The Gap: PDX through a Latinx Lens and the Reddit Hedge Fund Squeeze

On this episode of the Gap, Tammy and Althea start by talking to Miguel Rodriguez, the Project Coordinator and Co-Founder of the organization PDX through a Latinx Lens. We learn about their workshops, educational advocacy and upcoming zine project. Their group has had to make some shifts due to COVID-19, but that has also exposed new opportunities for reaching a broader community.

Then, we dig into the Reddit-led hedge fund short squeeze of GameStop stock. Basically, a group of people on the social media platform Reddit realized that a hedge fund was shorting GameStop stock. That means that they borrowed someone's shares and sold them, expecting the price to go down. Usually, when that happens, they then buy back the stock at a lower price and return it to whomever they were borrowing from, and they pocket the difference in those prices. Instead, people on Reddit collectively decided they could buy up GameStop stock and raise its price, meaning that the hedge funds still had to buy back the borrowed stock they sold, except now at a much higher prices, causing them to lose a bunch of money. This is a very interesting moment for collective action in the stock market and perhaps some comeuppance for hedge funds who have done just fine for themselves in the pandemic and since the crash of 2008.

While we are NOT giving financial advice here, we do take your calls! 

Related links: 

PDX Through a Latinx Lens website

@pdxlatinx on Instagram

Inside Edition Reddit GameStop Short Squeeze