring an important resource to the alliance. The lender(s) is basically saying “I have tons of money and am interested in multiplying it, but I don’t have the patience or know-how to do it”. The borrower is basically saying “I have extensive knowledge of DeFi, smart contracts, Solidity, and arbitrage, so I know how to multiply money, but I don’t have enough capital to make it worth my while”. For a few seconds, these people anonymously join forces, and, if it works out, the lender walks away with their 0.9% interest, and the borrower walks away with the remainder of the profits. If it doesn’t work out, then the flash loan never happened in the first place; no harm, no foul. + +These parties can sometimes walk away with millions of dollars in profit after a 10 second transaction, and **neither party assumes any risk at all for the flash loan** (besides inherent smart contract risk). If it doesn’t work out, it simply never happened; this is why you don’t need a credit check or collateral or anything. The lender doesn’t need to worry about a loan default, and the borrower doesn’t need to worry about being saddled with debt liability. + +So, if people can anonymously borrow huge amounts of money with no risk for either party, why are flash loans not mainstream? + +Well, for one, they are quite a new invention. Moreover, *they just feel wrong*. Flash loans don’t really sit well with anyone. It feels like having your cake, and eating it too. It just seems like it shouldn’t be possible to borrow $200 million with no risk (by the way, there is no theoretical limit to flash loan sizes; I just keep saying $200 million because I believe that’s the biggest one ever taken so far. It’s only limited by lending liquidity). + +For these reasons, flash loans have seen slow, hesitant adoption among DeFi protocols and users (even extremely savvy ones). Nevertheless, for people who are actually willing to learn how to write flash loan arbitrage contracts, it’s basically free money sitting on the ground. + +One final reason that the crypto world has been very hesitant in embracing flash loans is that they have been used for a few high-profile DeFi exploits. Basically, some extremely savvy users have found ways to use flash loans combined with complex strings of interactions with various protocols in order to do things like momentarily trick price feed oracles or briefly de-peg stablecoins on a single exchange, or whatever. Flash loans allow these exploiters to drastically multiply how much profit they can get from their ploys. These attacks require extremely deep knowledge of all the protocols involved, and often involve 4 or 5 steps, all very nuanced and clever. These exploits have all been immediately patched when they happen; after all, the vulnerabilities exist not in the flash loans themselves, but in whatever protocols are used in the exploit. If someone can do these exploits with flash loans, then somebody else who simply has that much money to begin with could have done the exact same thing. + +(By the way, if you’re looking for deeper and more challenging reading on flash loans, I highly recommend looking up the couple major flash loan attacks that have happened. They are extremely interesting, nuanced, and ingenious, regardless of your position on the ethics surrounding them.) + +Because the only news stories that even mention flash loans have been about the 2 or 3 big flash loan attacks, most people have only ever heard of them in the context of exploits, and thus most people associate flash loans with nothing but hacks and attacks. + +I am sure the day will come when they will be normalized, but today is not that day. One thing is sure though: they can’t be de-invented. The cat is out of the box. As long as there are DeFi protocols willing to support flash loans and DeFi users willing to use them, then they will be forever available to anyone willing to take the plunge. + +Anyway, this is getting atrociously long, so I will end it here. I hope you enjoyed the read, and that it has left you as intrigued by (and as uncomfortable with) the idea of flash loans as I am! + +EDIT: Many commenters have mentioned something very valid that I forgot to include. You must pay the gas fees for the transaction, whether it succeeds or fails. These gas fees can be pretty high if there are many complicated sub-transactions. So, technically, you can lose money taking flash loans due to gas fees. You just aren't subject to liability for the loan itself, and the lender is not subject to default risk. + +EDIT 2: I realized that I implied flash loans only exist on Ethereum simply by not mentioning any other blockchain. In fact, they are on BSC also, and I think I've heard they've come to a couple other chains as well. I just default to talking about Ethereum because it is the ecosystem that I am most familiar with. + +EDIT 3: It turns out that there are indeed user-friendly flash loans services now! I am behind the times! So, I was wrong when I said "as far as I know, there is still no user-friendly way to do this". DefiSaver provides you with a user interface that allows you to take out flash loans through Aave or dYdX. They also provide a service that wields flash loans to allow you to refinance DeFi loans from one protocol to another in a single atomic operation (which is new to me). Please check out the top comment by u/nikola_j; they seem to be on the DefiSaver team, and are willing to answer people's questions about it! + +In addition to DefiSaver, it also turns out that Instadapp offers a user interface for flash loans! +Back in March, long before a short seller would raise questions about electric-truck company Nikola Corp. and hasten its founder’s exit, **early investors in the company were expressing concerns of their own. Those investors, led by mutual-fund giant Fidelity Investments, were worried that Trevor Milton, for all his brash visionary talk and Twitter braggadocio, lacked the ability that Elon Musk possesses to deliver these sorts of newfangled products to market. They lobbied successfully to remove him as CEO before the company’s June IPO and for Milton’s father to leave the board, according to people familiar with the matter. When the deal was done, Milton only held the title of chairman, the post he resigned this month.** + +The back-room negotiations show that Milton’s past was a concern to investors months before General Motors Co. executives placed a bet on the company in a US$2 billion deal carved out after the IPO. They liked Milton’s vision and his ability to raise cash and felt the venture was safeguarded from his shortcomings in operations by his push upstairs, say people familiar with the matter. Nonetheless, the events that have unfolded since the short-seller report, with Nikola’s stock plunging amid a steady stream of negative headlines, have exposed just how high the risks still were. + +Now, it’s up to former GM Vice Chairman Steve Girsky, whose blank-check company VectoIQ took Nikola public via reverse merger in June, and Nikola CEO Mark Russell to stabilize the business and regain investor confidence. The plan with GM was to use Nikola’s hot stock and Milton’s ability to raise money to build a hydrogen-fueled trucking business with GM’s technology. + +“There is obviously someone on the diligence side who isn’t going to get a nice bonus this year,” said Reilly Brennan, founder of the venture capital fund Trucks Inc. “The best possible thing if you’re a shareholder is that Milton is no longer running the company and you have Girsky as chairman and GM providing technology.” + +The GM deal was originally scheduled to close Sept. 30, and the automaker has said it plans to carry through, but that timing may slip, say people familiar with the matter. BP Plc is still engaged with Nikola in talks to partner on a network of hydrogen fueling stations for fuel-cell trucks the company hopes to sell, but also is slowing the pace for a deal, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. BP and GM declined to comment. + +Milton’s tale reads like a Greek tragedy. The report by short seller Hindenburg Research accused Milton of overhyping Nikola’s technology and has prompted investigations by the Justice Department and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A cousin has accused him of a decades-ago sexual assault, which he denies. The company’s value peaked at US$30 billion and is now worth about US$7 billion. + +Girsky and GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra have both said publicly that they did plenty of due diligence. People familiar with the matter say that GM found out when scouting the deal that it had better batteries and fuel-cell technology but joined forces because Nikola had a working semi truck and access to capital markets. In addition, GM will get paid to build Nikola’s Badger pickup on existing assembly lines. Milton was so excited to get the Badger pickup program moving that he signed a deal that heavily favored GM, one of the people said. + +Nikola’s stock and GM’s US$2 billion stake are worth less than half what they were on Sept. 8, when the deal was announced. Milton’s own stake is worth US$1.7 billion, down from almost US$5 billion at one point. + +Milton said in a June interview with Bloomberg News that he grew up in modest surroundings in Layton, Utah. His family moved to Las Vegas when he was very young and he lost his mother to cancer shortly after moving back to Utah in the sixth grade. He wrote on Twitter he didn’t finish high school, earning an equivalency certification instead, and later dropped out of college. His Twitter account has since been deleted. + +He grew up in a tight-knit Mormon family, according to Aubrey Smith, his first cousin. She went on social media recently and accused him of sexually assaulting her in 1999 when she was 15 and he was 17. + +In a public account on Facebook and Twitter, and repeated in a phone interview, Smith said that Milton came onto her at the funeral of their grandfather. He took her shirt off without permission, Smith wrote, and then he touched her inappropriately before someone knocked at the door and she ran out. + +Milton denied the allegations through a spokesman. + +Smith said Milton raised money from family members to get his start. He founded and ran several businesses, including a home-security company that Milton claims he sold for US$1.5 million. Next, in 2009, he founded an e-commerce platform called Upillar.com, which Milton claims “pioneered the shopping cart online.” + +Then he got into clean propulsion but ended up embroiled in litigation with dHybrid Inc., which he founded in 2009. The company retrofitted diesel vehicles with natural-gas-burning turbines, claiming the dual system had greater efficiency. + +But a deal with Swift Transportation Co. in 2010 ended in court when Swift alleged dHybrid defaulted on a US$322,000 loan and that it retrofitted only half of the agreed vehicles. The case was dismissed in 2015. + +Milton later tried to sell dHybrid to a company called sPower in May 2012 but that, too, got mired in lawsuits after sPower backed out and accused Milton of exaggerating its technological capabilities. + +Amid the litigation, Milton started another company with a very similar name, dHybrid Systems, selling it in 2014 to Worthington Industries. + +During an interview with Bloomberg in June, Milton said that dHybrid Inc. was a success but conceded that, “we ended up closing that one down because of some litigation.” + +His next startup was Nikola, founding it in 2014 in Salt Lake City before moving to Phoenix. Emulating Musk, he took the name from the electricity pioneer Nikola Tesla, and the company was soon billed as the Tesla of Trucks. His plan was seen as potentially disrupting the entire transportation industry by making trucks that ran on batteries or hydrogen-fuel cells. He also planned to build a network of hydrogen filling stations. + +Friends and Family + +Milton had friends and family members working for Nikola despite resumes that didn’t match the job. His brother, Travis Milton, is director of hydrogen and infrastructure. His LinkedIn profile shows that most of his experience was being “self-employed” in Maui. The short seller, Hindenburg Research, said that Travis Milton poured concrete as a contractor. Milton’s father Bill was originally on the board but stepped down when VectoIQ took the company public. + +The company’s stock prospectus said that Nikola had awarded more than 3 million stock options “to recognize the superior performance and contribution of specific employees.” The list included Travis Milton and an uncle, Lance Milton, the document said, acknowledging that they are relatives. + +As Milton went public with Nikola’s technology, questions soon arose involving his claims about the company’s fuel-cell system. He bragged in an investor video in 2019 that the company had created “what other manufacturers said was impossible to design.” But while Nikola holds patents in fuel-cell and battery technology, most of its planned hardware was coming from German supplier Robert Bosch Gmbh. + +Nikola Demonstrations + +It became clear that Milton had gotten ahead of himself. A 2016 demonstration showed a truck that didn’t have a working hydrogen-fuel-cell system and was missing key parts, people familiar with the matter said in June. Milton said at the time that the parts were removed as a safety precaution. + +In July of this year, he recorded a video of the semi truck in which he ran alongside the vehicle as it coasted at low speeds in a parking lot. Aping Musk’s combative social-media persona, Milton took a shot at his detractors saying, “these damned trolls, I wonder if they are going to apologize to everyone for the lies they spread the tens of thousands of comments about how fake we are.” + +Girsky said in the webcast “Autoline This Week,” in which Bloomberg participated, that he has been in Nikola’s fuel-cell trucks and that they work. + +Still, when the GM deal was done, GM will be supplying all of the technology for every global market except Europe. Nikola’s pickup truck, called Badger, will use GM’s Ultium battery, and the semis will run on a fuel cell developed by GM and Honda Motor Co. + +Since Milton’s departure, Nikola has billed itself more as an integrator of other technologies into its Badger pickup and semi trucks. + +For GM’s part, the automaker is protected from any financial downside. GM got 11 per cent of the stock for no cash investment and gets paid for its technology. If Nikola fails, GM won’t lose a dime. + +Milton has remained silent and is out of the company. He unknowingly presaged his own downfall in the June interview with Bloomberg: “Part of becoming a better person in life is losing everything you have got and having nothing left.” + +https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/nikola-founder-milton-s-fall-reveals-what-his-backers-feared-1.1500376 +[https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wirecard-shares-plunge-after-saying-auditor-cant-find-billions-of-missing-cash-2020-06-18](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wirecard-shares-plunge-after-saying-auditor-cant-find-billions-of-missing-cash-2020-06-18) + +"Wirecard [**WDI,** **-54.44%**](https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/WDI?countryCode=DE&mod=MW_story_quote) [**WCAGY,** **+5.27%**](https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/WCAGY?mod=MW_story_quote) shares lost 48% as the firm said Ernst & Young said it didn’t have sufficient audit evidence for €1.9 billion euros in cash." + +I'm guessing this news is more relevant to those in Germany or watching the crypto-currency space. + +How do you say ruh-roh in German btw? +[https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wirecard-shares-plunge-after-saying-auditor-cant-find-billions-of-missing-cash-2020-06-18](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wirecard-shares-plunge-after-saying-auditor-cant-find-billions-of-missing-cash-2020-06-18) + +"Wirecard [**WDI,** **-54.44%**](https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/WDI?countryCode=DE&mod=MW_story_quote) [**WCAGY,** **+5.27%**](https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/WCAGY?mod=MW_story_quote) shares lost 48% as the firm said Ernst & Young said it didn’t have sufficient audit evidence for €1.9 billion euros in cash." + +I'm guessing this news is more relevant to those in Germany or watching the crypto-currency space. + +How do you say ruh-roh in German btw? +this is a post to motivate and appreciate our fellow investors not from finance background to show their best or most memorable trading moments and share about the beginning of their journey. +And anyone telling you it makes no difference if it’s 220% or 1000% is either a straight up shill or stupider than shit. + +Their argument is that as long as apes hold it makes no difference. But with the real number, the over 1000% number, all the apes don’t have to hold for the diamond handers to get the sp to astronomical numbers. + +There can be a bunch of paper handers along the way, which will temporarily lower the price with that increased sell pressure at the psychological price points where msm and shills will go into overdrive making apes think it’s a good time to sell, but it won’t matter one iota for those that hold because when the paper handers are all out of the way si will remain well over 200%. + +This saga has become the ultimate narrative war because perception is reality when it comes to when we decide to buy and sell our positions. If the 220% short interest is taken as fact by the majority then when it gets to pretty high numbers and then starts to go down based on paper handers ringing the register, the decision on whether to hold or sell some or all of the position will be tougher than if the over 1000% short interest is taken as fact. So yeah, it matters. + +Every indication is that retail from around the world has done nothing but buy nonstop over the last six months. A large percentage of those retail holders already had a big position in January and never sold a share during the sneeze and its aftermath. The total float is only 77 million shares and sp was less than $100 for long stretches of this saga. The chart doesn’t act naturally. Huge red candles appear to intercept the green candles over and over again. That’s not retail. Retail is buying and holding. There’s no way daytraders, with the tiny positions they take, could have that much of an impact against the entire shareholder base holding its position and buying more every day. That only leaves short selling. + +It’s over 1000%. It has to be. It’s probably far more than 1000%. +A few months ago, I wrote on this sub that my objective for 2022 was getting a job in crypto. It worked : I got hired for a start-up in December, and started to work for them in January. I resigned a few weeks ago, and now I want to share my (not so good) story with you. + +(I won't name the company in question, because I have signed a NDA. But rest assured : you never heard of it before, and it's not a major player in the ecosystem - it's not even a minor player.) + +First of all, **the level of disorganisation and chaos was absolute madness**. Each morning we had a different objective, based on the most recent trend in the market. NFTs are becoming popular? Let's do NFTs! This particular token is performing well? Let's buy it, even if it's at ATH! One of our product doesn't work anymore because we rushed a bug-fixing patch? Let's pretend that never happened and let's keep pushing rosy marketing articles! + +I know that start-ups are notoriously disorganised. I get it. But you can't expect to be a profitable company, or even be a productive member of the crypto ecosystem, if you can't even define your objectives and stick to it. + +Secondly, **we cheated.** What I mean is that we bought bots for our TG channels, we faked users in our Discord, and we partenered with dubious "influencers" to make it look like our products were far more popular than they really were. This kind of stuff is what gives crypto it's bad reputation to the outside world, and I deeply regret having been a part of this for a short time. + +And finally, and I think this is the most important part : **the founders didn't care about the crypto ecosystem at all**. Their main objective was making as much money as quickly as possible. We were acting like an evil hedge fund, precisely the type of institution crypto is supposed to fight. + +I felt sad. I felt like a scammer. So I quitted. And, keeping in line with everything I wrote before, **they didn't pay me for my last week of work**. They just ghosted me. + +So... yeah. + +I don't want to discourage people from getting a job in crypto. I still believe in the future of this industry. **But I would advise to stick with the well-known companies of our ecosystem**, and not waste your time in little-known start-ups that have big dreams, but can't deliver. We have a long, very long way to go before we become a respectable industry. +Hey there everyone. + +I really didnt plan on earnings day to be posting this - this really is just a coincidence. + +Over the last 587 days, there has been more than a couple of DDs, memes,shitposts that have been launched. + +and it has been a little while since i posted as well so I wanted to update y'all. + +# I forgot to do the 1:4 split as dividend for my dashboard. that is not the ape historian way.- so its now done - on earnings day, 7th of september 2022. + +so thats what I did. By the time you finish reading this post you will know exactly what is coming - again this is a phased project as its just too massive. + +the original dashboard should now have 4 pages - if possible i will add all the "old" data there so you can tab through it - if it is not possible I will just embed other powerbi links within the dashboard - so far it looks like option 2 is going to be better - after all all you gotta do is remember the site url or the url of my original dashboard - you wont have to remember all other dashboards. + +# the dashboard that some of you may know - which is below is getting 3 more pages - 1 page for 3 pages - the splividend , get it? + +feature 1: the dashboard you all already know - the scores dont really work after july 2021 but its semi current.