The Big Squeeze

This week retail investors and entrenched Wall Street hedge funds went to battle against one another. 

A growing Reddit community, r/wallstreetbets (WSB), put their 💎✋s [read: diamond hands] where their mouths were and collectively gathered to squeeze the short positions of large hedge funds with billions in funding like Melvin Capital and Citron Research.

The most famous position being a teetering brick and mortar video game company, GameStop (GME), which is often derided for its suboptimal buyback program. Originally proposed by u/DeepFuckingValue on the subreddit, WSB rallied behind the squeeze, gaining national attention in the process from the likes of wall street speculators like Jim Cramer and Capitol Hill legislators like AOC.

In the process, u/DeepFuckingValue turned a gamble into a 4,420.98% gain.

Others like u/Stammbomb were able to help their families with the gains made from taking on Wall Street.

The saga continues to unravel, but trading platforms like Robinhood have come under fire with accusations of market manipulation for halting buys of “meme stocks” like AMC, GME, and Nokia (NOK) and only allowing retail traders to sell their positions.

All told, it’s an interesting case study on the power of a growing internet community of 4.7 million self-titled “degenerates” who drove Melvin Capital to call in a nearly $3 billion lifeline.

Consumer Trends

Social Capital

Source: Social Media Today

• 90% of social media users surveyed said they value authenticity when choosing brands to support.
• 30% of consumers use social media to communicate with companies.

Online Shopping

Source: The Northridge Group

• 68% of consumers increased their online shopping during the pandemic, a telling indicator of eCommerce’s growth and adoption.

What’s Trending in Search

Source: Google

• Tax season is upon us, so it’s no mystery that tax services & information have catapulted to the top of searchers’ minds with 90% growth, among other surprising contenders.

Business Trends

Cloud Storage in COVID

Source: Iconik

• Due to the pandemic cloud storage has ballooned as companies shifted to mostly virtual operations.

Web Design

Source: WebsiteBuilderExpert

• Users have a strong preference towards aesthetically pleasing design in website builds, so much so that 38% of users will leave an unattractive website.

Challenges

Source: searchspring

• 36% of respondents to a searchspring survey noted that maintaining stock was the most challenging aspect of running their business in 2020, likely due to supply chain issues and increased demand.