GameStop short squeeze

In January 2021, a fast and large increase of GameStop stock and other assets took place on many stock exchanges. It caused major damage to hedge funds. The stock price of GameStop went up by almost 200 times from its record low, hitting a high of nearly $500 per share on January 28, 2021.

This was caused by users of the forum r/wallstreetbets on Reddit through commission-free trading apps such as Robinhood.

On January 28, Robinhood stopped the buying of GameStop and other securities. This caused many criticisms and accusations of market manipulation from politicians and businesspeople.  People who criticized Robinhood were Senator Ted Cruz, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. 

Lawsuits were also filed against Robinhood in the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of Illinois.

References

Category:January 2021 events
Category:February 2021 events
Category:Economic history