- this is getting a few extra pages. + +before that - here is what is new - ahem - all posts that are related to gme or hedge funds or meme stocks are backed up - **thats 12.5+ million posts** \- not all of this is available in the dashboard - its now a challenge to clean those up and store them - thankfully i can confirm 95% of all good conversation is in the subs that i already backed up. + +page 2 **Feature 2: the "ARCHIVE" page -LIVE NOW** \- allthats 12.5+ million posts posts that got more than 125 upvotes across ahem, all subs - are now on IPFS - this is not every single post, but its sure is a lot more than it used to be - a grand total of \~700k posts that are now on ipfs as well. last time i had 6000 posts and it wasn't very quick - as many of you have found out. I have included all uusb posts in the archive file = filter out for that specific sub if you dont want to see it. + +There are a few modifications that ive done + +1. anyone and everyone who wants a copy of the posts can get it - i can post instructions as needed later on - but you can also do it yourself by copying the CID of the post - +2. it is now copied across multiple nodes so you shouldnt see as much slowdown. +3. instead of releasing one link (hug of death like before) i am releasing a few in this release, and it will update roughly every week, bringing in all the old and new dd into the limelight. + +**page 3 Feature 3: all comments from 2020 to 2022- fully searchable like my current dashboard:** + +**page 4 / Feature 4:** what do you need? let me know below. + +So how does this monstrosity work? + +well it works through IPFS. i went from having almost everything on premises to moving a lot of data to a distributed file system like IPFS. + +we all know this post - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/na3akt/all\_the\_confirmation\_bias\_i\_need\_right\_here\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/na3akt/all_the_confirmation_bias_i_need_right_here_in/) + +but we dont know that its actually hosted on IPFS , with CID id - unique identifier - + +bafybeidk76pj2uscjrs6m5g4wrh3w65bnlhsw4hfibtiqyzociof2jrnny + +so there are a couple of ways to get there . the first one is to download ipfs desktop and add the CID of this file to your list of files you wish to store - but this is super slow and not very user friendly. + +i ended up using w3link to make managing theses files a little easier for me -for the ones who really want to know how it works: + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/102hbc55cgm91.png?width=893&format=png&auto=webp&s=2e6561d4283c0b88cfd28d7bea1dfe954f061851 + +[https://github.com/web3-storage/w3link](https://github.com/web3-storage/w3link) + +&#x200B; + +this allows someone like me to create not only a local IPFS copy, by copying the CID of the file, but also to create a unique pointer to this file - so that its viewable online - with no extra software necessary. + +so here we go CID + w3link extension means: + +[w3s.link/ipfs/bafybeidk76pj2uscjrs6m5g4wrh3w65bnlhsw4hfibtiqyzociof2jrnny](https://w3s.link/ipfs/bafybeidk76pj2uscjrs6m5g4wrh3w65bnlhsw4hfibtiqyzociof2jrnny) \- which is the same post as below: or prefix with https: and add the [ipfs.ws3.link](https://ipfs.ws3.link) at t the end - although you will never have to do that because its all automated. [https://bafybeidk76pj2uscjrs6m5g4wrh3w65bnlhsw4hfibtiqyzociof2jrnny.ipfs.w3s.link/](https://bafybeidk76pj2uscjrs6m5g4wrh3w65bnlhsw4hfibtiqyzociof2jrnny.ipfs.w3s.link/) + +fun fact - you can also curl the file via the mac or linux terminal "curl [w3s.link/ipfs/bafybeidk76pj2uscjrs6m5g4wrh3w65bnlhsw4hfibtiqyzociof2jrnny](https://w3s.link/ipfs/bafybeidk76pj2uscjrs6m5g4wrh3w65bnlhsw4hfibtiqyzociof2jrnny)" - and you now have a copy of it - if you wish. you can also add the CID to your own IPFS desktop application if you wish - it will be easier to track what you have and what you don't + +https://preview.redd.it/253bccpicgm91.png?width=779&format=png&auto=webp&s=b93dd72f59149b4167b9600e455e85d65af38c79 + +but here is the fun part: because there is a lookup in my dashboard from every post, every author, and every dd - you dont have to remember these links - you can just rememeber the site - IPFS will handle all the redundancy calculations to make sure it doesnt go down. + +So lets recap what we already have - + +* we have a dashboard with scores fixed up to july 2022 - so you can filter by top posts. +* around 50% of all posts that are in the dashboard under the archive "page" are now backed up to ipfs as well. + +so here is the screenshot of what it looks like: + +note that you have the waybackmachine link - the [archive.Is](https://archive.Is) or [archive.ph](https://archive.ph) link - now you see why i asked you to submit the posts for the last 6 months and my own IFPS link. + +that is 3 redundant methods of reading the DD and all posts - if for some reason one of the methods shows that the post was deleted - or that the backup doesnt exist - the other two method may have something. + +so for a quick demo - please head over to the dashboard that you all know already or the site and click on and click on "for a searchable post database: please [see this link](https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiMDljZTA3NGUtMjJiYS00YjQwLTk5MTktM2VlNWQ5ODViYjM5IiwidCI6IjI4YzVlNGJkLTVkNmMtNGI1OS1hMGU5LTBhMjQ0Mzk4OTNiZSJ9)" + +In the archive page aka page 2 it wont be absolutely everything just yet - all the subs - and i mean all subs that had anything to do with gme have been backed up - they just arent on the dashboard as yet. + +Next feature and update - full comments search -filtering out the crap comments - sorry guys, i am hitting data limits to be able to visualise this all. + +**Some closing statements** + +THE ARCHIVE will update every week until all posts are on IPFS and all the links are in the dashboard. From then on it will update every year- Thats right ill update it next year if need be - i aint fucking leaving. + +The original page 1 is going to get a refresh and mirror the archive page as much as possible - I will update it quietly without making a post. + +comments will be up and searchable as soon as possible. + +The 4th feature if it is ever released is set by you - the community - let me know what you want and ill try and get page 4 to fit what you need. + +If you want to just filter out for all posts that are on IPFS and are in the dashboard (there are many many more) just go to "id\_from\_ipfs filter", click select all, and uncheck the blank one -t should now be at the top. + +if anyone actually wants the archive dashboard link separately - its on page 2 of the original dashboard - + +PS- if you go to the archive page and you only see about 200 odd posts saved - thats "normal" - i am backfilling and checking all the ipfs nodes as i go so when it comes to apes clicking the link everything actually works - it will scale to 1000 posts online to 10,000 posts online to 1.6m+ posts online pretty quickly. + +&#x200B; + +[the pages](https://preview.redd.it/umiqayn01hm91.png?width=1769&format=png&auto=webp&s=aa8ab0da33cac13f1d7ebc238c88b2c36713b289) + +for those of you who cant find the pages just click on the 1 of 4. the post body has been removed from the table but its still fully searchable - just as before. + +the major additions is the ability to search by reddit it - in case you find something on waybackmachine or [archive.is](https://archive.is) that you want to double check with the dashboard. + +# dashboard split in the form of dividend(s) complete - unlike the dtcc, allegedly. - dtcc - please say something - did you deliver the shares or not? just 1 tweet from your twitter account - would be nice. + +ps -if the dashboard doesn't update please refresh the page in 10 minutes or so - i found this to be an issue when a few thousand people try to hit the same powerbi link on page 2. + +Ape historian + +destoyer of harddrive space and now an IPFS host (multiple nodes) +I hope this has been covered here before but I wanted to share my experience to try and help others from going down the same path. + +Rule 1) The most important thing to remember is to NEVER trust anyone when it comes to money and yes, this includes your own family. Always know your financial status, especially if you are going to be the one footing the bill later. + +Rule 2) Manage your own financial aid while in school. I know it is more work and sometimes it can be too much to take if it is your first time but this gives you experience in handling loans and you will benefit from this later. Plus, you know exactly what you are in for once you graduate. need assistance? That's what the financial aid office is for. Only involve others when it is an absolute must and for god sake don't give your financial login info to your parents or anyone else for that matter. + +If you follow these simple rules, you should be able to avoid the mess I have gotten myself into. + +Now story time: + +While in school, my parents took it upon themselves to manage my money. They made sure I had my school expenses covered and that I had enough overage to cover my living costs, etc. I thought all was fine. I mean I did struggle sometimes at the end of a semester where I ran out of cash, but they would eventually give me a little "help" to get me through (keep this in mind, it becomes important later). I did find it odd that anytime I asked about my financial situation, they would give me an excuse and would never really let me take a look, but, i mean, they are trustworthy, right? I mean they raised me after all. Boy was I wrong + +Fast forward to graduation (2010). + +Loans are coming due and I have no job. So, I didn't really push my parents about getting my loan info. However, whenever I did, I thought something was odd since my parents tried to hide some of my loan information from me or they just wouldn't give it to me. They said not to worry about it though and that they were taking care of them and would start to pay them back for me. + +At this point, the grace period is up for my loans. I push my parents for my student loan info. They finally give it to me, turns out, they haven't made a single payment and I am overdue for all of my loans. They say i need to get my shit together and get these loans under control. This is typical for my parents, being a root cause and blaming others, so i didn't really think that much about it. + +I did finally get most of it ironed out and figured out I was close to $90,000.00 in debt. Now, at first, I just normalized this and thought everyone graduated with this much debt over their heads (in state public uni). I mean, it did take me 5 years to graduate after all. So, I stopped looking into my loans and just started paying them. + +Fast forward to present day. + +Here I sit, about 8 years after graduating. still in debt and still piecing the puzzle together of why I owe so much. There were some red flags that I should've caught but didn't. However, recently, I found out about nslds, the national student loan database. I highly recommend using this. From here, I found out that I did have grants that covered most of my college tuition. Furthermore, I found that my parents, including grant money, took out over $25,000.00 per semester for my last year. After covering the semesters tuition, books, and rent, it still set me up for over $2,000.00 a month in spending money. Remember when I said I ran out of money at the end of the semester? yeah, that should've never happened. + +It turns out, they were pocketing most of the overages. + +Now, I know this looks bad but really, It's because it is. My parents were going through a financial hardship at the time (dad was laid off). However, this never gives anyone the right to take money from you. They pretty much made their problem my problem. + +The issue is, in my opinion, your family is more apt to take advantage of you than anyone else. They have already gained your trust and you look to them for life advice and guidance for most of your childhood. This is where I messed up, I should've never put that much trust into anyone. + +However, the fault is both ways. From what I have seen, parents, in particular, are even more apt to take advantage. They tend to justify it to themselves fairly easily. For example, when they originally did this, they most likely thought this would get them by until they were able to pay my student loans. They kept telling me that they wanted to help me pay and that they wanted to pay for my college....they just seem to over estimate what their financial future will look like and have never been in a position where helping me was an option. Now, here I am suffering from their lack of money management competence. + +If I was more willing to deal with my student loans myself, this would have been something that I could have immediately caught. I mean, how hard would it have been to see THAT much in overages? + +In conclusion, just don't trust people with money. They may have good intentions at the time but that's all it turns out to be. Be vigilant. know what your expenses are and only take what you need and finally, if someone is taking care of your loans for you and won't send you an overview immediately when asked, you should stop everything and figure out what is going on. + +I used to be one of those people who were always saying, I would hate to be one of those people who's own parents screwed them over....turns out I was one all along. The student loan racket just makes it too easy for parents to take advantage. Don't let this happen to you. No matter how much your parents say they support you, your paperwork could say something different. money is just a special niche and makes people do things they may not have done otherwise or things they "think" they can correct before anyone would notice. + +EDIT 1: a lot of people are saying I am making large generalizations that don't apply to most situations. That's the point. I know I am. It may not apply and I didn't think it would apply to me either. It is why I am in this mess and why this is a cautionary tale. Not only does doing your own financial aid help you understand and better manage your loans after graduation. It helps you from people, as close as they may be, from taking advantage. So, really, you are the one that benefits. + +Other than that, I am sorry for anyone else who has been in the same situation. good luck to you! However, this has really opened my eyes to just how rampant this is. all the more reason to take care of it yourself. + +EDIT 2: wow. I was really not expecting this but thank you all for the support! For all of the speculation out there, no, I do not have a relationship with my parents anymore, other than the occasional visit once every year or two. and yes, of course this is fraud. However, as others have stated, with student loans it is a niche thing. it is not as black and white as if they just took a regular loan out in my name. I wish it was but it is just not. This is the point of this post. I would never wish for anyone to be stuck in the situation that I am. I have made my mistakes, I just want people to learn from them, that's all. + +As far as any remaining questions go, I will try and answer them but this was way more than I could've ever imagined so it might take me a little time. +"Simply, it means that the Fed, which has pegged 2% as a healthy level, will let inflation run higher than that for a while if it has spent a considerable time beneath that level. The Fed's preferred inflation gauge has stayed below that level for all but two years since the Great Recession ended in mid-2009." +I was in Las Vegas this past weekend and stayed at a no-name hotel slightly off the strip to save some cash. It had good reviews and was basic, but was clean and got the job done. + +Sunday morning at 10:30 my hotel phone rings and it's the manager letting me know their computer system is down at the moment. Check out is at 11am so we were already packing and getting ready to leave despite our hangovers. + +He let's me know that because the system is down they're a few hours behind on recovering data. He confirmed my room number and offered me an extended checkout (which sounded great from the hangover) and also offered to comp our least expensive night's stay for the inconvenience. + +He mentioned there were 30+ people in the checkout line and offered to check me out via the phone and said I could leave my keys as I left. He asked me to confirm my credit card number and I got a little hesitant and said I would feel more comfortable providing that in person. + +He got a little defensive and reiterated who he was and why he was trying to save time. I still declined and went down to the front desk. Turns out, it was a scam and they were randomly dialing hotel rooms to get CC numbers and personal info. + +They were super accommodating with their offer and because my hotel phone didn't have a caller ID, it was very convincing. Stay safe out there and never be afraid to say no until you know who you're sharing you're information with! + +TL:DR - Someone called my hotel room pretending to be the manager and said their system was down and wanted my info including credit card to confirm and reimburse me for the trouble. Was a total scam and tough to trace, be careful! +Hey fellow investors, was wondering if you could share some of your numbers on this topic! + +How many units do you have and how much do you make off of laundry each month (after expenses if you know)? +Also, do you rent the machines or own outright? What have been the pros and cons for each option for your situation? +# [UPDATE THREAD HERE](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/a69km8/update_robinhood_checking_and_savings_may_not_be/) + +**Due to issues with Robinhood referral spam, this is the one and only thread we are going to allow on this topic.** + +___ + +**Overview:** + +[Robinhood is launching a new zero-fee checking and savings account feature.](https://blog.robinhood.com/news/2018/12/13/introducing-robinhood-checking-amp-savings) + +- No monthly fees, no overdraft fees, no foreign transaction fees, and no minimum balance. +- 3% interest rate +- Mastercard debit card issued through Sutton Bank. +- **Not a bank account, insured by the SIPC instead of the FDIC and may not qualify for SIPC protection, see below** +- Free access to 75,000 ATMs, many of which are located in such retailers as Target, Walgreens, and 7-Eleven. +- Signing up people now, but debit cards won't be active until January. + +___ + +**SIPC Coverage:** + +Robinhood [claims](https://support.robinhood.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001469903) that accounts will be covered by the SIPC. However, this claim now appears to be dubious given comments by the director of the SIPC, who, in an interview with Bloomberg, [said](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-14/sipc-says-it-has-serious-concerns-about-robinhood-s-new-product): + +> "I disagree with the statement that these funds are protected by SIPC," Stephen Harbeck, president and chief executive officer of SIPC, said in an interview Friday. "Had [Robinhood] called us, I would have told them what I just told you in that I have serious concerns about this. This has gigantic ramifications for the banking industry." + +Current media coverage of this issue tends to support the idea that Robinhood checking funds would not qualify for SIPC coverage ([here](https://www.axios.com/robinhoods-new-checking-account-b2b0df32-40c6-4bd1-b336-2408b27f16b0.html), [here](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/14/sipc-chief-raises-concerns-to-sec-about-robinhoods-free-checking-accounts.html), and [here](https://www.barrons.com/articles/robinhood-app-is-offering-a-3-interest-rate-to-take-on-the-banks-51544723146)). + +___ + +# Please do not post a referral link or hint about referrals in this thread or you will be banned. We want to keep the subreddit free of spam and advice given for the wrong reason (i.e., self-benefit). + +“If volatility stays high, retail lags. And if I was to be a betting man, I would be saying volatility will remain high for probably throughout this year,” said Tabb, head of market structure research at Bloomberg Intelligence. “Outside of another meme stock phenomenon, it would seem that institutions are going to wind up driving flows.” + +https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-05/adults-back-in-charge-of-stock-market-as-fed-awakens-big-money + +This is the article in question, it was posted around due to it’s extremely condescending tone. + +Why is the head of Bloomberg already hedging in the possibilty that retail meme stock phenomena will go back in again? They are starting to brainwash regular old bb readers. They don’t want them to know that with increased volatilty, certain hedgefunds will have liquidity problems. Infact the word LIQUIDITY is not mentioned once in the article. + +��Because of the higher volatility, a lot of these institutional investors were basically forced to rebalance their portfolios -- they’re ruled-base and they have to trade,” said Peng Cheng, a global quantitative and derivatives strategist at JPMorgan. “Whereas for retail investors, if they want to step in and buy the dip, they can. If they don’t want to, they don’t have to trade.” + +“forced to rebalance their portfolios” aka getting margin called. + +During the recent January sell off a lot of tech stocks with crazy valuations, Small caps and SPACs died. Were the GME holders also +Holding this shit? No. Well, maybe a couple here and there, but definitely not as much ad the funds that had huge teams of people piling into that steaming pile of shit. + +T🦍DR: Longs are going to win this. MOASS is the Rick Astley of the market. It’s never gonna give you up, it’s never gonna run around and desert you. YOU KNOW WHY? Cos it’s a mathematical fact. All this fuckery we endured in a year? The Head of market structure at bloomberg is still warning people ahead, that during the crazy volatility and sell offs, “memestonks™️” are gonna run. They will try to frame it as FOMO, but it’s “funds forced to rebalance their portfolios” uWu + +Buy. Hodl. DRS. Wait. Easy peasy. +Welcome to the Daily General Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +*** + +Thread guidelines: + +- Please refrain from discussing non-Ethereum related tokens here. You are welcome to discuss altcoins in the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread. +- All [sub rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/) apply here so please be familiar with them. + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +"Watch the pennies and the pounds take care of themselves" + +£27 pcm back then. I haven't tracked what prices would be today, but this is just an example of how the little bills mount up. Same rules for the more common subscription based services these days. + +Had a few questions from contacts and suppliers who were confused by us only having mobile numbers ("Yes, but what's your home phone number?"), but that's much more normal now. + +As for internet: We're pretty rural and ADSL is limited to 2mbit (down, 0.768kbit up) (With no plans for even FTTC to our closest village) but we have a local wifi mesh provider who is excellent, and a backup directional 4g router. Both provide over 30/10mbit which is ample for two of us working from home. +Seriously. + +This issue can easily be solved with a + +#"**BEFORE YOU POST"** + + sticky and maybe updating the rules. + +It's very clear that first time users of this sub don't realize that it is fundamentally different than /r/personalfinance. + +Can the mods create a visible sticky so that we can lessen the amount of unrelated posts in this subreddit. + +PLEASE?! + +Edit: spelling +Im FAT FIRED baby (33) + +Sold at 29 a business I started at 18. Net worth 16m ish. + +With 2 young kids now, I am looking for a meaningful outlet, 2-3 days a week maximum to spend time for myself. The rest will be dad life. + +I am curious to see what people do here. + +I really enjoyed running a business but im worried starting another is a full time prospect that I dont want to commit to, but I loved the game. + +Thanks! +[One 'meme stock' is actually a big deal... It's the biggest investment opportunity, hidden in plain sight](https://preview.redd.it/hauf39masqz81.jpg?width=760&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=afbe7b00a300dbe61328ed5d4c5a965b7afd4661) + +Did you watch the documentary 'Diamond Hands, the Legend of WaII Str33t B3ts' and now you want to know more about why others are investing in GameStop? This post is for you. + +# Buying reason #1: The GameStop Board & Management have a superb track-record + +Before 2021, GameStop used to be a struggling indebted business, without a clear strategy and direction. Today, GameStop is in the process of making a business turnaround that will be studied in business schools for years. At least three names stand out: + +**Ryan Cohen, Chairman of the Board of Directors** + +The business turnaround started in August 2020, when successful entrepreneur Ryan Cohen initially bought a 10% stake in GameStop. Ryan Cohen founded Chewy, an online retailer of pet-related items in 2011. In 2017 Ryan Cohen sold Chewy for $3.35 Billion, the largest e-commerce acquisition by the time. Delighting customers is his credo. Ryan Cohen currently owns 11.9% of GameStop total shares outstanding. + +**Larry Cheng, Board member & Director**, also Managing Partner at Volition Capital. Larry was the first investor in Chewy, and is an investor with a remarkable track record: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/larrycheng](https://www.linkedin.com/in/larrycheng) + +**Matt Furlong, Chief Executive Officer**, previously Country Leader at Amazon Australia, where he oversaw Amazon’s Australia business during a period of substantial growth. Matt worked at Amazon for 9 years before he joined GameStop. + +Since Ryan Cohen became GameStop’s largest shareholder, he onboarded hundreds of vetted professionals that want to work for GameStop instead of staying at well-known companies such as Amazon, Chewy, Facebook & Google. At least 400 of these hires have been documented: [https://gmedd.com/report-model/](https://gmedd.com/report-model/) + +[Over 400 professionals chose working for GameStop over working for established corporates... Do they see the value?](https://preview.redd.it/ntnk9vl42rz81.jpg?width=911&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2be0efa776853471d010b5c3c8547d89fef60fd6) + +# Buying reason #2: The GameStop Board & Management are invested in GameStop’s long-term success + +**Insiders are buying substantially more then they are selling.** + +[Last year the previous board sold some shares, which is what you see 9-12 months ago. Since then, GameStop insiders have bought a substantial amount of shares.](https://preview.redd.it/rqkuarig2rz81.jpg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eaf4a9ef9468f3cd6460bd3ed02fe87c9404b528) + +**Directors receive compensation in shares only** + +https://preview.redd.it/py7eg5ju2rz81.jpg?width=748&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f6946c29bdc59927d549fe0d19f19e5fa265e18f + +As of the annual shareholders meeting in 2021, non-employee directors receive NO cash compensation. They only receive compensation in shares. This makes sure that they are committed to the company success. The average price their shares vested at was around **$220-225**. At the minimum, the directors will want the share price back to this point, and ideally above that, as this is also beneficial for them! + +# Buying reason #3: The Numbers show that GameStop is currently heavily undervalued + +In 2021, GameStop raised $1.67 Billion in capital, which enabled them to heavily invest in GameStop’s growth. GameStop invested in two extra warehouses to double down on same day delivery in USA, opened new satellite offices in various locations to appeal to talents in technology hubs and invested more money in inventory to expand on their product catalog (currently 915M in merchandise inventory). And all of that with… **NO debt and $1,2 Billion in cash on hands!** + +GameStop’s investment in growth are already showing fruits. Last year GameStop booked $6 Billion in annual net sales, an impressive **+20% increase in annual net sales year over year**. + +GameStop’s current market cap is $7.51 Billion, a 1.25x valuation on annual net sales, not even accounting for the investments GameStop has already made to grow bigger in the upcoming years. + +# Buying reason #4: The Squeeze has NOT squozen yet! + +The billion dollar question is: Did GameStop short-squeeze in January 2021? + +The answer is no. **GameStop did NOT have a short squeeze according to SEC staff** that investigated the events in January 2021. + +On page 26 the SEC staff writes: “Figure 6 shows that the run-up in GME stock price coincided with buying by those with short positions. However, it also shows that such buying was a small fraction of overall buy volume …”. + +https://preview.redd.it/0w3zcgcq3rz81.jpg?width=636&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0ce8f6ecce7687933131b66088ebca98034a0e42 + +[Red = Short Seller Buy Volume. Blue = Total Buy Volume. Notice how abysmally small the short seller buy volume is?](https://preview.redd.it/dbilla4h3rz81.jpg?width=625&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=49083dbe0a5c1fabdeaf69002ab8d0c52bf2489d) + +Just think about it... if the Short Seller Buy Volume is *that* small, then how does a short seller escape a short position that is 122.97% of the float? They can't! + +Source: SEC staff report on January 2021 events: [https://www.sec.gov/files/staff-report-equity-options-market-struction-conditions-early-2021.pdf](https://www.sec.gov/files/staff-report-equity-options-market-struction-conditions-early-2021.pdf) + +# Buying reason #5: There’s a TON of reasons why 800K+ people Buy & Hold GameStop + +There’s actually a whole lot more reasons why over 800,000 people decided to Buy & Hold GameStop. Possible reasons include: Ryan Cohen is still allowed to increase his stake substantially to 20%, the anticipated launch of the GameStop NFT marketplace before July’22, the upcoming stock-dividend… and more! + +&#x200B; + +**Welcome to the GameStop Opportunity! Power to the Players! 