Tag: GameStop

DIAMOND HANDS: THE LEGEND OF WALLSTREETBETS

MSNBC Films and NBC News Studios will premiere “Diamond Hands: The Legend of WallStreetBets”

on MSNBC Sunday, April 10 at 10:00 p.m. ET and will be available to stream this spring on Peacock 

The Broadcast Debut Follows the Global Premiere at SXSW Festival

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DIAMOND HANDS: THE LEGEND OF WALLSTREETBETS 

https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/diamond-hands-the-legend-of-wallstreetbets-teaser-135194693826

“Diamond Hands: The Legend of WallStreetBets”, directed by Zack Canepari and Drea Cooper, gives an edgy, inside look at the GameStop downfall and features a number of analysts and investors like Mike Novogratz and Andrew Left; and retail investors Jeff Amazon, Sir Jackalot and Alisha Woods, all who help connect the dots for the events that played a major role in the craze that rocked the stock market a year ago.

Directed by Zack Canepari & Drea Cooper, Executive Produced by Amanda Spain (VP, Longform Acquisitions MSNBC)

MSNBC Films and NBC News Studios will premiere “Diamond Hands: The Legend of WallStreetBets,” on MSNBC Sunday, April 10 at 10:00 p.m. ET, following the global premiere at SXSW on March 13.

Diamond Hands was coined by traders within the social media community of Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets.  On this subreddit, where users post stock and option trading, the term caught on specifically when r/WallStreetBets initiated a short squeeze on GameStop last January. Directed by Zack Canepari and Drea Cooper, the doc features a number of analysts and investors like Mike Novogratz, Andrew Left and retail investor Alisha Woods and Reddit users who go by “Jeff Amazon” and “Sir Jackalot.” They all  help connect the dots for the events that played a major role in the craze that rocked the stock market a year ago. “Diamond Hands” is produced by NBC News Studios and ZCDC Films. The film is set to stream later this Spring on Peacock.

The documentary explores the collective jaw-drop when GameStop shares soared 1700% in January 2021. Major hedge funds and other investors were so sure that the 90s-era, mall-based retailer was doomed that the size of the bet against the company was 140 percent the size of the company itself. r/WallStreetBets became so much more than a subreddit where participants discussed stock and option trading, quickly becoming notable for its aggressive trading strategies, colorful and profane jargon. r/WallStreetBets turned into a subculture with its own language, its own moral compass and a value system that thrives on gamesmanship and sowing chaos at every turn.

“This film and its subjects are irreverent, witty and at the same time incredibly informative. This film gives a front row seat to the younger generations’ world view and their attempt to change financial institutions they feel were never meant for them,” said Amanda Spain, VP of Longform Acquisitions, MSNBC Films. “I am inspired by their willingness to hold up their middle finger to the status quo and their relentless fight to change the system.”

“The decision to make “Diamond Hands” was an easy “bet” for us,” said Liz Cole, president of NBC News Studios. “While most people followed the wild ride of GameStop’s stock a year ago, this film explores the fascinating human stories behind those headlines and gets at the generational frustration that led so many people to rebel against the system. Zack and Drea were dream partners in crafting the distinct tone of this film, and we’re thrilled to show it to the world at South by Southwest next month on MSNBC in April and later on Peacock.”

MSNBC recently revitalized its long form programming under the banner MSNBC Films led by Amanda Spain, Vice President, Longform Acquisition. In 2021, MSNBC Films’ broadcast premiere of Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11, a co-production of Yard 44 and NBC News Studios production, drew more viewers than any other 9/11 documentaries in September 2021. MSNBC Films also acquired acclaimed French artist JR’s Paper & Glue and the short documentary, Seth Freed Wessler’s “The Facility,” which was on the 2022 Oscar shortlist. Most recently, MSNBC Films aired “Love & The Constitution,” about representative Jamie Raskin, which premiered on MSNBC February 6th.

