GameStop Is a Bubble in Its Purest Form

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/gamestop-is-a-bubble-in-its-purest-form-11611756239?mod=djemwhatsnews

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Excerpt:

The scale of trading in GameStop shares is as extraordinary as the daily gains in price, suggesting widespread disturbance to people’s judgment. On Tuesday, $22 billion of shares changed hands, more than in Apple, the world’s largest company, and double GameStop’s market value. Adam Smith, the founder of economics, called speculative manias “overtrading,” and this is what they look like.

The hope of getting rich is only part of what is inflating the bubble. Mr. Kindleberger argued that speculative manias needed innovative sources of financing, and the private traders on r/WSB have one: the shift last year to make trading in options free on Robinhood and several other platforms.

Author(s): James Mackintosh

Publication Date: 27 January 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal