The Young Republican Club of New York held a rally in Zuccotti Park near Wall Street on the 31st. The crowd held a sign reading “Reset to Neutral: Wall St., Main St. & The Public”.
The stock trading incident between the U.S. short-selling agency and GameStop, a game distributor, is not over yet. The Young Republican Club of New York launched a “Re-Occupy Wall Street” rally on Sunday the 31st, protesting against Wall Street financial institutions that are undermining the rights of small retail investors.
The picture shows the Wall Street bronze bull.
About dozens of people participated in the rally in Zuccotti Park that day. The initiators of the event did not share the philosophy of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, but expressed their dissatisfaction with these financial trading platforms through a similar rally, and protested against the trading platforms of several brokerage firms, including Robinhood, for restricting ordinary retail investors from buying GameStop shares (code name GME).
Gavin Wax, head of the New York Young Republican Club, was interviewed by English-language New Tang Dynasty TV. (Ray Chen/The Epoch Times)
Gavin Wax, head of the New York Young Republicans Club, said, “Even though I may not agree with what those in the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement were advocating, I think the sentiment is the same: I’m very frustrated with the reality of what’s happening. ” “It’s not a free market, it’s not a fair ground, it’s rigged, and I’m sure a lot of people agree with that.”
The background of the stock trading incident stems from Andrew Left, the founder of stock shorting firm Citron Research, who has been vociferously badmouthing GME stock, saying it is only worth $20. The comments made the Reddit community “r/WallStreetBets” (WSB) partition unhappy and aware that GME stock was shorted by about 140%, more than two million members of this community began to rally to battle the Wall Street short-sellers, and the stock price shot up from $19.95 on the 12th to 19.95 all the way to $347.51 on the 27th, costing a number of hedge funds, including Melvin Capital, dearly.
The trading platforms of several brokerage firms, including Robin Hood, took action on the 27th to restrict general retail investors from trading in GME and other recently surging stocks, stating, “These stocks ‘can only be sold and repurchased, not continued to be bought'”; after Robin Hood resumed trading in GME shares on the 29th, the file returned to its highs again, reaching $325 a share on the 31st.
The incident alarmed U.S. political circles and government agencies, issuing statements expressing concern.
Critics argued that Robin Hood banned retail investors from buying GME stock in order to protect hedge funds that shorted the stock from less losses. But Robin Hood CEO Vlad Tenev denied the claim on the 29th, saying the platform’s approach was not directed by anyone but was driven by prudent considerations of market dynamics and managing risk.
John Sakelos, a member of the Young Republican Club of New York, said, “We want to make sure that hedge funds, big banks, don’t take unfair advantage of the common man or the average New Yorker, and that’s why we’re here.”
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