“Diamond Hands: The Legend of WallStreetBets” is an NBC News Studios & ZCDC production, Produced and Directed by Zack Canepari and Drea Cooper; Produced by Gary Kout and Myles Estey, Molly O’Brien; Co-Produced by Erica Fink; Consulting Producer Stephanie Ruhle, Associate Producer Nick McElroy; Edited by Carter Gunn, Drea Cooper, Sebastian Hernandez; Director of Photography Megan Stacey;’ Composer Matt Joynt. Executive Produced for MSNBC Films by Rashida Jones and Amanda Spain. Executive Produced for NBC News Studios by Elizabeth Fischer, Molly O’Brien, Andy Berg, Liz Cole and Noah Oppenheim.

Top Low Priced Short Squeeze Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

Unless you haven’t paid any attention to financial news at all, you probably already know that GameStop (GME) has gone up over 700% in the last five days. The movie theater chain, AMC (AMC) was available for a little over two bucks ten days ago. Today, it traded for 25.80 this morning in pre-market trading.

You also probably know that these huge gains have been caused by short squeezes.  Back on September 18 last year, I published an article called Top Restaurant Short Squeeze Stocks, and it listed four companies that were heavily shorted. In just the last four months, those stocks have had stellar returns.

The worst performing stock was up 38%. Not a bad return for four months. The best performing was Dave & Busters (PLAY), which was up 138%. Here are those four stocks, with the percent of float shorted at the time, the days to cover at the time, and the return if you had bought the stock back then and sold today.

Stock Symbol % of Float Days to Cover % Gain
Shake Shack SHAK 26% 5.7 85%
Dave & Buster’s PLAY 33% 1.8 136%
Red Robin RRGB 35% 3.4 64%
El Pollo Loco LOCO 19% 11.2 38%

Many of the heavily shorted stocks you have seen on the news during the last couple days are high priced, with a majority of them trading over $100 a share. That’s a lot of risk. So If you are looking for low priced stocks that might be short squeeze plays, I will cover that shortly.

But first, a review about the short squeeze and its terminology. When you short a stock, it means that your goal is to make money from a drop in the price of a stock. Technically, what happens is that you borrow shares of a stock, sell those shares, then buy back those shares at a hopefully lower price so that those shares can be returned. This all happens electronically, so you don’t actually see all the borrowing and returning of shares; it just shows up on your screen as a negative number of shares.

Short selling can be profitable, but sometimes when the stock moves against the short sellers, and begins to rise, the short sellers jump in right away to buy shares to cover their positions, creating what is called a short squeeze. When a short squeeze takes place, it can cause the share prices to increase fast and furiously. Any good news can trigger the short squeeze.

Some traders utilize this situation by looking for stocks to buy that may have a potential short squeeze. Here is what a short squeeze trader should take into consideration:

Short Percentage of Float ~ The float is the number of freely tradable shares and the short percentage is the number of shares held short divided by the float. Amounts over 10% to 20% are considered high and potential short squeeze plays.

Short Ratio / Days to Cover / Short Interest Ratio -This is probably the most important metric when looking for short squeeze trades, no matter what you call it. This is the number of days it would take the short sellers to cover their position based on the average daily volume of shares traded. This is a significant ratio as it shows how “stuck” the short sellers are when they want to buy in their shares without driving up the price too much. Unfortunately for the shortsellers, the longer the number of days to cover, the bigger and longer the squeeze.

Short Percentage Increase ~ This is the percentage increase in in the number of short sellers from the previous month.

Check out the following list, but be aware, that often some stocks are heavily shorted for a reason. All these stocks have significant short metrics.

Stock Symbol % of Float Days to Cover Stock Price
Ayro AYRO 23.28% 0.51 7.24
Clovis Oncology CLVS 42.43% 6.54 7.94
Senseonics SENS 30.95% 1.36 2.51
TherapeuticsMD TXMD 28.89% 14.30 1.59
VBI Vaccines VBIV 25.64% 6.62 3.15

So as an example, VBI Vaccines has over 25% of the float shorted, and it will take over six days for the short sellers to cover their positions, based on the average daily volume.

Obviously, there is no guarantee that these stocks will go up, but if I was short any stock selling for less than $10 a share, I wouldn’t want to waste any time covering my position, before all the other short sellers clamor in and drive the price way up.

Disclosure: Author owns TXMD. No recommendations are express or implied.