🚀** + +&#x200B; + +This post is not financial advice, I’m not a financial advisor. Thanks to everyone who contributed with ideas and screenshots for this post! 🧡 + +*If you want to see more updates like these, you can follow me here on Reddit or on Twitter - Tendie Baron* +So we already know things like VTI, VOO, SCHD stuff like that is safe. I already have core of my money in VTI and SCHD. But what are stocks to buy now that you can hold onto for 20-30 years and not worry about? For example is PG a good hold? What about UNH or NEE. Those are some examples. I just need to diversify a little more into each sector and i’m looking for good holds. + +Some extra info- I’m 20 years old, I make 50k a year, and i’m investing $430 every 2 weeks. Using this time now to DCA because most of my positions are down. But I need a few more stocks in other sectors. I currently have GOOGL, COST, MSFT, NVDA, VTI, TGT, AAPL, WM, SCHD, SCHG, O, and AFL. So i need to get into a few more different sectors. +I live in Colombia and at the beginning of the pandemic i converted all my savings and income straight into Bitcoin. + +I lost all my savings twice before when the bank declared bankruptcy and a few years ago the bank literally stole money from my account. + +Now since April 28 war broke out and things are not looking bright for the country. + +Some people on Twitter and also Imgur trying to give live updates on the situation + +[https://imgur.com/gallery/QQIM0yi](https://imgur.com/gallery/QQIM0yi) + +[https://twitter.com/FisicoImpuro](https://twitter.com/FisicoImpuro) + +[https://twitter.com/HOLLMANMORRIS](https://twitter.com/HOLLMANMORRIS) + +[https://twitter.com/HRI\_ONG](https://twitter.com/HRI_ONG) + +90% of my money is save, thanks to Bitcoin ! + +Sadly news sources aren't covering the true picture here (as you can see in the imgur link), strikes broke out 28 of April and the Police and Military are killing, torturing, raiding peoples homes and shooting flash bang grenades and tear gas grenades in people's homes. + +Right now i have my windows barricaded with mattresses and a gaping hole in my roof from flash bang grenades. + +All the routes are blocked, anyone trying to drive a car around gets shot at with live ammo. + +I had my house paid off last year and now will lose everything again. + +If i do make it out, i have at least my Bitcoins that i have saved ! + +Even if the country recovers, the local money will be as useless as Venezuelan bolivars. +A company that is built on porn is totally changing its own business model because banks and payment processors are forcing them to. If crypto was just a little more mainstream this would not be able to happen. We are still so goddamn early. Change is coming. +Your markets are run by bots. Now your /r/Asx_bets daily threads are too. + +Read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) people[.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +[Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX\_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. You have been warned.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) Last ban length: 1,048,576 days + +Automoderator may provide "Guidance" for Lazy and zero effort posting. + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related.](https://discord.gg/2sQBNuM) +Your markets are run by bots. Now your /r/Asx_bets daily threads are too. + +Read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) people[.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +[Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX\_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. You have been warned.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) Last ban length: 524288 days + +Automoderator may provide "Guidance" for Lazy and zero effort posting. + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related.](https://discord.gg/2sQBNuM) +To start this off, I am trying to start my own business, and if that fails I will start another. I know that I will be wealthy one day, but in case that fails, I want to be able to be comfortable. + +I always hear from adults "I wish I had been smart and invested my money when I was your age" + +Well here I am, maybe not smart, but I want to invest so I got that going for me. + +I have been trading on the stock market for about a year now and while I will keep some other money for play on the market I have about $700 CAD in the stock market. + +I am looking for what to buy into that will be worth it in the long run (20 years or so). + +ETFs, companies, index funds, etc. And maybe a plan, should I take a small portion of every paycheck I get and invest it into these companies? or just put it into a savings account? + +Any advice is appreciated (Unless you say invest in GME, I don't want to talk about that) + +Thanks in advance. +https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190819005633/en/Scion-Asset-Management-Urges-GameStop-to-Buy-Back-238-Million-of-Stock-with-Cash-on-Hand + +Dec 10th Earnings +https://news.gamestop.com/news-releases/news-release-details/gamestop-announces-third-quarter-fiscal-2019-earnings-release + +Things to take away from this letter +“As of August 19, 2019, Scion Asset Management and its affiliates own 3,000,000 shares, or 3.3%, of GameStop Corp. common stock +* my understanding is that they no longer own shares of GameStop + + +“Through August 15th, a total of 11 trading days, 50,399,534 shares have traded. At this rate, for the month of August and for the third month in a row, the number of shares traded will exceed the total number of shares outstanding. Because of such high volume, we maintain that GameStop could pull off perhaps the most consequential and shareholder-friendly buyback in stock market history with elegance and stealth.” + + +“The unfortunate reality is that Amazon, not GameStop, bought Twitch in 2014. Instead, in 2014, GameStop started buying wireless store assets. And in 2017, Amazon, not GameStop, bought GameSparks - while less than a year ago GameStop reversed course and sold its wireless store assets. Shareholders are right to worry.” + +“Notably, as of July 31st, 2019, Bloomberg reports short interest in GameStop stock at 57,226,706 shares – this is about 63% of the 90,268,940 outstanding GameStop shares at last report.” + + +The ledger that Burry tweeted was calculating the amount of shares that were bought back my game stop and Scion. ( the % is on the bottom of [this sheet](https://i.imgur.com/afnlP5j.png). The SI also looks to be at 30%. + +Jan. 31, 2020 22.80M +Oct. 31, 2019 114.00M +July 31, 2019 62.90M +April 30, 2019 0 +Jan. 31, 2019 5.10M +Oct. 31, 2018 0 +Total of $204.8 million dollars was used to buy the shares + +Looks like Burry was on to the same idea as the Comptershare theory: bring all the shares home and you will know how many shares outstanding there really are. +I've become rather frustrated with Sydney real estate agents who provide price guides and then jack up the price when it comes to the auction or actually negotiating a price. + +For example... I was looking at a 2BR unit listed for $600k, when I made an offer the agent told me the seller wouldn't take anything less than $650k. It ended up selling at auction for $750k, not sure what the reserve was. + +Maybe this is all above board/legal but seems like a dodgy practice/strategy. + +What are your thoughts? +I'm pretty new to investing, have really only experimented with Wealth Simple for the past 4 months or so and am slowly learning. I have 20k in a TD high interest TFSA that is making me 80 cents a month. My plan is to leave 12k as an emergency fund and put the remaining 8k into XEQT. I am 30 and have at the minimum $35k in contribution room. + +I'm pretty sure I've learned enough from this sub to know this is a good idea, but a move that big (for me, I'm low income) is making me second guess myself. I guess I'm looking for someone to confirm for me that this is a wise decision. TIA +I was watching a video on YouTube about Buffett's early years and it mentioned that at the age of 25, he felt he had enough funds to retire and was seriously considering it. + +Quote from him: “The thing is, when I got out of college, I had $9,800, but by the end of 1955, I was up to $127,000. I thought, I’ll go back to Omaha, take some college classes, and read a lot—I was going to retire! I figured we could live on $12,000 a year, and off my $127,000 asset base, I could easily make that. I told my wife, “Compound interest guarantees I’m going to get rich.” + +In "retirement", some people asked him what to do with their money, and he ended up starting a partnership to help manage money... the rest is history! + +Just a fun thing I thought I'd share in this forum \^\^ + +More details on this here: [https://www.budgetsaresexy.com/warren-buffett-the-original-early-retiree/](https://www.budgetsaresexy.com/warren-buffett-the-original-early-retiree/) +I spent $50,000 on surefire Egyptian bunny rabbit futures. This was money that was supposed to be saved for buying a new house and was mainly accrued from dumping pay checks into SPY over the years. + +On the 27th of February , I got tipped off from a buddy that works in the bunny breeding industry. He said that due to the pandemic, Europeans were buying pets like crazy, and one animal in particular... bunny rabbits. + +Now this made me look into Egyptian bunny futures as they produce the most bunnies in the world. The premiums were amazing, this was like buying fucking apple at IPO. On top of all of this, Easter was just a couple months around the corner and a massive shipment of bunnies was meant to leave Egypt and make its way to a port in France. I’m talking a fucking boat load of carrot munching, sex hungry, “what’s up doc” mother fuckers, not just a container. + +So I placed my bet, expiring the week of Easter, for when the shipment would come. Since there were barely any bunnies in France/ all of Europe, there was no supply to meet demand. However, I had it on good authority that prices would barely drop since so many Europeans wanted the little fluffy fucks. + +All was going well, my money was going up and it was the most euphoric feeling ever... + +Until on Wednesday at 10am, I wake up to check how many unrealized tendies I have. To my horror I was down 48%. I frantically called my aforementioned buddy in the industry and he tells me to look up the Suez canal. + +It turns out the shipment was delayed by a day out of Egypt and right after they left port, some big fucking ship decided to block the whole canal. Since Egypt shipped out essentially every last bunny in the damn country, they didn’t need any more bunny food. So every single one of them is going to run out of food over the next week and die on that ship (no point in bringing them back to port cause there’s no food to feed them). Once they arrive in France they will dump the dead bunnies, pick up the next shipment and move on. + +Idk how I’m going to tell my wife this, probably gonna need some protection from her boyfriend for a while too. + +Wish me luck +Microsoft Teams overtakes Slack with 13 million daily users - [https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/11/20689143/microsoft-teams-active-daily-users-stats-slack-competition?fbclid=IwAR2GXLxrH-0u7b81a3vCQHrsw86RMRuld9yDvPUp17Li7nRpCtJZenE\_s8I](https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/11/20689143/microsoft-teams-active-daily-users-stats-slack-competition?fbclid=IwAR2GXLxrH-0u7b81a3vCQHrsw86RMRuld9yDvPUp17Li7nRpCtJZenE_s8I) + +&#x200B; + +Slack stock drops 3% - [https://www.google.com/search?q=slack+stock&oq=slack+stock&aqs=chrome..69i57.1008j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8](https://www.google.com/search?q=slack+stock&oq=slack+stock&aqs=chrome..69i57.1008j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) +Anyone have experience with this? + +I opened up my TFSA around a year ago and was making a substantial amount of trades....but not money. +I’ve been looking for a quantifiable number of trades allowed in a TFSA before potentially triggering what I have heard is a taxable consequence for a lack of a better term. +This sounds like a giant “grey zone” where the Government only cares if you make a shit tonne of money and then they would come after you. +A company that just reported over 400 million in sales for the first quarter is about to be Canada's largest Market Cap on the TSX. Let that sink in. This market is beyond ridiculous. Everyday the same tech companies go up while the rest of the market lags. +I am no longer sure FatFire is a worthy goal for us and wonder how to get my partner aligned or find my motivation. + +Age - Early 40s +Net Worth - 6M excluding primary home ( 1.8 mortgage on a 2.5M value) +Annual Income - 225k ( me) plus 2-2.5 M(spouse), both tech. +Annual Expenses - 300k ( VHCOL. mortgage plus private schools being the big ticket items) +Fire goal - 300k annually (private schools will be replaced by long term care for parents at some point) + +Spouse and I had a salary differential of 2-3x until recently. We were chugging along happily towards our Fire goals with a CoastFire lifestyle. We have young kids and had equitable household responsibilities. +Spouse got an awesome work opportunity, majorly increasing his income. It came with a cost I did not anticipate. Work pressure is heavy (14 hrs work days). Covid happened, we decided to prioritize his work over mine if required but I continued working full time . With health risks, we are avoiding getting help. I am burnt out as the primary caretaker plus home manager plus work. Spouse thinks the easy answer is my quitting, but the last few months have taught me I need to think of something other than diaper changes and cooking. +Spouse and I have not had much time with each other over the last year, our marriage is hurtling towards troubled zones. While I do not worry about separation ( cultural reasons) , I do feel the love we had is lost. Spouse thinks this is a temporary state. But even pre COVID , we hardly had any time with 2 careers. +I have started believing that pulling back from the ‘Fat’ part of our goals and having spouse back on a CoastFire lifestyle will be better. +Looking for external perspective, Thank you! + +EDIT: Thank you very much for all the insight. Specially appreciate the personal experiences shared. +I am calmer - taking a break from work, working on finding help and a counselor for myself and trying to carve out time with the husband. + +Relationship issues aside, couple of FIRE related milestones in this whole situation : +1) First time discussing ‘Do we have enough’ +2) Talking about how we visualize ‘RE’ to be + +Anyways, thank you again for taking the time to share your wisdom with me! +I treat it like a video game where I want to get a high score. However, I want the *greatest probability* of getting that high score, so capital intensive businesses like startups or real estate don't work for me, all VTI baby. + +By "numbers" I don't mean it's fun to see *any* random numbers go up, I mean it's specifically exciting to see your net worth go up every day. Of course I'm going to spend the money I will make eventually. + +I don't really hate working, I like my job and career a lot; the fun is just in optimizing the system for my benefit, as doing this is interesting in and of itself to me as a programmer. Does anyone else feel the same way? +I've been debating making this post for a while, and I'm not totally sure why I chose now. 12 months ago my wife was diagnosed with cancer, and 6 months ago it was deemed terminal. Her current prognosis is "several" months. Luckily living in Australia her medical bills have been minimal through this time. In addition to this, we have been able to claim her life insurance early. We've spent a solid chunk on holidays, but those are fewer as she gets weaker. + +Running the numbers now with all the life insurance fully invested I can comfortably retire now at 33 years old. I can think of nothing I'd prefer to do less. I'm in the middle of transferring to my dream job, my company and managers have been enormously supportive through this ordeal and most of my friends are at work. + +Remember, there is much more that's important in life than money. I think I might buy a Porsche.... +As many of you know, Robinhood is launching [cryptocurrency wallets](https://news.bitcoin.com/trading-platform-robinhood-launch-cryptocurrency-wallets/) soon. + +You also may be familiar with the fact that on January 28, 2021, Robinhood infamously [restricted the trading of various stocks](https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/investing/robinhood-backlash-what-you-should-know-about-the-gamestop-stock-controversy/), making positions close-only. + +Lastly, anyone who has used the platform for trading cryptocurrency is likely familiar with the "scheduled maintenance" that conveniently obstructs you from making trades at times when the market is making a significant movement. + +Still, I know that many people are too complacent for their own good; they will be fully aware of Robinhood's corruption, but they will use the platform anyways for the commission-free trading. This brings us to our next point... + +# Are there actually no fees on Robinhood trades? + +Short answer: no. + +When you buy cryptocurrency, Robinhood makes money on the artificially wide bid-ask spread. What this means for you is that Robinhood will try to make you pay more when you buy crypto, and try to offer you less when you go to sell your crypto. + +Just for demonstrative purposes: lets say you are trying to buy 1 BTC. Robinhood might tell you that the price is $50,000. Then, they will pair you up with someone who is selling 1 BTC for $49,990, and pocket the $10 difference. + +Still confused? This analogy may help: + +>Intentionally quoting a trader a higher price so you can make money on a greater bid-ask spread is akin to shopping mall outlets raising their prices before running a steep “discount” to lure customers.  + +[\[source\]](https://coincentral.com/zero-fee-crypto-trading/) + +So please, even if you aren't concerned about Robinhood's trading restrictions and shady management, you should be aware of the way that they profit off of your cryptocurrency trades. **They still charge you a fee, it is just hidden. Since you know that fees are inevitable, you should choose a more reputable and reliable cryptocurrency broker to do business with.** +The landlord said that they have a paper that they're having all of the tenants sign. They won't go into too much detail about it but they said it isn't specifically for me. The 3 months I've been here to rent has been paid on time. When saying that I want to review this paper with my wife and compare it to the lease to see what's changed they start acting weird about it and saying that it's not changing anything. I don't know what this paper entails but she said "the boss wants all of them signed today and they will be around to pick up the rent and sign the paper". Should I refuse to sign this paper no matter what it says because I'm not obligated to? I just feel like any additional paper I signed to the lease is obviously putting me at a disadvantage no matter what it says. I will update to tell what the paper says after they come. Is there any action they can take against me? + +EDIT: UPDATE it was a paper saying that they are increasing the late fees to $20 a day and eliminating the 5 day grace period. I got the paper said I would review it and texted them back to say I won't be signing. I said that the lease is good for a year and that I may not have signed in the first place if I knew that I would have to pay $20 extra even if my rent was paid on the 2nd. They must have realized that they have no legal grounds for me to sign it because I haven't heard back. Thanks for the advice everyone, I mainly wanted to know if there were any consequences for not signing because it didn't seem right for them to change the terms of the lease on a whim and also if anyone else would just have signed to avoid trouble. +Hey everyone, I've been lurking on this subreddit for awhile now. Our household (38M, 40F, 2 kids 9 and 4) have hit $2 Million in NW today and I wanted to share how we reached this milestone. + +# Net worth 2004-2012: -193K to 0 + +Growing up in an immigrant family, I was taught to excel in school, go to the right college, get a good job, and work my way up the corporate ladder. These are all good values to have. Unfortunately, my parents also lived pay check to pay check and so I was never taught to live below my means or to invest in a sustainable manner. So coming out of college in 2005, I landed a semi-decent job earning 48K/year as a software engineer, but I had over 46K in student debt. Now instead of paying that debt off, I paid the minimum interest on it and started enjoying my new found "wealth". I went on vacations all over the country, bought tons of electronic gadgets, and basically lived paycheck to paycheck. + +In 2007, after hearing from my co-worker about the high pay and hot girls in NYC, I decided to change jobs and move to the New York Metro area. Once in New York City, I rented out a high cost studio in the Upper East Side and continued living the high expense lifestyle. The new job paid more than my old one, but I did not consider the higher cost of city living before making the move. As I began running a little short on money at the end of every month, I knew that something had to be done. Of course, I did the entirely wrong thing. Being a hobby gardener, my mistake was thinking that I could build a professional landscaping side-business on borrowed money. So in 2008 I got into even more debt to start this business, commercial loans this time! + +Right around 2008, I met my wife. Our relationship quickly blossomed. My wife was in grad school with a huge amount of student debt at the time. About 2 months after we got married in 2009, the economy crashed, my side-business collapsed, and the interest payments on her student loans became due. That was a really low point in my life. I realized that as a family, my wife and I had almost no money to our name. Additionally, the outstanding student loans, credit card, and commercial loans that we had added up to over $192,000 dollars! + +So with that much debt, we were in heaps of trouble. It was around that time that I picked up a used copy of Your Money or Your Life. Reading that book led to my discovery of FIRE. I realized the huge mistakes that were made and decided then to take concrete steps to correct them. So our debt pay down strategy was two-pronged. Income had to be massively increased, but we also had to become much more frugal. + +**My Income Expansion Strategies:** + +At my day job, I was working with renewed vigor and obtained 2 promotions within 3 years. This led to an over 50% increase in my take home pay. My wife works with children with special needs. While it is a highly rewarding career, her compensation is pretty much capped. In addition to the day job, I started an online-based app development side business. I practiced the "Lean Startup" strategy and basically built this business on a shoe string budget(and absolutely ZERO debt). Of course this meant spending vast amounts of my own time working. Between the day job and the side business, I averaged around 80-90 work hours every week from 2009 to 2012. Finally, I made a wise decision to plow a significant amount of money every month into financial investments (401K first and then a post-tax Brokerage account). Because I bought these financial assets literally at the very bottom of a down market, I was able to reap pretty amazing gains from this move. + +**My Frugal-Living Strategies:** + +In the area of spending less money, we made significant strides. My wife and I had our first child in 2011 which drove up our living expenses (larger apartment, childcare, formula, furniture...etc). But we made some significant cuts anyways. We made all of our own meals and rarely went out to eat, we bought almost entirely used/2nd hand durable goods, we learned the art of grocery shopping on a budget, we learned to fix our own stuff, and we dropped cable and found free ways to entertain ourselves. + +So from 2009-2012, we systematically paid down our debts while increasing our financial assets. We focused on the high interest credit card debt and commercial loans first. After that we attacked the educational loans. It was a brutally hard slog, we basically lived like monks during those 3 years where we capped our entire household spending on food and consumer goods to around 100 dollars per week. We were spending as a family between 30-40K per year in a VHCOL area. But at some point in 2012, our net worth finally reached zero. + +**Gross Household Income:** + +2005: 48K + +2006: 57K + +2007: 80K + +2008: 90K + +2009: 130K (100K day job, \~30K side biz, Got married) + +2010: 200K (120K day job, \~30K side biz, \~50K wife day job) + +2011: 215K (125K day job, \~40K side biz, \~50K wife day job) + +2012: 235K (150K day job, \~35K side biz, \~50K wife day job) + +**Net worth:** + +2005: -46K (my education debt) + +2006: -46k + +2007: -45K + +2008: -65K (took on an additional 20K commercial loan ) + +2009: -193K (took on all of DW's education debt) + +2010: -110K (Began aggressive debt pay down) + +2011: -35K + +2012: 0 + +&#x200B; + +# Net worth 2013-2017: 0 to 1 Million + +This is pretty much the boring middle of the journey. We just continued living frugally ( around \~50K per year household spend) while investing every spare dollar into useful assets. From late 2012 to late 2013, our NW passed the 100K. It seems to me that going from a net worth of 0 to 100K is much easier than digging out of debt. + +In early 2014, We bought a modest 1400 sq ft house outside of the city from a short sale. Later that year, disaster struck. My wife was diagnosed with MS. It was a difficult, uncertain, and painful time. She required lots of CAT scans and other expensive medical procedures over the course of a year before her health stabilized. My medical insurance was a giant turd and we ended up paying nearly 30K out of pocket for all the treatments. + +Once she MS went into remission, however, we got back onto the wealth building treadmill. Primarily, we devoted our resources into paying down the mortgage and investing in 401Ks first and then in after tax brokerages. In terms of financial investments, it was 90% in S&P 500 and Total Stock Market Index funds and 10% in a Bond Index Fund. + +Over these years, I worked very hard at my day job and got promoted another 3 times. In parallel, I gradually reduced the amount of time that I put into my side hustles. In truth, I allowed my apps side business to slowly wither away because I just wanted more time to spend with my family. By 2018, I was down to working 50-60 hour weeks with my day job and getting all passive income from our accumulated financial and real estate assets. During this period of time the stock market and our housing market clocked in some very significant gains. When we hit 1 million in early 2018, it felt just like any other day. + +**Gross Household Income:** + +2013: 240K (160K day job, \~30K side biz, \~50K wife day job) + +2014: 220K (180K day job, \~20K side biz, \~20K wife day job due to MS) + +2015: 260K (195K day job, \~10K side biz, \~55K wife day job) + +2016: 265K (205K day job, \~5K side biz, \~55K wife day job) + +2017: 270K (215K day job, \~55K wife day job) + +**Net worth:** + +2013: 130K + +2014: 220K + +2015: 410K + +2016: 670K + +2017: 960K + +&#x200B; + +# Net worth 2018-2021: 1 to 2 Million + +Things were pretty uneventful for the last 3 and a half years on the domestic front. We continued living below our means and plowing away the surplus. Our second child arrived safely in early 2018. However with that said, a few events really sped up NW growth. + +1. I finally switched to a different employer in early 2019 and got a massive pay raise and a significant RSU that would vest annually over the next 4 years. + +2. I bought a rental property (another short sale) in 2018 and paid it off by early 2019. The rental property delivers a decent return monthly and is a form of investment diversification. + +3. Massive(almost insane) growth in both the Stock market and the Real Estate market really increased NW. + +**Gross Household Income:** + +2018: 275K (230K day job, 20K rental income, \~25K wife day job) + +2019: 340K (280K day job, 20K rental income, \~40K wife day job) + +2020: 361K (300K day job, 21K rental income, \~40K wife day job) + +2021: Estimated 371K (310K day job, 21K rental income, \~40K wife day job) + +**Net worth:** + +2018: 1.15 Million + +2019: 1.4 Million + +2020: 1.75 Million + +2021: 2 Million + +&#x200B; + +# In Conclusion: + +12 years after discovering FIRE, we have reached 2 Million in net worth. We still have a ways to go, but at this point we're somewhere between Lean and normal FI. I have the following observations from my journey that others may find useful on their FI journeys: + +&#x200B; + +**1. Financial education (or the lack thereof) greatly affects time to FI.