Meme Stonks Part Deux: AMC, Algos, and The Fed

The Razor’s Edge

We've seen this movie before, but it still doesn't really make sense: a group of traders has taken up the cause of inflating the stock price of a motley bunch of stocks, including AMC as the most prominent company this time around. There are hints of financial populism as there were with GameStop in January, but this time it feels more like pure financial nihilism.

On today's episode of The Razor's Edge, we talk about the difference between round one and round two, how AMC should have something of a future even if it's more than priced in, and how given the trading volumes it would be rash to assume retail traders are truly driving this movement. We also talk about the body lurking in the background who could, if they so chose, take action to stop or slow this mania. Jerome Powell, you're our only hope? We break it down.

Topics Covered

• 3:15 minute mark – Meme stocks part deux, and the bleeding from trading into investing
• 11:30 – The abstraction of what moves a stock, and AMC vs. GME fundamentally
• 24:00 – Where does this leave AMC and the countercultural movement behind the meme stocks
• 34:00 – The algorithmic muscle behind these moves
• 39:00 – The blending of signal and noise and market virality
• 46:30 – The fight against financial nihilism: Here comes the Fed?
• 53:00 – Risk reward of proactive action vs. reactive from the Fed
• 1:00:00 – The limits of regulation vs. the limits on liquidity
• 1:04:00 – What might the Fed actually do
• 1:13:00 – The weirdness of the recent past and how that compares to our current climate, and where that leaves the Fed
• 1:18:00 – Fed Credibility

Also, check out another Shortman Studios podcast, the Big Tech Ticket, featuring conversations on the biggest issues in tech. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-big-tech-ticket/id1565981471