RBNHD
GameStop hearing on tap with Robinhood, Melvin, Reddit and Citadel CEOs
- Get ready for the big show... Robinhood's (RBNHD) Vlad Tenev, Melvin
Capital's Gabe Plotkin, Reddit's Steve Huffman and Citadel's Kenneth
Griffin and Keith Gill are all set to testify before the U.S. House
Financial Services Committee at 12 p.m. ET. Lawmakers will get their
chance
to grill the executives in a hearing focused on "short selling, online
trading platforms, gamification and their systemic impact on our capital
markets and retail investors." Also making an appearance is Reddit
trading
star known as Roaring Kitty, who is credited with helping start the
GameStop mania, though his actions are being probed by Massachusetts
regulators since he was a registered securities broker.
- *Backdrop:* An army of day traders following WallStreetBets - the
Reddit forum dedicated to "making money and being amused while doing it"
-
upended some market dynamics last month by taking aim at some heavily
shorted stocks. They ran them up as a group, triggering short squeezes
and
causing some hedge funds like Melvin Capital to record billions of
dollars
in losses. The party came to an end after brokerages restricted trading
on
stocks like GameStop (NYSE:GME) and AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC), though
Robinhood took the most flack due to its communication about the events
and
delay in taking curbs off of "meme" trading.
- Investors and policymakers alike lambasted the limits, including Dave
Portnoy, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ted Cruz, accusing the trading
platform of seeking to protect Wall Street's interests at the expense of
smaller investors. "We need an SEC that has clear rules about market
manipulation and then has the backbone to get in and enforce those
rules,"
added Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a longtime critic of Wall Street. "You've
got
to have a cop on the beat." Robinhood cited clearing house requirements
as
reasons for the stoppage, and said it did not have a liquidity problem,
but
subsequently raised billions of dollars to reopen trading. More than half
of its customer orders are routed to Citadel Securities, which provided
rescue financing to Melvin after its short bet on GameStop went sour, in
a
series of events that prompted the hearing on Capitol Hill.
- *What to expect:* There's likely to be a lot of noise coming out of
the hearing, but not a lot of consequences. While there could be some SEC
regulations down the road, that won't be coming from the House Financial
Services Committee. If the SEC were to act, it could pursue a series of
rules, ranging from short interest caps to taxing short-term bets,
according to BofA analyst Michael Carrier. The commission may also move
to
review payment for order flows (PFOF) and pursue social media oversight
to
ward off potential market manipulation. Jefferies analyst Daniel Fannon
meanwhile thinks the SEC could explore greater investor education around
derivatives and risk management or increase costs for leverage services.
- *Go deeper:* There's also been some talk about moving trades to a
shortened settlement regime like T+1 or instant transactions.
|Today, 4:15 AM|14 Comments
GameStop hearing on tap with Robinhood, Melvin, Reddit and Citadel CEOs
- Get ready for the big show... Robinhood's (RBNHD) Vlad Tenev, Melvin
Capital's Gabe Plotkin, Reddit's Steve Huffman and Citadel's Kenneth
Griffin and Keith Gill are all set to testify before the U.S. House
Financial Services Committee at 12 p.m. ET. Lawmakers will get their
chance
to grill the executives in a hearing focused on "short selling, online
trading platforms, gamification and their systemic impact on our capital
markets and retail investors." Also making an appearance is Reddit
trading
star known as Roaring Kitty, who is credited with helping start the
GameStop mania, though his actions are being probed by Massachusetts
regulators since he was a registered securities broker.
- *Backdrop:* An army of day traders following WallStreetBets - the
Reddit forum dedicated to "making money and being amused while doing it"
-
upended some market dynamics last month by taking aim at some heavily
shorted stocks. They ran them up as a group, triggering short squeezes
and
causing some hedge funds like Melvin Capital to record billions of
dollars
in losses. The party came to an end after brokerages restricted trading
on
stocks like GameStop (NYSE:GME) and AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC), though
Robinhood took the most flack due to its communication about the events
and
delay in taking curbs off of "meme" trading.
- Investors and policymakers alike lambasted the limits, including Dave
Portnoy, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ted Cruz, accusing the trading
platform of seeking to protect Wall Street's interests at the expense of
smaller investors. "We need an SEC that has clear rules about market
manipulation and then has the backbone to get in and enforce those
rules,"
added Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a longtime critic of Wall Street. "You've
got
to have a cop on the beat." Robinhood cited clearing house requirements
as
reasons for the stoppage, and said it did not have a liquidity problem,
but
subsequently raised billions of dollars to reopen trading. More than half
of its customer orders are routed to Citadel Securities, which provided
rescue financing to Melvin after its short bet on GameStop went sour, in
a
series of events that prompted the hearing on Capitol Hill.
- *What to expect:* There's likely to be a lot of noise coming out of
the hearing, but not a lot of consequences. While there could be some SEC
regulations down the road, that won't be coming from the House Financial
Services Committee. If the SEC were to act, it could pursue a series of
rules, ranging from short interest caps to taxing short-term bets,
according to BofA analyst Michael Carrier. The commission may also move
to
review payment for order flows (PFOF) and pursue social media oversight
to
ward off potential market manipulation. Jefferies analyst Daniel Fannon
meanwhile thinks the SEC could explore greater investor education around
derivatives and risk management or increase costs for leverage services.
- *Go deeper:* There's also been some talk about moving trades to a
shortened settlement regime like T+1 or instant transactions.
|Today, 4:15 AM|14 Comments
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