** + +If I had just been taught the long term implications of debt and compound interest at an earlier age, then my journey to FI could have been far shorter. But there was no one there to teach us, not the schools, not our parents, and certainly not our employers. + +**2. Having a high income disproportionately decreases time to FI** + +I just happened to learn computer science in college and this paved the way to a highly lucrative career. If I had chosen a less high paying field, even if I made exactly the same decisions in everything else, our NW would have been much lower than it is. + +**3. Extreme frugality offer marginal utility after a certain point.** + +Being super frugal is very useful in the early stages of the game. When income is constrained and there are huge debts to be paid, living like a monk can get you through a tough patch. However after a certain level of wealth is achieved, further extreme frugality really doesn't grow your net worth by much. It is better imho to loosen the purse strings a little bit and enjoy life. The bulk of the NW growth after a certain point is done by one's accumulated investments and assets anyway. + +**4. It's not about the cards you're dealt, but how you play the hand.** + +There are many things that are not in our control. Fortune seems to have smiled on me in terms of my major in college and that half baked move to NYC. But then again, she also cursed me with financial illiteracy, massive amounts of student debt, and a fair dose of health calamities. Opportunities and misfortunes seems to happen randomly. The important thing is to have a mindset that is about challenging yourself to be better than your old self instead of comparing yourself to others. It is about being ready to pounce on the opportunities that do arrive while at the same time preparing against possible disaster and misfortune. + +Anyways, that's all I have to say for now. Thanks for reading! +Tldr - this sub’s standard answer as to investment horizon for future house purchase is overly cautious as it fails to take into account the risk tolerance of the investor, the risk associated with undeployed capital, and the flexibility of most investors’ time horizon to purchase a house if a devastating market event occurs. + +I see the question “I plan to buy a house in x years should I invest in Y etf” at least once a day in this sub. + +Invariably, the comments go something along the lines of “you shouldn’t invest money in an etf with an investment horizon of less than 5 years.” Some people say 5-7 years, but I have even seen people say 10 years! + +Clearly, almost nobody will be hoping to buy their first house in 10 years time, that’s a long time to be saving for a house deposit especially if you are, or want to be, financially switched on (and thus you came to this sub for answers). So the common advice on this sub ends up being “no, don’t invest your house deposit, which you plan on using in (for example) 5 years, because the recommended investment horizon is 5-7 years and that’s too risky.” + +I disagree with the thinking (or lack thereof) behind these comments, for three main reasons. First (and this may be subjective and personal), it fails to take into account the risk appetite of the investor. I personally would be comfortable investing with a time horizon of 3+ years knowing full well that I may lose money. I don’t see the market as guaranteed returns for doing nothing, I see it as an opportunity to make money from taking on (calculated) risk and deploying capital effectively. My personal risk tolerance is absolutely irrelevant for what anybody else should do, but it highlights that the standard advice isn’t applicable to everybody and if you have a higher risk tolerance (as most young people should relative to the population), you might want to invest your house deposit over a 3, 4 or 5 year horizon despite the possibility of losing money. + +The second reason is that it fails to take into account the opportunity cost of not investing for (eg) 5 years. Every day that your money is sitting in a low interest HISA making 1%, house prices are getting further and further away from you. While past performance isn’t a predictor of future performance, equities tend to outperform property (albeit most people are leveraged, so gains may be higher here overall) which outperforms fixed interest, which outperforms cash. You may find that house prices are 30% higher when you look to buy a house than when you started saving. If your money is sitting in a HISA, you’re taking on risk as well (you just don’t know it). + +Finally, and the main point of this post/rant, is that investment horizons for house purchases are very rarely fixed. When somebody says “I am looking to buy in 5 years”, they aren’t saying they will buy on 2 January 2026 no matter what their circumstances are on that date, that is just when they think they will have scraped a deposit together and will be in a position to buy. If that person invested, and then GFC 2.0 happened and they had lost some capital, there is nothing preventing them from keeping their money invested and pushing their purchase back. The reason that the 5-7 year timeline is used is to account for these rare, but devastating, market events that can wipe out years of investment gains and leave you worse off than when you started. But if you have the flexibility to push your purchase back if such an event occurs, there is less risk of losing capital. Add in the fact that if such an event doesn’t occur, you are printing money, then the case for a more aggressive investment strategy becomes even stronger. +Hey guys, I have a bunch of dividend stocks id like to hedge/lower my cost basis by selling covered calls on them, and if they sell just buying back in and repeating. + +Curious on how far out you guys sell your calls. And typically how high above current price you sell them? Or what factors you use to help decide these things? + +Thanks guys! +What did you do to get the job? What do you have in terms of certifications or degrees? It seems like a lot of people are earning that nowadays and I just don't see how. +I’ve noticed that many of these Big Pharma companies like Pfizer, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead, Abbvie, etc. all trade with cheap valuations and have immense dividend yields. + +The market is discounting the value of these companies and the amount of growth they posses. + +Yes, they’re big but with their huge budgets and with the best scientists on their teams, they have a great track record of finding new drugs and getting them approved. These Big Pharma stocks are compounders by nature because of this. + +What do you guys think about the healthcare dividend stocks on the market, are they dividend stocks that you’d want to add to your portfolios, or not? + +Credit: https://dissectingthemarkets.wordpress.com/2021/02/21/here-are-a-couple-healthcare-dividend-stocks-to-add-into-your-portfolio/ +I know it doesn’t seem like a lot, but it was half of what he normally gets paid. We just had a baby and for me to be able to take 6 weeks off of work (unpaid) we had every penny of savings (gone now) and income planned out. + +My husband is salaried and was told he was to get two weeks off paid for paternity leave. We got two weeks off for our first baby too. He thinks maybe it’s because he ran out of LOA time because he had a surgery earlier this year, but he believed the paternity time was in addition to the LOA. + +I’m not sure what to do now because we needed that money for our utilities and part of our mortgage payment, let alone food and baby supplies. Hopefully it was just a mistake and they end up paying him, but he’s been on hold for over six hours trying to figure out what happened. + +I hate that just one small mistake like this can set us back for months. +Household appliance repair is one of the most overlooked trades and you can definitely benefit from this. I started in the field with no prior mechanical experience outside of wrenching on cars with my dad, and having a basic knowledge of hand tools, due to this trade being overlooked not a lot of people are jumping into the field and almost every company is hiring and willing to train with no experience. There also online courses you can take and plenty of YouTube repair videos. I went from training for 6 months with a technician to making $45k 1st yr, $60k, my second and third yr and now that I’m a technician with experience under my belt I’m on track to make $80-$100k this year and starting my own business in the near future. This job can be stressful but most weeks I work less than 40hrs(this comes with experience, skills before speed.) you’ll always have work and depending who you work for they either pay hourly or commission I personally prefer commission. I’m willing to answer any questions you may have on the field I’m an open book I will tell you the good and the bad. Plus we are building a great community of technicians that are willing to help. +**Why this is important:** +With the recent Equifax breach, plenty of people have put freezes on their credit reports (for good reason). But if you only froze one, someone can now still take out a loan on your name if they have the rest of your info. + + +**What changed:** +Until recently, Fannie Mae required all three credit reports to actually report for them to buy a loan from a bank. The change now allows for your report to be frozen with one credit reporting agency, but the other two must be unfrozen. + +**Why this matters:** +Your local bank might sell the mortgages they originate to Fannie Mae. Many small and even moderately sized banks have investors they sell mortgages to. Fannie Mae is one of the largest investors here. The loan must be originated and underwritten to Fannie Mae’s standards for them to purchase it. This means that Fannie Mae’s guidelines impact your local banks’ guidelines if they sell to them. This change means that other banks will now be allowing this same thing. So if you’re worried about your credit but didn’t freeze it with all three agencies, do that now. + + +Edit: source—I’m a technical writer at a bank and am rewriting our internal procedures on what we accept based on the above as I type this. + +Edit 2: I’m not suggesting Fannie Mae originates loans. The thing is that their decisions as an investor will impact how banks do business. Fannie Mae says they’ll take loans that are riskier? Banks that sell to Fannie Mae will start originating those riskier loans because they know they can sell them. This is about Fannie Mae (being a large investor) saying they’ll take loans with one frozen score, so some banks will start accepting that too and not require that it be unfrozen. All I was saying was, if you were concerned but thought freezing one or two was good enough, that’s not necessarily the case. +Edit: THANK YOU EVERYONE for the wonderful advice. You have all helped me SO much. I think I have the information needed to set forth with getting this all settled. You all made a very anxious person much calmer today. Hopefully I can soon be done with all of this and go back to normal. Thanks again for all your help. + +Edit #2: WOW. This really blew up! There is so much helpful information on this thread. I tried to get back to everyone as well as I could, you all had great points and I appreciate every viewpoint you each shared with me. And although I wont be able to try out every recommendation given (I hope I won't have to anyway!), I know this thread will be very useful to others who may be in a similar position presently and in the future. Watching this community come together and sharing their experiences and knowledge just to help me out today really fills me with joy. Life has been quite a struggle lately and you all told me today that I'm not alone in that fight. Thanks again for all your help, and goodnight. (: + +Going to keep this as short as possible. Got into a car accident in September of 2019. I live in Michigan (no-fault state) and at the time of the accident unlimited PIP was still mandatory. I broke my wrist/hand and have been temporarily disabled since 2020 after my first surgery revealing further injuries, next surgery is this March. All related medical bills are paid in full through my auto insurance. I had no issues with billing until my first surgery (Aug 2020), where they decided to bill my work insurance instead of the auto they've been billing for a year. I called on 3 different occasions to fix it (they said they had no record of me calling the first two times.) Third call was after I received a final notice. They told me that my auto insurance denied payment when requested, but when I spoke to my adjustor, she said she never even received the bill in question. Took about 3 months (and my adjustor leaving 2 emails and 2 voicemails that were never returned) for them to get back to me, but they did finally send it to my adjuster and it was paid in full. The hospitals radiology service also billed the wrong insurance. I called to let them know, and they told me it was placed under review and I will be contacted with the outcome. I also sent the first (and only) bill that was mailed to me back with the correct insurance info written on it, and recieved no further communication or bills. I assumed it had been taken care of, silly me. + +Today I received a collections letter (dated Feb 4th) for the radiology bill in the amount of $120. I have not changed my address, phone, or anything that would have made them unable to reach me. I received one statement, about a week after my surgery. No final notice, no call, nothing. + +My questions are, who should I be calling first, and what do I do if they give me the run-around again? I have dealt with collections in the past two seperate times for valid bills and paid them off immediately, upon written agreement that it would not be recorded as a delinquent account on my credit report. I would very much like to NOT have to go through the process of disputing this on my credit report later on, especially for something I don't owe, and have made very clear efforts to provide them with the correct info. + +Any advice would be appreciated, thanks in advance. +We see a lot of posts here about people making $500k or more.\* I wanted to present a little of my own journey for those of you who are on the journey to Fat with a more common salary and situation. Yes, I know $200k+ is not "common" household income, but it is relative to the fat fire crowd. + +tl;dr - our story of getting FAT slowly on $225,000 income living in the midwest + +I am posting to show others that by compromising on one or two FAT luxuries at a young age when our friends also don't have many of those things (high end cars, a boat, living through/performing labor on a renovation, not living on the coasts) we live a life that is envious to our friends in similar income ranges/careers on the coasts due to significantly lower cost of living, and we will probably finish way ahead of them and much earlier. Those friends love coming to visit, eating out at nice restaurants, going to professional sporting events, and big name concerts for a fraction of the cost of comparable experiences where they live. + +**Here are my stats:** + +* Married, no kids (yet, but soon), age 30's +* $350,000 in income producing real estate equity (2 properties I redeveloped - value add commercial) - the cash spat off of this is used to buy the next deal, etc. so not included in income +* $350,000 in taxable brokerage +* $200,000 in various retirement accounts +* My salary: $165,000, goes up about 15% per year usually to retain me, have been named successor to the CEO who is preparing for retirement in about 5 years, not totally counting these chickens though +* Wife's salary $60,000 not likely to rise beyond inflation +* Wife will get a pension of approximately $20,000 at 59.5, has no desire to retire early +* Debt: about $30,000 low interest student loans paying off in couple years, 15k car loans very low interest, and $180,000 mortgage. Total debt each month is about $2,200 + +**Savings -** After tax, we save about $70,000 per year currently (effectively spending $80,000 a year currently). There will be some lumpy big additions over time as we refinance the commercial properties to take equity out an reinvest. + +**Our situation:** We live in the midwest rather than on the coasts - Think Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Madison, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Minneapolis, Louisville type of city. This keeps our costs way down - I own a house in a downtown neighborhood I was able to purchase not long after graduate school, managed the renovation myself, and live in what is now a pretty high end historic neighborhood I basically bought the worst house on our block and fixed it up. I probably have about $250k in total in renovations and acquisition in the home, which is now worth about twice that. I could probably make about $50-75k a year more on the coasts, with a slightly higher bonus, but the cost of living doesn't make it worth it, and I wouldn't get the leadership opportunities at my age I have gotten at a small shop in the midwest. I also really don't enjoy New York and San Francisco, if I am being honest. + +We drive new but reasonable cars (with very low interest loans or pay cash) since it is easier to walk or uber than drive ourselves most places, plus we just aren't car people. We spend most of our money on travel, food, and good seats to concerts. A super nice meal here is about $150 per person, and compares to much more expensive tabs I have had at coastal and abroad high end meals. Most of our friends are pretty fiscally responsible, and we don't feel a need to splash cash like we do when visiting college friends on the coasts. People are reasonable here. + +***Essentially, cost of living is super cheap, so it allows us to supercharge our savings, while not really sacrificing our quality of life a great deal.*** The biggest downside is that we usually have to connect to fly abroad as there are only a few international directs from our airport. I can deal with that. We have high quality museums and arts due to old industrial families endowing them, plus several pretty good universities, professional and minor league sports, and some big name employers. + +**Kids** \- We don't have any yet, but one or two are likely in the next 3 years. We anticipate dealing with this increase in expenses with my increase in compensation when/if I take over the company, but if that doesn't happen, we will just reduce our savings and retire later or reduce our target spend. Frankly, the nut we have saved now provides us the bulk of the asset growth, more so than the savings anyway. + +**FatFIRE -** We are doing FIRE the old fashioned way - getting rich slowly. Our plan is to retire in our 50's with around $5mm as our target, and will get rid of the real estate at that time to go to a hassle free portfolio. This also coincides with our house being paid off, and any children we may have entering adulthood. It is likely that we will hit that number sooner if my real estate plays continue to return well, or my income goes up. + +*Other notes/the risks I took before people ask:* + +*How did we save so much early?* Took out loans to pay for college and grad school, used my income and scholarships to invest during the great recession. Loans were around 3% interest, bought battered stocks when they were dirt cheap that popped, eventually went to three fund portfolio and rode it up. Wife and I are both savers (she started saving for retirement in highschool) and lived like we were still in college. She didn't have student loan debt which helped her save a lot pre-marriage as well. The lesson here is start early, and help your children start early if you can. + +*How did I afford commercial real estate?* I refinanced my house to take equity out after some renovations and have been very selective buying distressed properties, and built relationships with cheap contractors that put guys on my jobs in downtime, sacrificing speed for cost. Was able to market the properties while under construction, and fortunately leases came soon after. + +*How did I get such a good deal on my house?* I made a low ball offer on an home that was in an estate and on the market for years (like 50% of ask) asked my realtor to check in with the seller every few weeks. After 3 months they accepted. Right place, right time. Low rates have also helped with my real estate plays. + +*Why save so much if we live on a lower amount now*? I grew up in a family that did not have much, but got merit scholarships to a good private school ( for context - I was one of only a few kids who used lunch "tickets" instead of paying cash - free and reduced lunch program). I saw the advantages and security that wealth provided the families around me - very few divorces while I had a single mom, better health while my relatives were seemingly constantly injured on blue collar jobs, tutoring and educational experiences that helped prepare them for college and careers, and other simple stresses like not having to worry about their car breaking down on the way to homecoming like mine did. My wife grew up in a stealth high wealth family and wasn't accustomed to the stresses I experienced - when we really started discussing our upbringing it was sort of a privilege awakening for her that also got her on board the FI train. We want first to be very secure, then second, increase our spending over time to be able to travel more richly, maybe get nicer cars, and do more "wealthy" things, hence the goal of a $175k spent on a 3.5% withdrawal. + +&#x200B; + +\*Edited to remove a statement that was unintentionally shitting on high earners, and was distracting from the point of the post. +Hey Apes, Crux here. I’m the degen untangling the web that is Ken Griffin’s Citadel Empire. + +I have a new tidbit of info for you today. A small, steaming, turd nugget that the media has never reported on 💩 + +TLDR: Skip ahead to see pics of Griffin’s chopper + +# 0. Background (skip if you don’t care how I figured this out) + +Ken Griffin and Citadel’s well publicized move from Chicago to Miami, announced earlier this year, had one potentially unintended consequence. When they moved, all the companies holding Griffin’s personal assets were registered with the Florida Division of Corporations with an address of 200 S. Biscayne Blvd, Suite 3300, Southwest Financial Center, in Miami. That is the address of Citadel’s new headquarters. + +What’s the big deal? From an open source/public records standpoint, which is what I use for my investigations, it was immensely helpful. + +Griffin had not registered all of these companies in Illinois. If they were registered in Illinois, the records were not helpful, i.e. only confirming that the company exists. Florida’s records contain more information like an “authorized representative” (person who can sign on behalf of the company) or “member” (person/entity who owns the company). + +These records have led to numerous new leads to investigate, which have resulted (so far) in my finding other assets that have gone unreported in the media such as real estate, sports cars, and that he is co-owner of a helicopter with two of his billionaire buddies. + +Spicy. But let’s focus on the helicopter for now. + +# 1. The Helicopter + +One company registered in Florida was NYHCH LLC. \[assumed acronym for: **N**ew **Y**ork **H**eli**c**opter **H**olding LLC\] It was a “foreign” LLC, meaning it was first registered in another state, and the registered address matches Citadel’s Miami headquarters. Further, the sole member listed was KP Holdings LLC, which has been previously established as the primary holding company of Ken Griffin’s personal assets. Link to Florida filing: [https://tinyurl.com/yvffa23b](https://tinyurl.com/yvffa23b) + +[NYHCH LLC registered address matching Citadel's new Miami headquarters address.](https://preview.redd.it/4s1durz9hyw91.png?width=673&format=png&auto=webp&s=957ee4d38e74a03b4b5a5c045e30089de03b2bdd) + +[KP Holdings LLC is the sole member listed.](https://preview.redd.it/lc85ftjchyw91.png?width=737&format=png&auto=webp&s=d4352e9ad0fe119908838b4325c67bd1c23e860b) + +Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) registration records reveal NYHCH LLC is one of four owners of a Sikorsky S-76D helicopter, N-number N800SG. Link to FAA registry: [https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=800SG](https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=800SG) + +[FAA registry owners of N800SG](https://preview.redd.it/9n67wxd6hyw91.png?width=972&format=png&auto=webp&s=45411b00a8f44419bdd6fbdbc58ce3e01a48dd33) + +Here is N800SG: + +[Photo credit: Haofeng Yu](https://preview.redd.it/vir35p14hyw91.