(01-28-2021, 05:24 PM)jj82284 Wrote:

(01-27-2021, 10:26 AM)jagibelieve Wrote: What is happening in the market is not investing, it's gambling.

(01-28-2021, 05:08 PM)jagibelieve Wrote: VERY seldom is day trading (gambling) successful.  In my opinion chasing the next "hot stock" is not only a fool's game it's dangerous.  While I disagree with brokerages restricting trades in certain securities, I can somewhat understand why they are doing it.  This kind of speculative trading (gambling) is exactly what caused the dot-com bubble.  A lot of people are going to lose a lot of money doing this, especially since it's become "the new craze".

In the meantime I bought into the small dip that the market took yesterday, but I am watching closely.  The only two stocks that I hold by themselves are Boeing and Micro$oft, both of which I have held nearly a year.  Both have done very well for me and will continue to do well over the long term.

Do u think these restrictions are really for customer well being?  Or do u think its to maintain institutional control?

Honestly, I think it's a bit of both.

On the one hand I would guess that the vast majority of people involved in this speculative trading don't really know or understand what they are doing.  While some might throw in a couple of hundred or even a couple of thousand dollars that they can afford to lose, others quite possibly are throwing in whatever savings they might have and at the very extreme are using borrowed money.  Buying a stock like Gamestop at say $50 is foolish.  Buying it at $200+ is downright insane.  A lot of people are going to lose a lot of money, so because of this, brokerages one could say are doing it to "protect" their clients.  I personally disagree with it and believe in the "play stupid games win stupid prizes" kind of thing.

On the other hand what we have seen over the last couple of days isn't "normal".  Normally shorted stocks do pay off for the hedge funds and people that do so.  While many liberals tend to attack "greedy" hedge funds, what they fail to realize is that those hedge funds are a large part of many people's 401k's, mutual funds, etc. as well as a source of revenue for many of the larger banks.  A huge loss could potentially take down the whole stock market in a big way.

Again, I don't agree with brokerages restricting trades, but I understand why it was done.

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