14 June 2022 2:35

Where did the money go in the recent GME short squeeze?

How much money was lost in the GME short squeeze?

Gabe Plotkin wasn’t sleeping. His bets against meme stocks such as GameStop Corp. GME 6.51% were backfiring, and losses at his $12.5 billion hedge fund were mounting. Strangers angry about his wagers were bombarding him with threatening messages and texts.

Who lost money in GME short squeeze?

Decline in value



GameStop shares lost 60 percent of their value on February 2, closing below $100 for the first time in a week. Reports estimated that about $27 billion in value had been erased.

What happened to the hedge fund that shorted GameStop?

Melvin Capital, hedge fund torpedoed by the GameStop frenzy, is shutting down. The firm lost billions of dollars as it scrambled to cover its bets against the video game retailer that became a darling of retail traders.

What happens to hedge funds in a short squeeze?


Quote: So you buy back one share and return it to your broker.

How much did Melvin lose on GameStop?

Melvin, which lost nearly $7 billion early last year by betting on stocks like GameStop (GME.

How much money did GameStop short sellers lose?

GameStop (GME), AMC Short Sellers Lose $673 Million in One Day – Bloomberg.

How much money did Melvin Capital lose?

When the stock took off– along with other shares Melvin was shorting — it erased about $7 billion of the hedge fund’s capital in January 2021, a path it never recovered from.

Did Melvin Capital close their short?

Melvin Capital to shut down one year after GameStop short-squeeze caused billions in losses for the hedge fund. Gabe Plotkin’s Melvin Capital is shutting down and returning money to its investors after a poor showing of performance.

How much did retail investors lose on GameStop?

Short sellers lost nearly $13 billion on GameStop alone so far this year, according to financial analytics company S3 Partners, which shared data through market close Monday. While that’s certainly a lot, it’s down from the $26 billion they were down last Wednesday, when the stock price closed at a record high of $347.

What typically happens after a short squeeze?

Understanding Short Squeezes



Eventually, the seller will have to buy back shares. If the stock’s price has dropped, the short seller makes money due to the difference between the price of the stock sold on margin and the reduced stock price paid later.

What happens if hedge funds can’t cover their shorts?

In a situation where Naked Shorts flood the market of a stock and are all bought up, and those buyers hold long, this can lead to a situation where shorts (hedge funds and market makers) cannot cover the cost to repurchase all of the synthetics along with the needed legitimate shares.

What happens when shorts cover?

Short covering, also known as buying to cover, occurs when an investor buys shares of stock in order to close out an open short position. Once the investor purchases the quantity of shares that he or she sold short and returns those shares to the lending brokerage, then the short-sale transaction is said to be covered.

What happens to stock price after short covering?

Short covering is a very peculiar situation where people start buying to square off their positions. Since so many people are buying, this creates a temporary rise in the price of the stock. However, this price rise may not for a long period of time. This price rise is only because people are covering positions.

What happens to share price when shorts cover?

When a stock is heavily shorted, and more investors are buying shares, the stock price is pushed up. As a result of the increase in stock price, short sellers start buying to cover their position in an effort to minimize their losses as the price continues to rise.

What happens when a short seller can’t cover?

When the stockholder wants those shares back, the short-seller might be forced to go into the market and buy them in order to return them to their owner. In many cases, the brokerage firm, as the intermediary, will be able to find more shares to loan the short-seller, who won’t have to repurchase the shares.

How does the investor profit from a short sale?

Short sellers are wagering that the stock they are short selling will drop in price. If the stock does drop after selling, the short seller buys it back at a lower price and returns it to the lender. The difference between the sell price and the buy price is the short seller’s profit.

What percent of GME is shorted?

22.27% of GameStop’s shares are currently sold short. Learn More on GameStop’s current short interest.

How long do you have to buy back a shorted stock?

There are no set rules regarding how long a short sale can last before being closed out. The lender of the shorted shares can request that the shares be returned by the investor at any time, with minimal notice, but this rarely happens in practice so long as the short seller keeps paying their margin interest.

How high can a short squeeze go?

If you short a stock at $10, it can’t go lower than zero, so you can’t make more than $10 per share on the trade. But there’s no ceiling on the stock. You can sell it at $10 and then be forced to buy it back at $20 … or $200 … or $2 million. There is no theoretical limit on how high a stock can go.

How do short sellers drive the price down?

A short seller, who profits by buying the shares to cover her short position at lower prices than the selling prices, can drive the price of a stock lower by selling short a larger number of shares.

How do brokers make money on short selling?

The trader borrows the asset, then—by a specified later date—buys it back and returns it to the asset’s owner. The investment philosophy is that the borrowed asset will decline in price and the investor will earn a profit by selling at a higher price and buying back at the lower price.

Who loses money in short selling?

The person losing is the one from whom the short seller buys back the stock, provided that person bought the stock at higher price.

Who lends stock to short sellers?

Here’s the idea: when you short sell a stock, your broker will lend it to you. The stock will come from the brokerage’s own inventory, from another one of the firm’s customers, or from another brokerage firm.

Can my broker lend out my shares to short sellers without asking?

To be clear, your brokerage firm cannot lend out your stocks without your permission. However, you may have signed a customer agreement that explicitly allows your broker to lend out your securities.

Is the GME squeeze possible?

While GME stock has been volatile over the past 15 months, it still remains notably higher. Over the last two weeks, its stock has dropped almost 24%. Going back even further, though, the stock is up more than 650% since the start of 2021. In that regard, it’s hard to rule out that another short-squeeze is impossible.

How do I stop Robinhood from borrowing my shares?

The only way to prevent shares from being lent to short sellers on Robinhood is to change your margin account (the one you have by default on Robinhood) to a cash account. This is particularly important for anyone participating in the “meme stock” movement.