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c1493aaee91fb6e208662c5d4282d7ab51533e43) + +[Photo credit: Haofeng Yu](https://preview.redd.it/3yu6srd2hyw91.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa08f8d5634b6553569f298605227f3ef61b8a4d) + +"Whirlybird LLC" is registered at the same address as the Los Angeles accounting firm Breslauer Rutman & Anderson, and California filings show the type of business is "Aircraft Related": + +https://preview.redd.it/4rvo7muzgyw91.png?width=755&format=png&auto=webp&s=bff180666b34f94565ebcea55ee523ebbdc22437 + +You can search California business filings here: [https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business](https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business) + +This firm maintains a low profile; best I can tell from reviewing LinkedIn profiles is that they provide accounting, tax and other business services for high net worth individuals and family offices. I didn't spend much time looking into them, as this role makes sense given the other three owners. + +# 2. David Geffen, Barry Diller and Blade + +David Geffen has been the founder of record companies, including the David Geffen Company (DGC) and was a co-founder of Dreamworks. Forbes estimates he is worth $7.7 billion. [Source](https://www.forbes.com/profile/david-geffen/?sh=6ebb4fff17e0). Geffen is also a collector of expensive art, and in 2016 sold two paintings for $500 million to Ken Griffin. [Source](https://www.foxnews.com/us/billionaire-drops-500m-for-2-masterpieces). + +Barry Diller founded Fox Broadcasting, USA Broadcasting, was Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, and is still the Chairman and CEO of IAC, a media conglomerate, which he founded. Forbes estimates he is worth $3.8 billion. [Source](https://www.forbes.com/profile/barry-diller/?sh=681dd5672555). + +Here is a picture of David Geffen and Barry Diller doing their best evil billionaire looks: + +[David Geffen \(L\) and Barry Diller \(R\)](https://preview.redd.it/wtckr76rgyw91.png?width=348&format=png&auto=webp&s=bcfd7b885957e71113a4a5dde733198c911b7cdb) + +Back to the helicopter. + +DGC-VTOL LLC is David Geffen’s holding company for the helicopter. \[assumed acronym for: **D**avid **G**effen **C**ompany **V**ertical **T**ake-**O**ff and **L**anding LLC\] + +A California filing for the company reveals that the David Geffen Company is the member/manager and the type of the business is simply “HELICOPTER”. Link to the California filing: [https://tinyurl.com/5asmjn8f](https://tinyurl.com/5asmjn8f) + +[DGC VTOL LLC filing](https://preview.redd.it/s3xljjrmgyw91.png?width=490&format=png&auto=webp&s=fe09920076f48eb86954d7de51987d3ab1995b7d) + +Arrowcopter LLC appears to be Barry Diller’s holding company for the helicopter. This connection is more difficult to make; I’ve not been able to find public documents directly linking Diller to Arrowcopter. However, there are a couple pieces of evidence suggesting given the “Arrow” prefix of the company’s name: + +“Arrow Partners” is the family office of Barry Diller and his wife, Diane von Furstenberg. + +Source: [https://www.pionline.com/article/20050118/ONLINE/501180705/arrow-partners-the-family-office-of-barry-diller-and-the-von](https://www.pionline.com/article/20050118/ONLINE/501180705/arrow-partners-the-family-office-of-barry-diller-and-the-von) + +Barry Diller is Trustee of “Arrow 1999 Trust”, which invested in a company named Blade Air Mobility, Inc., f/k/a Blade Urban Air Mobility, Inc. (“BLADE”). Source: [https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1779128/000110465922070615/tm2217172-3\_424b3.htm](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1779128/000110465922070615/tm2217172-3_424b3.htm) + +What is BLADE? They describe themselves as a “technology-powered, global air mobility platform,” who “neither owns nor operates aircraft,” and focuses on “booking and aggregating fliers through our mobile app.” Source: Id., at 1. + +BLADE is the Uber of helicopters. + +Geffen and Diller all invested in BLADE, which was apparently [newsworthy](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-blade-m-a-breakingviews-idINKBN28P2PN): + +[Snip from the Reuters article linked above.](https://preview.redd.it/poxtal8kgyw91.png?width=782&format=png&auto=webp&s=ff642e150090c4b969130b3f0c5b8c47ead32aec) + +Griffin was also invested through Citadel, as shown in the prospectus I linked above. + +[excerpt of page 13](https://preview.redd.it/ozr3nheigyw91.png?width=964&format=png&auto=webp&s=cd16b37e0922066f149fbcbc7ea793154a10456a) + +[excerpt of page 14](https://preview.redd.it/h1dojqkggyw91.png?width=940&format=png&auto=webp&s=73b7c2feca1703ba782dce6753940644bbe6a3db) + +One can also look back in time at N800SG's flight paths using ADSB Exchange. It hasn't flown in a couple of weeks, but here are a couple of days flights flying routes where BLADE helicopters fly. + +Oct 12, 2022: [https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=aae374&lat=40.924&lon=-73.693&zoom=9.6&showTrace=2022-10-12](https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=aae374&lat=40.924&lon=-73.693&zoom=9.6&showTrace=2022-10-12) + +https://preview.redd.it/clb7849dgyw91.png?width=1074&format=png&auto=webp&s=83c841155ba21934a3ab705fc7fe797a0abc9ad8 + +Oct 10, 2022: [https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=aae374&lat=40.922&lon=-73.210&zoom=8.6&showTrace=2022-10-10](https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=aae374&lat=40.922&lon=-73.210&zoom=8.6&showTrace=2022-10-10) + +https://preview.redd.it/po5pjy3cgyw91.png?width=1100&format=png&auto=webp&s=eaeb23321232b96965ace749ef90d012c3047c43 + +So Ken Griffin and his billionaire buddies bought a helicopter to rent it out through a company they invested in. No crime, but interesting, and like I had said I do not believe the media had previously reported these facts. + +# 3. Microsoft-Activision merger + +No crime with Blade, but did you think I would end this post without any controversy? Hell no. Whenever I start digging into Ken Griffin’s shit I find, well, more shit. + +In March of this year the Wall Street Journal reported that Diller, Geffen and Alexander von Furstenberg (Diller's wife's son) were under investigation for trading options days before Microsoft's acquisition of Activision was announced. They allegedly made $60 million on the options trade. Source: [https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-probes-options-trade-that-gained-on-microsoft-activision-deal-11646787000](https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-probes-options-trade-that-gained-on-microsoft-activision-deal-11646787000) + +One of the best parts of the article: + +https://preview.redd.it/6vymf707gyw91.png?width=737&format=png&auto=webp&s=5545b565e270640572a5573090d1cd77310a5576 + +Isn't that how inside trading happens? + +But they claimed to have no knowledge of the deal: + +https://preview.redd.it/egbppun5gyw91.png?width=716&format=png&auto=webp&s=dcc8c476af60b68e10242828d39f6849ad10210b + +I have not seen resolution to this matter yet; I'm sure their attorneys are negotiating a settlement for pennies on the dollar of the alleged ill-gotten profits. I haven't looked into Citadel's position on this, but I imagine if they purchased options between quarterly reporting dates, and just prior to the announcement that represented <5% of the stock, that they would not have to disclose their position. + +That's all I've got for now, happy weekend apes. 👊 + +🚀🚀🚀 +Welp, many of you have said that real estate income or small business income shouldn't be counted as part of your FIRE number. I kinda took offense of that notion in the past. I thought to myself that if I save enough to encounter 10% vacancy, have a healthy reserve, I should be OK. Who would knew this Pandemic just threw all of these conventional RE wisdom in the trash. + +A huge part of my post FIRE income would have come from my real estate investments. It's totally rocky right now with very uncertain future due to the shutdown. But I am still hoping for the best. + +I did take this sub's recommendation and built a pretty sizable Cash/Bonds/Stocks mix. FireCalc showed that I have a 98% success rate to live off that stash for 20 years without any additional income. I am in my early 40's. And yes, I am counting on some SS and a sizable "inheritance" (It's a house I bought for my parents in the 90's. It's paid off. I still own it.) + +Since this pandemic, I took an unpaid leave from my job and it suppose to end after 3 months. It has been 6 weeks without any work and I am feeling the best!!! + +I don’t have to do the stupid daily stand up to report to the higher being what I have been up to. No more nagging emails from HR, my boss, compliance and IT department. ZERO stress! I get up every morning to have coffee and breakfast without getting rushed, situate my kid to the remote classroom, read news on my computer, go for a little nice walk, have home made lunch, take a nap, do a workout, watch movies, bake a dessert with my kid… Wow, I didn’t know life can be this good. The dreadful feeling that eventually I still have to return to work really puts me down. If only if I could count on my RE investment, I would have pulled the trigger with no hesitation. + +Some FIRE folks said that it doesn't have to be 0% or 100%. Deep down, I really want to just take a chance. I am good for 20 years at least using my savings. My real estate income didn’t go down to 0 even in this hellish climate. + +What if I don't live very long? That would sucked real bad if I die prematurely. Maybe I should just take a chance and live a little. Humans are extremely resilient. We change, adapt and survive. It doesn't have to be one formula fits all. +Income tax is the biggest expense for many households, such as mine, so I'm curious to hear what people are doing to ensure they minimise their taxes. Only legitimate techniques, please? +We've all seen earnings come out at 4:02 and the stock move at 4:02. I know how institutions react so fast to the data but where do they get that data from? + +I noticed I couldn't get a release manually right on time so I wrote a script to check how quickly I could get one but none are available on time. + +Edgar's API and RSS feeds, News wire sites that companies use to post press releases and company specific investor relations sites. All are 30 secs or more delayed from the "publication" time of the release. Ex stock moves and report says published at 4:00 but not actually avail until 4:01. + +I've confirmed it isn't an issue with the script. You can just manually refresh a site and see the stock move but no release available. + +Am I missing something? Since this info should be disseminated at the same time to all, where do they get it? +My bank account is -1400 right now, I'm deep in debt and honestly I don't find joy in what life has to offer me, I'd likely be a minimum wage leech to my single parent until I die. I can't stomach being a wage slave my whole life for it to amount to nothing, everyday I grow more and more depressed at our capitalistic country, and at myself for not being worth anything. I had no hope, and even saved to buy a pistol. Then I found Gamestop, and I began to have hope again, hope that I'll be able to finally live a modest life for myself without being a burden to anyone, hope that maybe for once the kind loving normal people can be the wealthy powerful figures, and make a change in this dystopia we live in. I just wanted to put my thankfulness out there to you apes. I hold not just for a peaceful life, but for real change. I love you all. + +Edit: It's 3am and I've received way more love than I really thought possible, so many amazing apes chimed in with lovely words that I'm honestly beaming like a kid on Christmas, thank you everyone for the encouragement and words of strength. You guys are a big part of why I keep pushing forward, I love you all and can't wait to see what we accomplish after reaching the moon, to a better brighter future, apes together strong!! + +Edit 2; sorry to everyone I didn't respond to I passed out, the amount of comments has been amazing thank you guys, those of you who messaged me personally to offer help and advice you guys are seriously angels, keep being part of the good in the world I love you guys. +I’ll try to keep this as concise as possible but any and all advice would be SO SO appreciated! + +I am 23, my husband is 24. We both graduated from college last year and are working full time jobs. I make 57k, he makes 61k. He has no credit score as he is an immigrant, mine is around 730. + +I have a medium/large windfall from my fathers passing two years ago. I have 71k in savings (in a normal savings account sitting there because I’m dumb and am paralyzed by choice), still waiting on an additional 31k tied up in the courts, and have about 50k in CASH (my father was very skeptical of banks... not sure what to do with this without triggering the IRS) + +I have also inherited my childhood home - worth about 700k. My husband and I are moving into this house so we have no rent, but it is pretty dilapidated and needs an immediate 15k put in (new floors and a new wall in one of the rooms). My husband has saved the 15k needed for immediate renovations on this house - per our agreement. I would also like to spend an additional 20k on the house this summer for new windows, AC, and a new fence. The house needs a total of 120k in renovations that we would like to do slowly over the next 5 years. (Thoughts on taking a mortgage out on the house for the renos? It’s completely paid off.) + +Our Monthly Finances: + +Monthly Income After Tax: 8,000 + +Health Insurance + Benefits: -300 + +House Taxes and Insurance/12: -240 + +Water, Gas, Electric: -250 + +Phone and Internet: -150 + +Car Insurance: -200 + +Food - 750 + += ~$6,100 leftover a month + +Having fun and enjoying life is important to us. We both have a fun allowance of $300 a month, and we like to reserve about $2000-3000 for travel a year += ~$5200 leftover a month + +Current Saving and Investment Plan: + +Husbands 401k 10%: $510 a month, $6,150 a year (we think we should increase this and maybe cap it at the 19k?) + +My IRA: I haven’t even started it yet because again, I’m dumb and a total avoider... will start and cap it at the 6k? + +Bank Savings: 71k + 15k = $86,000 (+31k this year) + +Cash: $50,000 + += $5200-$510 401k contributions + +** = $4,690 current monthly surplus ** + + +Questions: +1. What should I do with the 50k in cash? How do I put this in an investment without triggering any alarms? This money was post-tax saved by my father but how would I even prove that... + +2. Should we max out my husbands 401k with 19k a year? Should I max out my IRA at 6k a year? + +3. Where should I invest my 71+31+50k savings? Any specific company recommendations? Specific investments? I’m totally lost. + +4. Should we spend half our monthly savings on the house renovations over the next 5 years? What is the smartest way to go about renovating this house. I know from reading here that spending all my liquid cash on renovations is not smart. + +5. Any bank recommendations? We need to create a joint account and are thinking about Chase. I am thinking about Varo for the high yield savings account - it’s 2.8% under $50,000. + +6. Should I go with a traditional or ROTH IRA? + +My idea: +Put half the monthly surplus in both the 401k and IRA ($2345 monthly) [maxing out the 401k would be $1584 monthly, maxing out the IRA would be $500 monthly, we would put the remaining surplus in the investment account] and spend/short term save the remaining half ($2345 monthly) in a high yield savings account for renovations. + +*surplus is optimistic, we also need to buy a new car this year or definitely by next, and initial move in cost will be around 5k for household items. + +Sorry, this wasn’t short and very thorough... please help! +How much does this corona-virus correction (potentially bear market by the end of the week at the rate we are moving down) make you second guess your decision? Would you have went into retirement with different allocations? Making any changes now or riding the roller coaster? +Was listening to Bigger Pockets Episode 500 with Robert Kiyosaki, and he mentioned something to the effect of how terrible of an investment a 401k is. Got me thinking. I realize it depends on a number of independent factors, but how many of you have forgone 401k investment and gone 100% toward alternates like real estate? +I get a 6% match dollar per dollar, so I of course have always done that, but now max it and have my wife max hers as well. Tax implications being the biggest reason, but real estate offers a number of other solutions around taxes anyway once you truly know what you’re doing. Has me wondering if I should be utilizing anything past the match toward more real estate. I always liked the idea of leaving my job with a decent chunk in 401k and just knowing it was growing there for a rainy day while real estate covered my living expenses a couple decades. I wonder if I’m being too simple. +As the title says, I recently inherited a small rental development from a family member. Assuming full occupancy, the property will gross about $90k a year and I have 100% equity. I have always wanted to get into real estate and feel like this is an amazing first step that I am incredibly fortunate to have acquired. I also feel like a very savvy person could take this asset and with the right decisions and a little luck, create some serious wealth. Is using this property as leverage for new investments a bad idea? I’m just looking for some ideas that maybe I haven’t thought of yet. Thanks. +https://www.unclaimed.org/ + +This is a clickable map of the US; each outline takes you to your state's government-run website for unclaimed property. This isn't a bunch of for-profit third party stuff; this is literally just an easy to use state-by-state guide to looking into any funds you may not have realize are owed to you. + +Happy tax season, PF! + +edit: wow, I thought this may just catch a few people before disappearing into the ether. Pleasantly surprised to have underestimated the post and really shocked by the coins. Thank you! +[This article](https://thecorrespondent.com/100/the-new-dot-com-bubble-is-here-its-called-online-advertising/13228924500-22d5fd24) makes a pretty good case about how much of online marketing seems to be not worthwhile. + +There are a lot of details in the article, but this little excerpt best describes it. + +> Picture this. Luigi’s Pizzeria hires three teenagers to hand out coupons to passersby. After a few weeks of flyering, one of the three turns out to be a marketing genius. Customers keep showing up with coupons distributed by this particular kid. The other two can’t make any sense of it: how does he do it? When they ask him, he explains: "I stand in the waiting area of the pizzeria." + +Essentially it describes how many companies are spending millions upon millions to pay for links that are used by people who would have just used a free link anyways. + +Someone searching eBay that clicks the ad link instead of the free one isn't a conversion. +Even though it's not an information to ignore, why isn't the age of the house mentioned in the ad or neither we have a filter on domain or RE to sort by age of the house? Like for a model for when buying a car? Any reason this information isn't publicised in the AD, is it just the normal way or any regulatory requirement of not doing so.. just curious, I maybe wrong. Keen to know your thoughts ? +Hi, + +This is my first attempt at writing a DD report. I hope it makes sense. + +Just a few cautionary words: + +* Grammar (and English in general) is not a skill of mine. There will be a few parts that you might have to decipher, good luck. +* I tried not to provide too much commentary and stick to the facts. I know you are spending your valuable time reading this and you probably don't want to listen to some random guy on the internet pontificate. +* For those of you who are easily offended/triggered, can't take a joke, or sarcasm isn't your taste, DO NOT click the spoilers. + +Lastly, the following is just my findings, by no means is it a representation of all the information out there. It is just the baseline for me to have confidence in becoming an owner of the Company. Do your own due diligence or talk to a financial advisor to find what is best for you and your financial situation. + +Happy reading! + +# Highlights + +* Over the last 5 years the stock price has more than doubled. +* Toromont dominates market share over everything east of Manitoba in Canada. +* Customer base is heavily diversified, giving the Company many opportunities to expand into multiple industries. +* Dividend has increased for 31 consecutive years. It has been paid for 52 consecutive years +* The management team is extremely knowledgeable and have a good track record + +# Introduction + +Toromont Industries Ltd. (TSE:TIH) provides specialized equipment in Canada and the United States. The Company operates two business segments: The Equipment Group and CIMCO. The Equipment Group supplies specialized mobile equipment and industrial engines for Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT). Customers for this business segment vary from infrastructure contractors, residential and commercial contractors, mining companies, forestry companies, pulp and paper producers, general contractors, utilities, municipalities, marine companies, waste handling companies, and agricultural enterprises. CIMCO offers design, engineering, fabrication, and installation of industrial and recreational refrigeration systems. + +The Company was founded in 1961 and operates out of Concord, Ontario. As at December 31, 2019, Toromont employed over 6,500 people in more than 150 locations across central/eastern Canada and the upper eastern United States. + +The primary objective of the Company is to build shareholder value through sustainable and profitable growth, supported by a strong financial foundation. + +# Description of the 2 Main Business Segments + +1. **The Equipment Group** includes the following 6 business units: + +* **^(Toromont CAT:)** ^(one of the world’s largest Caterpillar dealerships which supplies, rents, and provides product support services for specialized mobile equipment and industrial engines) +* **^(Battlefield Equipment Rentals:)** ^(supplies and rents specialized mobile equipment as well as specialty supplies and tools.) +* **^(Toromont Material Handling:)** ^(supplies, rents, and provides product support services for material handling lift trucks) +* **^(AgWest:)** ^(an agricultural equipment and solutions dealer representing AGCO, CLAAS and other manufacturers’ products) +* **^(SITECH:)** ^(provides Trimble Inc (NASDAQ:TRMB) technology products and services. Trimble is a SaaS company that provides positioning, modeling, connectivity, and data analytics software which enable customers to improve productivity, quality, safety, and sustainability. Target industries: land survey, construction, agriculture, transportation, telecommunications, asset tracking, mapping, railways, utilities, mobile resource management, and government.) +* **^(Toromont Energy:)** ^(supplies, constructs, and operates high efficiency power plants up to 50 MW, using Caterpillar's leading power generation technologies. Toromont Energy operates plants that supply energy to hospitals, district energy systems, and industrial processes.) +* Performance in this segment mainly depends on the activity in several industries: road building and other infrastructure-related activities, mining, residential and commercial construction, power generation, aggregates, waste management, steel, forestry, and agriculture. +* Revenues are driven by the sale, rental, and servicing of mobile equipment for Caterpillar and other manufacturers to the industries listed above. +* In addition, Toromont is the MaK engine dealer for the Eastern seaboard of the United States, from Maine to Virginia. +* ^(MaK engine is a marine diesel engine manufactured by Caterpillar) + +2. **CIMCO** is a market leader in the design, engineering, fabrication, installation and after-sale support of refrigeration systems + +* Performance in this segment is dependent on the activity in several industries: beverage and food processing, cold storage, food distribution, mining, and recreational ice rinks. +* CIMCO has manufacturing facilities in Canada and the United States and sells its solutions globally. +* CIMCO services the ice rinks of 23 out of 31 NHL teams. So if you are watching a game and the ice is shitty, you know who to blame… >!the Ice Girls, obviously.!< +* For those of you who live in the GTA and have skated on The Barbara Ann Scott Ice Trail at College Park, the trail was created using CIMCO proprietary CO2 refrigeration technology. + +# Management + +CEO, Scott J. Medhurst has been with the company since 1988. He was appointed President of Toromont CAT in 2004 and he came into his current position as President and CEO in 2012. He is a graduate of Toromont’s Management Trainee Program. + +CFO, Mike McMillan joined the executive team in March of 2020. His predecessor, Paul Jewer is retiring this year and has been working with McMillan during the transition period. + +VP and COO, Michael Chuddy has been with Toromont since 1995. + +On average, leaders have 29 years of business experience and have served at Toromont for 19 years. Seeing long tenures, good stock performance, excellent business planning and execution is usually a sign of strong leadership. In addition, insiders hold more than 3% (\~$175 million) of the company’s outstanding shares. Medhurst owns more than 170 thousand shares, Chuddy owns just under 100 thousand shares and the former CEO and current Independent Chairman of Board of Directors, Robert Ogilvie owns more than 2 million shares, making him the 4th largest stockholder. High insider ownership typically signals confidence in a company's prospects. Compare this to Toromont’s main Canadian competitor, Finning, where insiders own less than 0.4% ($12 million) of the company (this number varies depending on where you look, I just took the highest one I found). + +Recently insiders have been selling stock (Figure 1). I cannot speak to the reasons why insiders are selling but the remaining position owned by the insider is sizable and demonstrates that the executive still has confidence in the company. Some of the reasons insiders sell are: they don't believe in the company’s future, they need money for personal use, they are rebalancing their portfolio, among others. + +[Figure 1: Buy and selling activity of insiders \(the data is from MarketBeat, so take that for what it's worth\).](https://preview.redd.it/om970zgwas751.png?width=604&format=png&auto=webp&s=5c7f82d28b5ffed3752c5b36cb58ac289c1999a3) + +On a somewhat unrelated but still related note, 50% of Toromont employees are also shareholders. + +# Growth Strategies + +Toromont has five growth strategies (expand markets, strengthen product support, broaden product offerings, invest in resources, and maintain a strong financial position). I chose to focus on the following two strategies, as they seemed most prevalent. + +1. Expand Markets + +* Toromont serves a wide variety of end markets: mining, road building, power generation, infrastructure, agriculture, and refrigeration. This allows for many opportunities for growth while staying true to their core competency. Further expansion into new markets doesn't require Toromont to build a whole new business model or learn the intricacies of the new industry because their products stays the same. Thus, the main concern is the application/selection of the products for the customer. +* Expansion is generally incremental. Each business unit focuses on market share growth and when the right opportunity presents itself, geographic expansion is archived through acquisitions. + +2. Strengthening Product Support + +* In an industry where price competition is high, product support activities represent opportunities to develop closer relationships with customers and differentiate Toromont’s product and service offering from competitors. After-market support is an integral part of the customer's decision-making process when purchasing equipment. +* Product support revenues are more consistent and profitable. + +# Growth Through Acquisition + +Rapid growth in this industry is generally driven through acquisitions. Toromont has gone through multiple acquisitions since the 90’s: + +* Acquisition of the Battlefield Equipment Rentals in 1996 + * Toromont grew Battlefield from one location to 82 locations +* Acquisition of two privately held agricultural dealerships in Manitoba to form AgWest Equipment Ltd +* Acquisition of Hewitt Group of companies in Q3 2017 for a total consideration of $1.0177 billion + * $917.7 million cash ($750 million of which was finances through unsecured debt) plus the issuance of 2.25 million Toromont shares (equating to $100 million based on the 10 day average share price) + +**Acquisition of Hewitt Group of companies** + +This acquisition allowed Toromont to make headway into the Quebec, Western Labrador, and Maritime markets, as Hewitt was the authorized Caterpillar dealer of these regions. Hewitt was also the Caterpillar lift truck dealer of Quebec and most of Ontario and the MaK marine engine dealer for Québec, the Maritimes, and the Eastern seaboard of the United States (from Maine to Virginia). + +Toromont had total assets of $1.51 billion before the acquisition, the acquisition added $1.024 billion in assets, nearly doubling the balance sheet (look at Figure 2 for more details about the acquisition). + +[Figure 2: \(all numbers are in thousands\) The final allocation of the purchase price was as of Dec 31, 2018, Note 25 of 2018 Annual Report. $1.024 billion was added to the Toromont’s B\/S ](https://preview.redd.it/i7xn8sozhs751.png?width=616&format=png&auto=webp&s=fc6e7cfda55d9ee7b6bb3cfaded84c5985eba061) + +Large acquisitions like this one can be the downfall of a company. Here are some of the risks highlighted by management at the time of the acquisition: + +* Potential for liabilities assumed in the acquisition to exceed our estimates or for material undiscovered liabilities in the Hewitt Business +* Changes in consumer and business confidence as a result of the change in ownership +* Potential for third parties to terminate or alter their agreements or relationships with Toromont as a result of the acquisition +* Whether the operations, systems, management, and cultures of Hewitt and Toromont can be integrated in an efficient and effective manner + +In 2018, the Company started and successfully completed the integration of the Maritime dealerships acquired through Hewitt under Toromont’s decentralized branch model (bottom up approach). Under a decentralized model, regional leadership make business decisions based on local conditions, rather than taking top down mandates. A bottom up approach is an advantage in businesses like Toromont where the customer mix can vary vastly from region to region. It allows for decision-making that is better aligned with customer/market needs and more attuned to the key performance indicators used to manage the business. In 2019, the integration of the decentralized branch model was implemented in Quebec after its success in Atlantic Canada in 2018. Successful integration of Hewitt into the Toromont family shows the depth of industry and business knowledge possessed by the management team. Being able to maintain inherited customer relationships and ensure low turnover is no easy feat. Many companies have completely botched these kinds of acquisitions. One that comes to mind is Sobeys (the second largest food retailer in Canada) acquiring Safeway for $5.8 billion. Three years later, they wrote off $2.9 billion as a loss because they did not anticipate the differences in consumer habits in Western Canada vs Eastern Canada, among other oversights. + +The result of the acquisition and Hewitt’s integration with Toromont’s existing business produced a 39% increase in EPS in 2018 and 14% increase in 2019. + +# Dividend + +Toromont pays a quarterly dividend and has historically targeted a dividend rate that approximates 30 - 40% of trailing earnings from continuing operations. + +In February 2020 the Board of Directors increased the quarterly dividend by 14.8% to $0.31 per share. This marked the 31st consecutive year of increasing dividends and 52nd consecutive year of making a dividend payment. The five-year dividend-growth rate is 12.09%. + +[Table 1: Information about the last eight dividends ](https://preview.redd.it/ivy1gu57js751.png?width=589&format=png&auto=webp&s=b98341af142dbc0df4153a71bb59842bb8715443) + +# Risks/Threats and Mitigation + +**Dependency on Caterpillar Inc.** + +It goes without saying that Toromont’s future is heavily dependent on Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT). For those who don't know, Caterpillar is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. It has a market cap in excess of $68 billion. All purchases made by Toromont must be made from Caterpillar. This agreement has been standing since 1993 and can be terminated by either side with 90 days notice. + +Given that the vast majority of Toromont’s inventory is Caterpillar products, Caterpillar’s brand strength and market acceptance are essential factors for Toromont’s continued success. I would say that the probability of either of these being damaged to an unrecoverable point are low, but at the beginning of this year, I would have said the probability of the world coming to a complete stop was very low too and look at what happened. Anything is possible. The reason this is a major consideration is because it's a going concern issue. Going conference is an accounting term for a company that has the resources needed to continue operating indefinitely until it provides evidence to the contrary. This term also refers to a company's ability to make enough money to stay afloat or to avoid bankruptcy. If there was irrevocable damage to Caterpillar’s brand, Toromont is no longer a going concern, meaning the company would most likely be going bankrupt or liquidating assets. The whole Company might not go under because the CIMCO, SITECH, and AgWest business units would survive but, essentially \~80% of the business would be liquidated. + +In addition to the morbid scenario I laid out above, Toromont is also dependent on Caterpillar for timely supply of equipment and parts. There is no assurance that Caterpillar will continue to supply its products in the quantities and time frames required by Toromont’s customers. So if there is supply chain shock, like the one we just saw, there is the chance that Toromont will not have access to sufficient inventory to meet demand. Which in turn would lead to the loss of revenue or even to the permanent loss of customers. + +Again, both of these threats have low a probability of occurring but either could single handedly cripple Toromont’s business. As of now, Caterpillar continues to dominate a large market share (\~38% as per Gurufocus) in the industry against large competitors like John Deere, CNH Industrial, Cummins, and others. + +Caterpillar's stock has been on a slow decline for a couple years but that is due to reasons beyond the ones that directly concern Toromont’s day-to-day operations. I would say if you don't believe in Caterpillar’s continued market share dominance, investing in Toromont is probably not for you. + +**Shortage of Skilled Workers** + +Shortage of skilled tradesmen represents a pinch point for industry growth. Demographic trends are reducing the number of individuals entering the trades, thus making access to skilled individuals more difficult. Additionally, the company has several remote locations which makes attracting and retaining skilled individuals more difficult. The lack of such workers in Canada has caused Toromont to become more assertive and thoughtful in their recruitment efforts. + +To combat this threat, Toromont has/is: + +* Recruited 303 technicians to achieve growth targets +* Created 208 student apprenticeship programs +* Working with 19 vocational institutions in Toronto to teach about best practices and introduce the Company as a future employer to students + +As a result of these initiatives and others, Toromont saw their workforce grow by \~8% 2019. Growing the workforce is one of the primary building blocks for future growth. + +**Cyclical Business Cycle** + +Toromont’s business is cyclical due to its customers' businesses being cyclical. This affects factors such as exchange rates, commodity/precious metal pricing, interest rates, and most importantly, inventory management. To mitigate this issue, management has put more focus on increasing revenues from product support activities as they are more profitable than the equipment supply business and less volatile. + +**Environmental Regulations Affecting Customers** + +Toromont’s customers are subject to significant and ever-increasing environmental legislation and regulation. This leads to 2 impacts: + +1. Technical difficulty in meeting environmental requirements in product design -> increased costs +2. Reduction in business activity of Toromont’s customers in environmentally sensitive areas -> reduced revenues + +Threats such as these come with a business of this type. As an investor in Toromont, you can't do much to mitigate these kinds of threats because it's out of your hands. Oil and gas, mining, forestry, and infrastructure projects are major drivers of the Canadian economy, so I think there will always be opportunity for Toromont to make money, regardless of government action. + +**Impact of COVID19** + +While the company had been declared as an essential service in all jurisdictions that it operates in, Q1 2019 results were lower as a function of COVID19 reducing activity in many sectors that Toromont services. Decline in mining and construction projects lead to a decrease in demand for Toromont products in the latter part of the quarter. Revenues were trending for 5-7% growth for the quarter before the effects of COVID19 were felt. + +Management cannot provide any guidance on how to evaluate the impact of COVID19 on future financial results. They are focusing on ensuring the continued safety of employees and working with customers and the jurisdiction they operate in to evaluate appropriate activity levels on a daily/weekly basis. Lastly, management is keeping a close eye on how this crisis has led to an increase in A/R delinquencies and financial hardship for customers. + +The Executive Team and the Board of Directors have taken a voluntary compensation reduction. Wage increase freezes and temporary layoffs have been implanted on a selective basis. Management believes that expanding product offerings and services, strong financial position, and disciplined operating culture positions the Company well for continued growth in the long term. + +**Competition** + +Toromont competes with a large number of international, national, regional, and local suppliers. Although price competition can be strong, there are a number of factors that have enhanced Toromont’s ability to compete: + +* Range and quality of products and services +* Ability to meet sophisticated customer requirements +* Distribution capabilities including number and proximity of locations +* Financing through CAT Finance +* E-commerce solutions +* Reputation +* Financial health + +# Main Competitor in Canada: Finning International Inc. + +Finning International Inc. (TSE:FTT) is the world's largest [Caterpillar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterpillar_Inc.) dealer that sells, rents and provides parts and service for equipment and engines to customers across diverse industries, including mining, construction, petroleum, forestry and a wide range of power systems applications. Finning was founded in 1933 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. + +&#x200B; + +|| Toromont Industries Ltd| Finning International Inc.| +|:-|:-|:-| +| Market Cap |$5.84B|$3.02B| +| Price |$65.66|$18.49| +| Dividend Yield |1.87%|4.36%| +| Number of Employees |\>6,500|\>13,000| +| Revenues (ttm) |$3.69B|$7.57B| +| Trailing P/E Ratio |19x|11x| +| Price/Book |3.71x|1.35x| +| Profit Margin |7.71%|3.54%| +| Places of Operations| Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador, most of Nunavut, and the Northeastern United States | British Columbia, Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories, a portion of Nunavut, UK, Ireland, Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile | + +^(Table 2: A quick comparison between Toromont and Finning.) + +I am sure there are some people looking at this table and thinking Finning looks rather promising based on the metrics shown, especially in comparison to Toromont. Finning’s dividend yield, P/E, and price/book look more attractive. Their top line is 2x. Not to mention it operates worldwide and is the only distributor in the UK, while Toromont only operates in half of Canada.>! Before you go off thinking “I need to use my HELOC to buy some Finning,” as some people on this subreddit are prone to do, ask yourself: do you see any cause for concern in the metrics listed above? !< + +>!One glaring question I have is: why is Finning trading at half of Toromont’s market cap given that it operates internationally and has twice the number of employees and revenues of Toromont?!< + +# Q1 2020 Financial Results + +&#x200B; + +[Figure 3: Q1 2020 Income Statement](https://preview.redd.it/18cmx05nrs751.png?width=579&format=png&auto=webp&s=a62b818719e2e4a05fd6d157a9e94a856117199e) + +Overall operating income, net earnings, and EPS all decreased even though Toromont saw an increase in revenue for the quarter compared to Q1 of 2019. + +* All of these decreases were contributed to COVID19, as the pandemic lead to increases in costs + +Historically, Q1 has always been Toromont’s weakest quarter. Q1 accounts for \~20% of yearly earnings and is consistently the least profitable quarter. Toromont’s profit margin generally ranges from 5%-9% progressively increasing into the later half of the year. This is good news for investors with the thesis that the economy will return to "somewhat normal" in the latter half of this year. The majority of the earnings for 2020 are still on the table for Toromont to earn. If current conditions persist, or there is a second wave and lockdown later in the year, we will most likely see a regression in Toromont’s growth to last year’s levels or even lower. + +Assuming the world does return to “normal,” many of Toromont’s customers (especially in mining and construction) may try to catch up for lost time with increases to their operational activity, leading to an increase in Toromont’s sales for the remainder of the year. Of course this is a major assumption but it’s a possibility. + +Below is a comparison of the last eight quarters. You can see the clear cyclical nature of their business. + +[Figure 4: Last eight quarters of earnings](https://preview.redd.it/bur69yclss751.png?width=614&format=png&auto=webp&s=b2fa50f4c13eae3e44e07451c3b588f9eba7962e) + +# Sources of Liquidity + +**Credit** + +* Toromont has access to a $500 million revolving credit facility, maturing in October 2022 +* On April 17 2020 they secured an additional $250 million as a one year syndicate facility + +**Cash Position** + +* Cash increased by 22.6 million for the quarter +* Cash from operations increased 13% Q1 2020 compared to Q1 2019 +* The company also drew $100 million from their revolving credit facility +* $4 million dollars of stocks were repurchased during Q1 2020 + +Given their access to $750.0 million dollars of credit and cash on hand equaling $388.2 million, the Company should have sufficient liquidity to operate if COVID19 and its aftermath persist for an extended period of time. + +# Financial Analysis + +**Analysis of Debt** + +Historically, Toromont has had very low debt levels. The spike in late 2017 was due to the acquisition of Hewitt. Management paid off the debt aggressively in 2018. At the end of December 2019 Toromont had $650 million of debt maturing between 2025 and 2027. As a result of COVID19 the company has taken on more debt. This additional access to debt accounts of the slight uptick in historical debt in 2020 (Figure 5). + +[Figure 5: Toromont’s historical debt, equity, and cash ](https://preview.redd.it/4uzekevets751.png?width=1000&format=png&auto=webp&s=3a55b4ded6dc8cdcd01148a0715b292dba7c4e8c) + +The long-term debt to capitalization ratio is a variation of the traditional debt-to-equity ratio. The long-total debt to capitalization ratio is a solvency measure that shows the proportion of debt a company uses to finance its assets, relative to the amount of equity used for the same purpose. A higher ratio means that a company is highly leveraged, which generally carries a higher risk of insolvency with it. + +The debt-to-equity ratio is at 47% and debt-to-capitalization ratio is 32%, Toromont has $388 million in cash that could be used to pay down debt by nearly 50% and bring the net debt-to-equity to 23% and net debt-to-capitalization to 18%. As mentioned before, management is holding on to cash to insure sufficient liquidity during these times. + +The implication of these ratios is that Toromont does not take on large amounts of debt to finance growth. Instead the Company leverages shareholders equity to drive growth. + +For comparison, Finning has a debt-to-equity ratio of \~100% (it differs between WSJ, 99%, and Yahoo Finance, 101%). The nominal amount of their total debt is \~$2.2 billion, which gives them a long-term debt to capitalization ratio 62%. Finning carries $260 million in cash. + +[Figure 6: Toromont’s debt-to-capitalization and debt-to-equity ratios](https://preview.redd.it/jom8mu3z0t751.png?width=516&format=png&auto=webp&s=a5e7dfe5a82786a2ec1b43f9b07375da8f6e3324) + +**Profitability Ratios** + +Return on equity (also known as return on net assets) measures how effectively management is using a company’s assets to create profits. + +Toromont’s return on equity is generally around 20%. Go to Figure 6 to look at the ROE for the last 4 years. In comparison, Finning has had a ROE of \~11% for the last three years, about 3% in 2016 and a negative ROE in 2015 (as per Morningstar). + +Return on capital employed (ROCE) tries to find the return relative to the total capital employed in the business (both debt & equity less short-term liabilities). Toromont’s ROCE (ttm) for March 31 2020 was 22%. This means for every dollar employed in the business 22 cents were earned in EBIT (earnings before interest and tax). Finning had a ROCE of 11% as of December 2019. + +**Liquidity Ratios** + +Working capital is the amount of cash and other current assets a business has available after all its current liabilities are accounted for. In the last ten years, Toromont’s working capital has fluctuated between 1.6 at its lowest (2018) to 2.8 at its highest (2016). At the end of 2019 it was at 1.8. Meaning current liabilities equate to 60% of current assets. + +Interest coverage ratio is used to determine how easily a company can pay their interest expenses on outstanding debt. Toromont has an interest coverage ratio 15x (as per WSJ). Finning on the other hand is at 4x. At this point I feel like I'm just beating up on Finning. + +>!For those of you who made it this far, I have to admit something to you. This whole post is just a facade to ask you a question that has never been asked on this subreddit before: Should I buy BPY.UN? It keeps going down and I'm worried if I buy it, it will keep going down and I'll lose money. I don't want to lose money. Although if you go through my post history, you'll see I've been looking at/buying penny stocks.!< + +# Key Performance Measures + +Below is a chart with key financial measures for the last four years. A few things I want to highlight: + +* Toromont had large capital expenditure last year (most of it went to increasing inventory) so they have the choice to keep capital expenditure down this year and preserve cash +* From the start of 2018 (aka end of 2017) to the end of 2018 Toromont stock was down about 3% while the TSX Composite was down more 12% and S&P was down 7%. This stock has a history of out performance not only on the upside but also on the downside. I'll go into a bit more detail in the next section. + +[ Figure 7: Summary of key financial measure for the last four years](https://preview.redd.it/6xcn5bvz2t751.png?width=627&format=png&auto=webp&s=53028227a931e7cd027e5e00aa56b7ce1eee4995) + +# Price Chart Comparisons + +I don't do technical analysis. To those who do, good luck to you >!because let's be real, you'll need it.!< This section is just to get an idea of past performance and evaluate the opportunity cost of investing in Toromont compared to a competitor or a board based index fund. + +I thought it would be easier to look at pictures as opposed to reading a bunch of numbers off a table. + +For the sake of not creating a picture album of screenshots, I just looked at charts for the last 5 years. If you're interested in looking at different time intervals you can do so on google finance. + +&#x200B; + +1. Toromont Industries Ltd v. Finning International Inc. + +[Figure 8: Five year price chart of TIH v. FTT](https://preview.redd.it/4af0o4f15t751.png?width=618&format=png&auto=webp&s=04fed4d3fe460a1ffc1206e8c1349784d7f58420) + +These are the only two Caterpillar distributors on the TSX, making them direct comparisons. If I was looking for exposure to this industry, I would be choosing between these two companies (on the TSX anyways). There isn't really much to evaluate here. It's like they saying: “A picture is a thousand words,” or in this case, it's 128%. If you have time, go look at the graph from August 1996 to now. I can safely say it hasn't been much of a competition. >!Toromont has outperformed by \~2500% in stock price appreciation alone. If you're a glass half full kind of person, I guess you could look at this disparity as Finning having enormous upside. LOL!< + +&#x200B; + +2. Toromont Industries Ltd v. S&P 500 Index + +[Figure 9: Five year price chart of TIH v. VFV](https://preview.redd.it/yznefhi94t751.png?width=620&format=png&auto=webp&s=d3b2eec50efe03d27475e7e240828e1d8348e636) + +If I'm not buying individual stocks, I’m buying the S&P 500 and to a lesser extent a Nasdaq index fund. This gives me a second look at the opportunity cost of my money. The story is not as bad as the Finning comparison. If you had bought $100 dollars of Toromont stock 5 years ago, it would have turned into $207 today, whereas the same $100 dollars in VFV would have became $157. + +Just a quick aside, you can see the volatility in Toromont’s stock is much higher compared to the VFV. VFV has a relatively smooth trend upwards while Toromont trends upwards in a jagged path. This is the risk of single stocks, they move up and down more erratically, leading inventors who don't have a grasp of the business or conviction in their pick to panic sell or >!post countless times on Reddit asking why their stocks keep going down. “I bought the stock last week and it's done 3% already, do you guys think it’s going bankrupt? I thought stonks only go up???”!< + +&#x200B; + +3. Toromont Industries Ltd v. S&P/TSX Capped Industrials Index + +[Figure 10: Five year price chart of TIH v. \^TTIN](https://preview.redd.it/dtdemhde4t751.png?width=611&format=png&auto=webp&s=44d48c37fc27a8efae305b27def5a50913bcba7b) + +The S&P/TSX Capped Industrials Index isn't my favourite comparison for Toromont because its constituents cover many industries ranging from waste management (WCN), to railways (CNR/CP), to Airlines (AC, >!lol, had to mention it. I miss the days when there were double digits posts about AC. I wonder where those people have gone, because I can tell you where AC stock has gone... absolutely nowhere).!< Regardless, I used TTIN because I deemed it a better comparison to Toromont than the entire TSX. The story is on par with the other two comparisons. Toromont’s out performance is significant. + +I just threw this bonus chart in here because when I saw it, I was like BRUHHH (insert John Wall meme)… It's completely unsustainable but that's impressive given the vast differences between the two. + +4. Toromont Industries Ltd v. NASDAQ-100 + +[Figure 11: Five year price chart of TIH v. ZQQ](https://preview.redd.it/vlc3qlu65t751.png?width=617&format=png&auto=webp&s=3ee1424a00f5be93a654af3f1f1e6453bfcf94f9) + +Now, of course, past performance does not dictate future results and all that good stuff, but it really gets you thinking about how the rewards disproportionately favours winners compared to the overall market. People are generally happy getting market returns >!(i.e. the just buy VGRO people)!< but being able to pick even a few winners really pays. This reminds me of the Warren Buffet quote: “diversification is protection against ignorance.” The context of the quote is that if you are able to study a few industries in great depth and acquire a wealth of knowledge, you can see returns astronomically higher than those who diversify across the board market. The problem then becomes you put yourself at risk of having all your eggs in one basket. Look at what's happening with Wirecard in Europe right now. This is why the real skill in investing is managing risk. + +# Analyst Price Targets and Estimates + +The prince targets set for by analysts range from $63-$81. The average price target is \~$72, with the majority of targets within the 70-$71 range. Given the current price of $65.66, there is a \~10% upside. These price targets haven't changed much due to COVID19 even though revenues and EPS forecasts have been downgraded for 2020. The consensus estimate on 2020 revenues is $3.36 billion, down from the actual revenues of $3.69 billion in 2019 and the consensus EPS for 2020 is $3.01 down from actual EPS of $3.52 for 2019 and $3.10 for 2018. The fact that revenues and EPS forecasts have been downgraded, yet price targets remain untouched, for the most part, indicates that the effects of COVID19 are expected to be short-lived. + +[ Figure 12: Earnings and estimate ranges for Toromont. Note: EPS numbers in this graphic are diluted EPS numbers. ](https://preview.redd.it/y565rvsu7t751.png?width=639&format=png&auto=webp&s=f114fdbf34553c4e5181db8af87ce3f296c931fc) + +# Valuation + +**Multiples** + +Assuming P/E ratio stays the same as it has been for the last 12 months (\~19x) and EPS goes down to \~$3.00 (as per analyst consensus), the implied price would be $57. + +Using the last 12 months of revenues, the EV-to-Revenues ratio is at 1.56x. Assuming that ratio stays the same and with revenues estimated to be \~$3.36 billion, enterprise value (EV) comes out to $5.2416 billion. Using Q1 2020 figures for shares outstanding (82.015 million), cash ($388.182 million), and debt ($745.703 million), the implied price for a share is $58.94\*. + +^(\*Note: Enterprise Value is equal to market cap plus total debt minus cash.) + +**Dividend Discount Model** + +The dividend discount model (DDM) is a method of valuing a company's stock price based on the theory that its stock is worth the sum of all of its future dividend payments, discounted back to their present value. + +The average dividend growth rate is 12% for the last 5 years is 12%. There is no way Toromont can increase the dividend at this pace in the long term, thus, I chose a long term dividend growth rate of 5%. This is the assumed rate in perpetuity. The required rate of return will equal WACC, 6.85% (averaged from 2019 Annual Report). The dividend over the last year is $1.16 (two payments of $0.27 in 2019 and two payments of $0.31 for 2020). + +The fair value equals $65.84. + +[Figure 13: DDM calculation. ](https://preview.redd.it/asymstfm8t751.png?width=498&format=png&auto=webp&s=9eaba773b2371afbf9d39f646d33e5540cec099a) + +# Closing Thoughts + +There is no doubt that Toromont trades at a large premium. The current P/E is 19x and the CAPE ratio (Shiller P/E) is 26x. The fair value of the Company as per Morningstar research is in the mid $60 range. + +Based on all valuations I did and analyst price targets, I would start buying in the high $50 range or maybe the very low $60 range, but my belief in the company has to do with long term thematic trends and how the Company operates, rather than today's price. Although I have to admit, the price does look more attractive now than it did in the beginning of June when the stock hit new all time highs. It seems like the only companies hitting new all time highs these days are tech companies, so it's refreshing to find a non-tech company achieving the same feat. + +Toromont is not going to double next year or the year after that. It is a relatively low margin business, with slow growth and a cyclical business cycle. I like that the Company has strong financials, low debt, and good management. They don't take shortcuts or unwarranted risk. Future growth will mostly be driven through acquisition, but management is cautious with acquisitions and don't overextend themselves. One of the biggest problems Finning has been facing for the last couple years is political and social turmoil in South American countries which is affecting their mining clients and thus affecting revenues/margins. + +The Q2 earnings are reported on July 22 202. We should have a clearer picture on the prospects of the Company from management. Hopefully we have a better idea of the COVID19 situation by then too. Regardless, I think the company is in a position where its services will always be in demand so short term fluctuations are not something that shake my confidence in this pick. + +# Limitations and Further Areas of Research + +By no means is this an exhaustive due diligence report. This is enough for me to feel confident in the business and its trajectory. Limitations/further areas of the research include: + +* Looking into the growth of each sector Toromont services and extrapolating that growth to calculate Toromont’s future growth opportunity. + * As per IBIS Research the heavy equipment rental market in Canada is \~$8.3 billion. It grew 1.1% yearly for the last 5 years. + * The US market is estimated to be $47 billion, with an average growth of 2% for the last 5 years + * Sorry but I couldn't get my hands on future projections as each report is $750 +* More research into competitors + * I chose to include Finning only for simplicity’s sake. But there are many other competitors like: + * United Rentals (NYSE:URI) provides similar services to Toromont/Finning in 49 U.S. states, 10 Canadian provinces, Puerto Rico and four European countries. The only thing being they aren't distributors for Caterpillar. + * Rocky Mountain Dealerships Inc (TSE:RME) sells, leases, and provides product and warranty support for agriculture and industrial equipment in Western Canada + * Holt Cat, N C Machinery, Ziegler CAT (none of these companies are publicly traded) +* Further analysis can be done on the B/S and accounting treatments. +* The effects of automation in the industry + * Distributors in the US have started working with industrial automation companies to provide autonomous construction equipment on rent to contractors + * Sunstate Equipment Co.'s partnership with Built Robotics +* I was not able to do a discounted cash flow, which would be critical to finding the intrinsic value for Toromont and having true confidence in the company and its trajectory. +* Further analysis of CIMCO and prospects of future growth + * Based of the financials, CIMCO seemed like a small part of the business, which is why I mainly focused on the Caterpillar dealership side + +These are not all the limitations or areas of further research, they are just the glaring one that came to mind. + +>! I know I took a few shots at people in this post. It's all in good jest. If you're offended well.... maybe you should be. I don't know, you have to figure that out on your own or you could make a post on Reddit asking random people on the internet whether you should be offended or not. !< + +Remember I'm not an expert, I'm just a random guy on the internet. + +# Disclosure + +I am long Toromont. This information is not financial advice. Please do your own research and/or talk to a financial advisor. All data provided is current prior to the market opening on June 29, 2020. Inconsistencies in data can be due to many reasons, the foremost being that data was spruced from multiple different websites. +Sorry everybody, personal problems. +But now I'm here! + +Current price "115 minutes in: 176.32 US-$" + +FAQ: + +Where do you get our numbers from? +- +I trade through my bank account and just refresh the page to see the current price. I then use my conversion app ( Euro to US-$ ) and post the result. +I try to post every 5 minutes, but I am at work so I can't guarantee it 😄 + +Why are your numbers different from the ones I'm seeing online? +- +My banking app shows me the best price that I can sell for right now...it compares Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Xetra and "Direkthandel" (meaning "direct exchange"). +That's why my movement may differ from your sources online. + +I don't trust those germans, look at what they did in the 20th century...can I get another source? +- +Sure, you can take a look here...just remember to convert from € to $! +https://www.ls-tc.de/de/aktie/gamestop-aktie + +Can you post the volume too? +- +I can't see the volume on my banking app but you can find it online or probably in my comments, since some friendly apes talk about it often. +But remember how low the volume is in the US pre-Market and we're talking pre US pre-market here so I think that the volume doesen't reeeeally matter this early into the trading day. + +Why are you doing this every day, what's the point of posting these numbers, since the volume is nothing compared to the one in the US? +- +I think that it's less about the numbers, it's to show that every minute of every day, there is an ape who's holding GME. +Look through the comments, there are people from all around the world just wishing each other a good morning, how awesome is that? +I think that this feeling of camaraderie is critical, it's good to know that I'm not the only one liking this stock. +I'm holding since november and I will continue to hold for my brothers and sisters. +We are not a union, we are all individuals who like the stock, but we're still family! + +15 minutes in : 176.26 US-$ + +20 minutes in: 175.78 US-$ + +25 minutes in: 175.78 US-$ + +30 minutes in: 175.78 US-$ + +35 minutes in: 175.78 US-$ + +40 minutes in: 175.78 US-$ + +45 minutes in: 175.78 US-$ + +50 minutes in: 175.78 US-$ + +55 minutes in: 175.96 US-$ + +60 minutes in: 175.96 US-$ + +65 minutes in: 175.96 US-$ + +70 minutes in: 175.96 US-$ + +75 minutes in: 175.96 US-$ + +80 minutes in: 175.96 US-$ + +85 minutes in: 175.96 US-$ + +90 minutes in: 175.96 US-$ + +95 minutes in: 176.02 US-$ + +100 minutes in: 175.96 US-$ + +105 minutes in: 176.02 US-$ + +110 minutes in: 176.02 US-$ + +115 minutes in: 176.32 US-$ + +The US pre-market is about to open so that's it for the day! 🇺🇸 +Thank you so much for the kind words and the support, much love to all of you! + +I'll see you again tomorrow👋 +Let's give 'em hell! +Hi all, + +Bought a property in June last year. We had to go about 90% LVR so that we could fund immediate renovations. We got really lucky with the purchase (desperate sale during lockdown), so the LMI was ok because we came out a fair way ahead. + +As a result our % was really high, so today I called the bank to negotiate. + +Their desktop review increased our property by $200k (about 30% increase) without considering the renovations. + +Needless to say we have been able to negotiate a much better rate. + +Moral of the story, call your bank today….and your parents/loved ones. +Did you know that the gaming industry today is a $200 billion behemoth that is constantly pushing the boundaries of technology and entertainment. The gaming industry is arguably one of the most important and innovative sectors in tech today. The term “entertainment industry” is no longer reserved for Hollywood and the movie industry because gaming is now providing one of the most immersive and awe-inspiring forms of entertainment to more than two billion people around the globe. + +Now imagine yourself being a part and being one of the early pioneers who will support a platform and have the opportunity to watch some of the best gamers in the world playing your favorite games battle it out and participate in huge tournaments. Imagine yourself a gaming center packed with exclusive content from content creators and fans. + +The meteoric rise of the gaming industry is just getting started and with GMR, gaming will be even more special, immersive and engaging. There is a way to play for almost every human, which makes gaming one of the most beloved industries in the world and I truly believe GMR will take us there. Again, this is a 200++ billion industry and with GMR at the helm, it will revolutionize crypto and gaming in an ecosystem that will thrive and benefit each other. + +Website: gmr.finance + +Telegram: t.me/gmrfinance + +Contract Verified: + +https://bscscan.com/address/0x0523215dcafbf4e4aa92117d13c6985a3bef27d7#code + + +Buy on PancakeSwap: https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?inputCurrency=0x0523215DCafbF4E4aA92117d13C6985a3BeF27D7 + + +------------------------------------------------------- + +GMR FACTS + +Days Old: 28 + +Market Cap: $50,000,000+ + +Holders: 175,000+ + +27,000+ Telegram members + +32,000+ Twitter followers + +7,000+ Reddit readers + +Trending EVERYWHERE. + +Listed on CoinMarketCap. + +Listed on Coingecko. + +Trading on the following exchanges: + +BIKI COINSBIT BITMART (5/31) + +Partnership with Turopium ( Over 50M combined subscribers) + +FIFA fridays with @MattHDGamer + +$250,000 Warzone Inaugural Tournament + +Meetings with Content Creators, Agents and Specialists ongoing and secured. + +A token that has actual use. + +------------------------------------------------------- + +THE PLAN + +NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN (NFT'S) +Content Creators, Game Developers & Gaming Platforms will be able to create, showcase and sell personal NFT's on our platform. Converting clips etc into NFT's will be available with just a few clicks. + +GAMER VAULT +Our gamer vault will be a place for everyone. You will be able to create your own profile, follow your favourite game categories. follow your favourite content creators and channels, support streamers & creators directly using GMR, enter competitions and tournaments. leaderboards with profiles, GMR lottery, live stream integrations and much much more. + +TOURNAMENTS & COMPETITIONS +GMR Finance will be hosting a huge selection of tournaments and competitions across all gaming categories and platforms to win prizes of up to $250,000. Take on your favourite creators with a competitive edge. Platform battles will also be a thing. Twitch, YouTube, Facebook who wins? + +LOTTERY +You will be able to purchase GMR lottery tickets with GMR to potentially win huge GMR prizes. This will also have a burn feature reducing our total supply. + +PARTNERSHIPS +We have already started talking to Streamers, YouTubers & Developers. Platform partnerships are also under revision. + +GAME KEYS +HODLing GMR will give gamers access to discounted keys for all platforms such as Xbox, PlayStation, Steam, Amazon and more. + +THAT'S NOT ALL +We have many more features planned for the GMR token. We would like to keep some a surprise. + +------------------------------------------------------- + +JOIN THIS JOURNEY WITH US, HODLERS WILL BE REWARDED. WE AIM TO REVOLUTIONISE THE GAMING SECTOR AND INTRODUCE CRYPTO TO THE GAMING WORLD +During the last days, I’ve found that many people praises the Nordic model and wants to copy it in other countries. But, what would you say are its main flaws? Is it possible to copy that model in other parts of the world? +I’m not talking about their surge or market cap. People are day trading and riding the bank-partnership hype. People will make money. Fine. + +But I saw a post today pointing out that the owners of ripple 1. Hold a giant supply of coins. 2. Are acquiring a lot of ETH and BTC. The banks, in a way, are taking our decentralized currencies and giving us their centralized currency. They can change the price when they want, but more worryingly, they would then have all the good coins many people formerly had. + +Yes it’s a little conspiracy theory but I don’t think we have to pretend banks are altruistic anymore. The people at the top are smart, clever, and work very hard to tamp down a threat to their status quo. +Before I start. Having done some DD I have nothing against this company **long** term but they have some real challenges ahead with a lot of risk, and the potential for further share dilution (on top of the already outstanding 200 million options and performance bonuses) is very real. The peak we witnessed in the midst of delays to there B2B app launching, while having practically zero revenue and bleeding money was absurd. + +Also remember rule 5 nothing on the sub should be taken as financial advice don’t go blaming others for your bad decisions. This post is intended as entertainment and a wake the fuck up to those [posting and up-voting conspiracy theories](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/o2hwwy/yall_forgot_theres_games_being_played_the/). + +If you can’t be bother going any further. Here is the post TLDR- Credit u/toolman2019 + +&#x200B; + +[TLDR](https://preview.redd.it/9pj599osf5671.jpg?width=583&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3060a0279d8c7c48c69ebe9fa26dddf8cc0ea488) + +Gather round children and hear the tail of DW8, its a story of greed, ignorance and false prophets. It all begins in the Summer of 2021, the world had just awoken to the sound of retarded apes tearing down US hedge funds and making fists full of cash along the way. Closer to home some local reddit users neuron fired and they went in search of our very own ASX\_bets. Wallets open, minds clouded, a great migration was at hand, resulting in the perfect storm. + +![img](t33f7dfzf5671 " +") + +[The uptick is on Feb 15th to the day baby!!](https://preview.redd.it/at52he91g5671.png?width=539&format=png&auto=webp&s=2a66f4ded9f25015708e25b954376db1aa864a28) + +# The DD? + +Waiter: Here is your DD Sir. + +https://preview.redd.it/mifif038g5671.png?width=474&format=png&auto=webp&s=c48dc1883f9fe9a1cb5aab4a4f213de09f8bc2f9 + +ASX\_bets: There is more holes in this than there is cheese. + +Waiter: Exactly Sir. + +Waiter: Would you like to try the Tacos instead Sir. + +ASX\_bets: Ok. + +https://preview.redd.it/mzy8xt3ag5671.png?width=716&format=png&auto=webp&s=e2cbdf8cf8132ef147e4c25b002769100f3f6b0d + +# The Catalyst + +Now DW8 had been around ASX\_bets long before WSB went off the rails but its growth had remained in the bounds of reality up until this point. But just as our migration story was under way a double punch was thrown and DW8 ignited all engines. + +Feb 15 (Monday): + +\- DW8 Announcement - WINEDEPOT partners with Vivino + +\- [DW8 and why you should own it. Hits the streets](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/lk4r65/dw8_and_why_you_should_own_it/) + +\- Probably some ball tickling going on over at HC too but I couldn’t be bothered checking. + +Our local DD started out with the usual don’t listen to me warnings, to which we can give the OP credit. But within the TLDR can be found true gems of insight. + +\> This is a fast growing company with proven management, at a currently undervalued sp, set to moon in March and never come down. Get in while you can so you can finally buy a lambo or feed your kids for once. + +The share price has now been on a steady climb for a week now before we get some much overdue DD :P. + +Feb 20 (Saturday): + +\- [The DW8 write up](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/lnwuhw/dw8_the_write_up/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +Credit to the OP as he is bullish but at least remains realistic. However one can assume some stopped reading the sentence once they get to the bit with the target price. + +\> I would not be surpised at all if we are trading in the 20-25c range by the end of the year once the growth becomes exponential. + +The share price proceeds to jump from 5.8c on 7c on the coming Monday. + +Feb 22 (Monday): + +[DW8 Coward Gains - Hope you read my DD over the weekend!](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/lpgssp/dw8_coward_gains_hope_you_read_my_dd_over_the/) + +The trend of DD and cowards gain continue at a steady pace and the share price marches on. Collective madness is in full swing suddenly a company losing money with \~700K in **REVEUNUE** in the previous quarter is worth around $400 million by April 9th. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/bpqzth1cg5671.png?width=627&format=png&auto=webp&s=b1acf2a0870827aef19a93561797569326c568a9 + +There were many posts that followed but here is just a few to let you feel the atmosphere. + +March 9: + +[DW8 - 10C Party! Hope you got your tickets!](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/m0vh3d/dw8_10c_party_hope_you_got_your_tickets/) + +[DW8 - The Write Up 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/m1387e/dw8_the_write_up_2/) + +March 26: + +[I'll be one of many today I suppose – DW8](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/mdhw9x/ill_be_one_of_many_today_i_suppose_dw8/) + +April 1: + +[DW8 Yolo - $115k > $415k. Join the (r)evolution!](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/mhp4gd/dw8_yolo_115k_415k_join_the_revolution/) + +# The Pied Piper + +Now with every good story there has to be a villain, and I believe the DW8 story is no exception. I’m going to call someone out for proof and if I’m wrong I’ll willingly accept a ban as punishment if the mods decide it necessary. Either way I think proof is needed. + +In between every gains or DD post there are thousands of comments, and a user who seems solely put on this earth to comment about DW8 in the dailys and posts is our musical friend u/EquivalentTone365. Every single reddit comment they have made appears to be around DW8 and our friend appears to be somewhat of a high roller. Filling wide eyed onlookers with pride and joy, as they encourage them to join along. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/wi9r7wqfg5671.png?width=722&format=png&auto=webp&s=e622a378312b2b155587d4d5ea45ec45888dac5d + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/3srasmqgg5671.png?width=606&format=png&auto=webp&s=ae5ffbaa7f4a51acec00f2a9747eff26745bd6b2 + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/iy4grzrhg5671.png?width=603&format=png&auto=webp&s=8b7bc411284b57f6f7132316185ab86330899bea + +So with 5.6 million shares even at a buy in of 3c which our musical friend claims to already have exceeded, we can assume a total cost of $168,000, and quite possibly one of our biggest resident holders. There is just one problem with that. Before the Pied Piper joined us at ASX\_bets they visited r/fiaustralia, and as you will see appears to have not the financial means. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/l0q2o3jig5671.png?width=697&format=png&auto=webp&s=8a9bbbf765bb3d4f56e949ccada2fc55943ee78f + +https://preview.redd.it/sejbr0pjg5671.png?width=666&format=png&auto=webp&s=b494e8888ddd6df48cc1a165e191f00007e05925 + +# It ends with a whimper not a bang + +At least for now. It seem unfortunately neither the Pied Piper or our prolific gains poster took profits. And some have taken to conspiracy theories rather than accept the obvious. DW8s time may come but that time is not yet. Good luck to all bag holders you may still get your jet. + This is the official $GME Megathread for [r/Superstonk](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/). 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Policies that impact basic freedom and the future of the Internet should be debated carefully and should never be attached to must-pass bills. + +As lead negotiators for their respective parties, it is critical that we strongly urge Senator Kyrsten Sinema and Senator Rob Portman to remove this vastly overreaching provision from the infrastructure bill as soon as possible. The Senate votes on this today, so we have to move fast! + +**The most important thing you can do is to call their DC offices at 517-200-9518. We'll connect you to their offices and guide you through the process.** + +**When a staff member answers, tell them:** + +**“Hi, I’m calling to ask that you remove the cryptocurrency provision from the infrastructure bill. This provision would dramatically expand financial surveillance, harm innovation, and undermine human rights. Policies that impact basic freedom and the future of the Internet should be debated carefully and should never be attached to must-pass bills. Thank you.”** + +*Edit: This is not about taxes! This provision would force a vast number entities in the crypto-economy to start recording and reporting information like your name, address, and the public address of a given transaction. That way, from one transaction, they can unmask you, and track and monitor all of your cryptocurrency activity. These details would facilitate mass financial surveillance that is totally overreaching and unacceptable.* +[link](http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/0,1518,709761,00.html&sl=de&tl=en&act=url) to the translates article. + +Sorry for the google translated article, still looking for an english version of it. + +This study is specially interesting in regards of the planned [ACTA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement) agreement, which is just adding obstacles and unnecessarily delaying the further rapid development of mankind as a whole. +Australia is arguably in or heading towards a cost of living crisis - inflation, rent and house prices, interest rates et al. + +I suppose this is a broad question, but, how do these situations usually self correct, particularly in this country? (excluding catastrophic, revolutionary type situations). Do wages rise? Do costs lower? Does the market or politics sort it? +Myself and my partner just went to an auction in Kelvin Grove, Brisbane. We’ve seen up to 30% growth in this suburb in the past year. + +1 month ago we saw a similar size property with a super run down house in a much less affluent suburb go for 1.7M. + +Today’s house - 5 bed, 3 bath, newly renovated, excellent location and school catchment - had no interest above 1.4M and the vendors set a reserve price of around 1.7M. + +We are also seeing a lot of houses going up for sale and saying “contact agent”, “make an offer” or even some with a definite price. + +What does everyone else think? +Hello everyone, I again am guest-hosting Diamantenhände while we all eagerly await u/DerGurkenraspler's glorious return. Apes unite around the world to watch the German market carry the torch until US pre-market opens! + + +- 🚀 US pre-market is open! 🚀 +- 🟥 120 minutes in: **$249.41 / 205,00 €** +- 🟩 115 minutes in: $249.72 / 205,25 € +- 🟥 110 minutes in: $249.48 / 205,05 € +- 🟩 105 minutes in: $250.33 / 205,75 € +- 🟥 100 minutes in: $249.90 / 205,40 € +- 🟥 95 minutes in: $250.14 / 205,60 € +- 🟥 90 minutes in: $250.33 / 205,75 € +- 🟩 85 minutes in: $250.81 / 206,15 € +- 🟩 80 minutes in: $250.21 / 205,65 € +- 🟩 75 minutes in: $249.41 / 205,00 € +- 🟥 70 minutes in: $249.23 / 204,85 € +- 🟩 65 minutes in: $249.54 / 205,10 € +- 🟥 60 minutes in: $249.29 / 204,90 € +- 🟩 55 minutes in: $249.35 / 204,95 € +- ⬜ 50 minutes in: $248.02 / 203,85 € +- 🟥 45 minutes in: $248.02 / 203,85 € +- ⬜ 40 minutes in: $251.66 / 206,85 € +- 🟩 35 minutes in: $251.66 / 206,85 € +- 🟥 30 minutes in: $251.60 / 206,80 € +- 🟩 25 minutes in: $251.66 / 206,85 € +- 🟩 20 minutes in: $251.36 / 206,60 € +- 🟥 15 minutes in: $249.78 / 205,30 € +- 🟥 10 minutes in: $251.48 / 206,70 € +- 🟩 5 minutes in: $251.54 / 206,75 € +- 🟩 0 minutes in: $249.41 / 205,00 € +- ⬜ US close price: $248.36 / 204,13 € + + + +FAQ: To generate this data, I'm capturing current prices in Euros at https://www.ls-tc.de/de/aktie/gamestop-aktie and converting to USD. Today's EUR -> USD conversion ratio is 1.22039922. I created a simple C# application that assists me in scraping this data and updates the post automatically. + +I'm not trying to permanently take over this tradition, just keep it going for fun on days when u/DerGurkenraspler doesn't start the thread at the normal time. They have been unexpectedly absent recently, but I will gladly bow out of this role when they resume updates. +TDA just messaged me saying I am averaging over 390 trades a day and if I can't lower it they'll add $2 commissions to my trades, due to being marked as a professional trader by the SEC. + +Anybody know if I can circumvent this by trading on two brokers, and say averaging 389 trades a day on each one? +One is valued at $1.5m and the other at $1.35m. No mortgages. One the property is worth more than the house near Silicon beach. The other needs work. Two questions, I want to build my investments and buy more income property, where and how? Is now, middle of pandemic,a good time to buy multi-unit with so many renters defaulting and laws protecting them? Sorry if it’s a bit remedial. +Right now nearly every bank and finance company is running offers to move peoples payments to the back of their loan. While this seems on the surface to be a nice gesture, it is not. + + +Each of the offers made if used, are charging more interest on the same loan. The only winner is them. I get it if there is no money in the bank and you are hungry, do what you have to do. But if all possible pay the bills if you can. + + +While this seems rather basic for many I have already talked to some folks that thought their banks were suddenly nice guys.... +I know Arthur Laffer wasn't really an economist, that "trickle down economics" is really "voodoo economics," and that the "Laffer curve" wasn't original to Arthur Laffer. + +Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to suppose that a government would get little or no revenue from a 0% or 100% taxation rate. There must be a sweet spot somewhere in between where tax revenue is optimal. Do economists know where the sweet spot lies? +In the UK, rail services are privately owned, which in theory should mean that there’s competition between rail firms, and in turn lower prices. However this isn’t the case at all, and rail fares are extortionate. My question is why? If it helps, I’m not sure if there’s any monopolies in place, which I imagine would give a good explanation. Just generally, I’ve heard that the free market works up until public services, at which point it falls apart. Is this the case would you say? +When I started getting serious about investing a year and a half ago or so, I did plenty of homework (in large part to this sub!) before I started allocating my funds. I'm about 60% VOO / 10% VXUS / 10% QQQM. The remainder I allocated to a few individual stocks with unsurprisingly mostly negative results, but among those were AAPL (up 37%) and MSFT (up 23%). + +While I'm familiar with the axiom "let your winners win," does it really make sense to continue to hold those even while they so strongly overlap with VOO and QQQM? I felt like re-balancing and re-allocating to VOO/QQQM might be a better move for diversification's sake. Thoughts? +Hello all - apologies if these sorts of things are commonly asked, but I wanted to gather some feedback. I’m diversifying my savings by investing in ETFs for the first time. I’ve set aside $10,000 for an initial purchase of a few with the idea of keeping them for the long-term. I’m not opposed to rebalancing every so often, but I’m definitely 100% into the “set it and forget it” way of thinking. I’ll add some extra purchases every month or so, but I wanted to start with a good base of no more than 5 ETFs for the initial 10K. I’ve been doing a bunch of research and have settled on the following as “good” buys: + +QQQ +VOO/SPY +VXUS +XBI +CLOU +QCLN/ICLN +VGT + +Two questions I suppose: are these good starter choices for my situation, and how much of each should I look to acquire for my 10K investment and 5 (or so) ETF limit (I don’t want to invest in too many things - want to remain focused. I’m excited to step into this world, just want to be smart about it from the jump. +Your markets are run by bots. Now your daily threads are too. + +&#x200B; + +This thread is for plans and thoughts prior to the market open period. + +Maybe use this time to read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) [.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +&#x200B; + +Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. [You have been warned](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share). + +&#x200B; + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related](https://discord.gg/ywAGqfUAQE). +Throwaway account for privacy, but I've been lurking on the subreddit for years. + +My question is: have any of you tried having a personal assistant? If so, how did you arrange this? How much do you pay them? What do you have them do for you? Is it worth it? Or do you end up spending lots of time/attention on managing the assistant? + +For context, my partner and I are both in our early thirties and together make $2M/year and have saved $6M out of our long-term goal of $10M. We love our jobs, but have very little free time outside of work and are highly disorganized (diagnosed with ADHD). +Welcome to the Daily General Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +*** + +Thread guidelines: + +- Please refrain from discussing non-Ethereum related tokens here. You are welcome to discuss altcoins in the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread. +- All [sub rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/) apply here so please be familiar with them. + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +Hi everyone, long time lurker and first time poster. As I said, I'm 22, I have a job offer in the financial field after college making $55k before taxes. I would love to stay in my current studio apartment in the center of town that is $1,216 a month. I have a very toxic at home environment as my father is an alcoholic and currently just lost his job and is letting the house go to shit. I would only save money on rent as I would have to buy my own food, gas, etc. I'm really afraid how this will affect my mental health. My goals is to pay off my loans as quickly as possible but I don't believe it will be worth the mental struggle living at home. If I do go back home, I would be looking for an opportunity to moving back here as quickly as possible, after my loans are paid off or close to being paid off. + +A little backstory is I go to a in-state local college and my parents who are not smart with money at all "helped" me with my loans to pay for school and living. Thankfully my aunt got involved who is financial independent and smarter with money than my parents. My aunt had generously offered to pay for my rent while I was in college for 3 years to lessen the amount of student loans I had already accrued. Now nearing graduation, my lease is up on my apartment in 10 days and I would love to take over the rent from my aunt to avoid having to go live at home in a toxic situation but I am wondering if I am being overly optimistic about my situation as student loans are the biggest factor in this. + +Also, my aunt had contributed to an investment account since I was born that is now in my position that is worth around $20,000. + + + +My income: + +$50,000 before taxes + +$43,984 after PA taxes + +$3,665 per month + + + + +Investment: + +$20,000 in brokerage account + + + +My student loans: + +Loan 1: $28,003, Interest Rate 9.55%, Repayment 15 years + +Loan 2: $19,487, Interest Rate 6.50%, Repayment 15 years + +Loan 3: $17,408, Interest Rate 2.00%, Repayment 15 years + +Loan 4: $15,389, Interest Rate 9.88%, Repayment 15 years + +My minimum monthly loan payment would be $746 + + + + +My monthly expenses if I stayed in my apartment: + +Rent: $1,216 + +Parking: $125 + +Internet: $100 + +Electric: $120 + +Cable: $0, I don't watch/need cable + +Groceries: $200 + +Spotify: $10 + +Gas $100 + +Total monthly expenses/rent: $1,771 + + + + +Based of my monthly income after taxes and paying for rent/expenses. I would have $1,058 left over each month. I would want to use the leftover to pay more than the minimum amount for my loans. I want to know what the best scenario would be for me to do is if I can afford to stay in my apartment while paying more than the minimum to pay off my loans quicker. As well as if I should use the $20,000 from my investment account to pay down my loans quickly. + + + +I really appreciate any responses, thank you. +My spouse and I married in Sept. 2020, and we just found out we are now over the income limit to make roth contributions for last year when filing as married. We both made the roth contributions, and are now seeing if there is anyway to avoid the 6% excess contribution penalty. We both also do not want to pull the money out completely of the IRA and face the additional 10% penalty. Is it possible to recharacterize it as a Traditional IRA before filing our 2020 taxes, then covert it back to a Roth down the road? Thanks! +200k in savings (all in my bank account), no rent, no student loan, rent and food paid by the company and income around 100k/year (net). what should I do? 34 yrs old living in Canada. + +people say i am stupid keeping that money in my bank account but I honestly know nothing about finance +Every few months I see another post here from someone considering law school or starting out in biglaw. I've been practicing for over a decade now (including a few years in biglaw), and I feel like I can offer some perspective for people who are at an earlier stage in their legal careers and aiming for fatFIRE. Everybody has a different experience, and I'd love to hear what other lawyers/ex-lawyers have to say. It's somewhat common on reddit and other message boards for lawyers to offer tips on being an effective associate, but not so common for us to offer advice on "success" as a lawyer (whatever that means to us personally) seeking fatFIRE. + +A few pieces of advice based on my experience: + +**1) Be realistic about biglaw partnership and how that relates to your long-term planning.** + +It only took a few months after I started as a first-year associate for me to realize that I wouldn't be happy as a partner at my firm. I was a corporate associate and the partners in all the corporate groups in my firm were on call basically 24/7 and worked long, unpredictable hours, with only a handful of exceptions (typically very senior partners or rainmakers). I could handle this lifestyle in my 20s, but it wasn't something I wanted to experience with kids in my 30s and 40s. + +Now that I've been out of law school for a while, a number of my friends are biglaw partners, and a few other friends are currently making a run for it. Taking a shot at partner requires serious sacrifices. In the vast majority of cases, work needs to be your absolute, #1 priority for at least two to three years. And even then, your chances might be around 25%-75%, depending on who else is trying to make it and the performance of your practice group in the years that you happen to be up. That's a lot of uncertainty considering the sacrifices required. Imagine dedicating every single day of your life for 3 years, with no "protected" off-days, to one goal and then failing to achieve it solely because the economy happened to take a dive at the wrong time. And even if you do make partner, things don't slow down much. At least not for a few years. + +Of my friends, those who seem to be doing best as partners are those who are both very hard working and psychologically comfortable making their work the number one priority in their lives. Being smart is also important, but it's less important than your industriousness and willingness to consistently prioritize your work above everything else. + +To be fair, the picture I'm painting here is probably a bit New York-centric, and the sacrifices are probably not quite as extreme in secondary markets and at less profitable biglaw firms. But I think the general idea is broadly true throughout biglaw. + +In any event, the reality is that biglaw is not a sustainable lifestyle for most associates; the attrition numbers don't lie. So you should incorporate that information into your long-term planning. If you work from the assumption that you're more likely than not to leave biglaw after a few years, that may have a big impact on how much you choose to spend or save as a junior associate. + +**2) Think about what your path might look like if partnership isn't on the table.** + +Even if you aren't going to stay at a firm forever, the practice group you choose can have a big impact on the future of your career. For example, if you've spent 5 years doing exclusively capital markets work, you're probably not going to be an attractive prospect for a startup hiring its first lawyer. Similarly, if you're a litigator at a big firm, there are going to be a lot fewer in-house roles available to you. On the other hand, you might be a strong applicant for a government position. If you're in a specialist group like derivatives and you want to leave biglaw, it's going to be much easier to move to a financial institution than an e-commerce company. So it's going to be easier for you to find a job in the NY area than in TX or CA. + +Overall, I'd say that M&A tends to be the most versatile practice area in terms of teaching skills for the widest variety of future positions. But it's also one of the most volatile and unpredictable in terms of scheduling and work-life balance. + +As a mental exercise, you might ask yourself: Assuming I leave biglaw after 5 years, what do I think the best outcome would be? If achieving fatFIRE is important to you, that would influence what the best outcome looks like. You don't necessarily have to take every possible step to achieve that outcome, but given the very high attrition rates in biglaw, this is worth thinking about seriously. + +**3) Think creatively about your career.** + +It seems like a lot of lawyers who want to get out of biglaw can't imagine doing anything other than practicing law at a smaller firm or going in-house. Those are both perfectly fine careers, but there are other ways to make a living, and if those options aren't appealing to you when the time comes, don't be afraid to take on a little risk. You'll survive. In my case, I wanted more autonomy and more diversity in my practice, so I left biglaw and went solo several years ago. The practice has grown nicely, and now about 20% of my income comes from non-legal consulting in a niche area. In contrast to my experience in biglaw, now I find my work very interesting and it demands a lot of creative and strategic thinking, and I have much more control over my schedule. There are downsides as well, but I feel like taking on a bit of risk has vastly improved both my career satisfaction and my work-life balance. + +**4) Don't get trapped.** + +This relates to point 3. If you're unhappy in a biglaw or in-house role, make a plan to leave, execute it, and **get out**. Don't be afraid. Biglaw pays well, but there are many other ways to build a career and get to fatFIRE. I've seen people work for years in jobs that made them miserable because the alternatives seemed scary in one way or another (usually, it was the potential paycut that was scary). Don't get trapped. +Hey diamond hands, + +as I am sure you have heard, there are rumors that short ladder attacks are being used to suppress the price of GME. While I held this belief for many days, I am now beginning to realize that even more insidious and backhanded techniques are being used against us. I mean seriously, there is simply no reasonable explanation for why a stock should drop in price. None. + +The good news is that Melvin is more scared than ever. The bad news is that today was no short ladder attack. No, it was far worse. + +Today we experienced a Short Escalator Omega Overflow attack + +Most people here have at least a few days of investing experience under their belts, so I'm not going to dumb down these concepts for you. If you can understand a short ladder attack, you can understand this tactic as well. + +Basically, a Short Escalator Omega Overflow attack (or Overflow attack for short) is the opposite of a short ladder attack. In a short ladder attack, shares are traded back and forth, with each trade a penny lower. In an overflow attack, the attack chooses to instead trade shares to an accomplice at incredibly high prices. How high you ask? + +$2,147,483,648 + +That's right, hedge funds have been selling single shares for billions of dollars right behind our backs. Why this price though? It's simple. + +Every investment app, RH, TD, etc, use 32 bit integers to store prices. The maximum value of a 32 bit integer is 2,147,483,647. So what happens when it goes up by one? It goes negative. + +This means that every share in an overflow attack is worth: -$2,147,483,647 + +What do you think this does to the price of a stock? If you answered bad things, you are correct. The sale of one of these shares is enough to send the price of a stock far into the negatives. Didn't think that stocks could go negative? I'm not surprised - that's another hedge fund secret. They don't tell you THAT on investopedia! + +But as the critical thinkers you are, I'm sure you will now ask: + +"Why isn't the stock price negative right now?" + +The answer is because the squeeze is happening RIGHT NOW. Paper hands laughed at the idea of an infinity squeeze, but it happened and it was big. So big in fact that it overflowed the price itself. + +MATH TIME + +So we know that GME overflowed in the squeeze. But by how much? Well we know that the price right now is $90. But we have to take the overflow squeeze into consideration. + +If there is -$2,147,483,557 of pressure on prices, then to reach $90 the stock must cost 2,147,483,647 + 90, or $2,147,483,737. Yes. + +EACH SHARE OF GME IS CURRENTLY WORTH $2,147,483,737 + +We can't forget about overflow however, so the price stored in your brokerage account is actually -$1,073,741,734. Now this might sounds like a scary number, but as long as you didn't buy on margin you will be fine. As long as you keep holding, the SEC will be FORCED to do something about it. They are already under extreme pressure to help retail investors - it's only a matter of time. + +And as a side note: If for some reason Melvin stops this overflow attack, your stocks will be worth over a billion negative dollars. At this point, buying GME makes a profit whereas selling puts the next 10 generations of you family into debt enslavement. So as the wise investors on WSB say: BUY! + +WE DESERVE OUR BILLIONS + +  + +  + +  + +  +Edit: please stop messaging me, look at the flair on the post man +  + +  + +This is not financial advice I swear to God please don't let the SEC take me away. Positions: 0 GME +Here is his background: + +**Powell** was born in Washington, D.C. He received a bachelor's degree in politics from Princeton University in 1975 and earned a law degree from Georgetown University in 1979. While at Georgetown, he was editor-in-chief of the Georgetown Law Journal. +So the Twitter account for GMEdd has tweeted a link that shows a secrets.txt file located at the gstop-content.com webpage.. It might look normal at first, but what intrigued me was the middle part inbetween the #'s. If you notice the the "BASE" and "64", then the characters in the middle. It looked like a base64 encryption which if you decoded, it would read "Keep looking".... I'm sure this is nothing. + +Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/GMEdd/status/1546892876159651840 + +Link to the secrets.txt page: https://www.gstop-content.com/ipfs/Qmb74W13FVsp4BFTJVeSxK7viNhPVKse72ay2Si52AKrhw/secrets.txt + +I need someone who's more wrinklebrained than I am. WHAT DOES IT MEAN RYAN?! + 💻💻 **AN OP CRYPTO TOKEN FOR GAMERS - COMING SOON!** 💻💻 + +🚀**Website:** https://gmr.finance (still under development) + +🚀**The Plan:** https://gmr.finance/the-plan/ + +🚀**Security Audits:** Pass - https://gmr.finance/audits/ + +🚀**Telegram:** https://t.me/gmrfinance + +🚀**Telegram Announcements:** https://t.me/gmrfinanceannouncements + +🚀**Discord:** https://discord.gg/kzP47fEZu7 + +🚀**Reddit:** https://www.reddit.com/r/GMR\_Finance/ + +🚀**Twitter:** https://twitter.com/GMR\_Finance + +🚀**Facebook:** https://www.facebook.com/gmrfinanceofficial + +We aim to bring the gaming community, content creators and game developers together with our token. The longer you HODL GMR the more GMR you gain for FREE. Be sure to read the plan (its worth a read). + +Marketing to start soon before launch. + +✅ FAIR LAUNCH - 50% BURN AT LAUNCH, LIQUIDITY LOCKED & CONTRACT RENOUNCED. + +✅ TOKENOMICS - 10% TAX (5% BACK TO HODLERS, 3% AUTO BURN & 2% BACK TO THE LIQUIDITY POOL) + +**NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN (NFT'S)** \- Content Creators, Game Developers & Gaming Platforms will be able to create, showcase and sell personal NFT's on our platform. Converting clips etc into NFT's will be available with just a few clicks. A non-fungible token is a unit of data stored on a digital ledger, called a blockchain, that certifies a digital asset to be unique and therefore not interchangeable. NFTs can be used to represent items such as photos, videos, audio, and other types of digital files. + +**GAMER VAULT** \- Our gamer vault will be a place for everyone. You will be able to create your own profile, follow your favourite game categories. follow your favourite content creators and channels, support streamers & creators directly using GMR, enter competitions and tournaments. leaderboards with profiles, GMR lottery, live stream integrations and much much more. + +**TOURNAMENTS & COMPETITIONS** \- GMR Finance will be hosting a huge selection of tournaments and competitions across all gaming categories and platforms to win prizes of upto $20,000. Take on your favourite creators with a competitive edge. Platform battles will also be a thing. Twitch, YouTube, Facebook who wins? + +**LOTTERY** \- You will be able to purchase GMR lottery tickets with GMR to potentially win huge GMR prizes. This will also have a burn feature reducing our total supply. + +**PARTNERSHIPS** \- We have already started talking to Streamers, YouTubers & Developers. Platform partnerships are also under revision. + +**GAME KEYS** \- HODLing GMR will give gamers access to discounted keys for all platforms such as Xbox, PlayStation, Steam, Amazon and more. + +**LIQUIDITY POOL** \- Our GAMER VAULT will be packed with extra features for anyone adding to our liquidity pool. Remember your pool can be withdrawn at any time.