Search

A short squeeze occurs if borrowed shares are recalled and the short seller is unable to find another source of shares. This forces the short seller to terminate a position early. For most stocks, the probability of a short squeeze is very low. Short squeezes, however, are not unusual for the hardest to borrow stocks. For these stocks, trading costs from squeezes are high and have a significant impact on the returns to short selling. For hard-to-borrow stocks, short sellers also miss out on significant abnormal returns because squeezes force them to close positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aim: London Protocol (LP) and Classification allied to high-resolution manometry (HRM) technological evolution has updated and enhanced the diagnostic armamentarium in anorectal disorders. This study aims to evaluate LP reproducibility under water-perfused HRM, provide normal data and new parameters based on 3D and healthy comparison studies under perfusional HRM. Methods: Fifty healthy (25 F) underwent water-perfused 36 channel HRM based on LP at resting, squeeze, cough, push, and rectal sensory. Additional 3D manometric parameters were: pressure-volume (PV) 104mmHg2.cm (resting, short and long squeeze, cough); highest and lowest pressure asymmetry (resting, short squeeze, and cough). Complementary parameters (CP) were: resting (mean pressure, functional anal canal length); short squeeze (mean and maximum absolute squeeze pressure), endurance (fatigue rate, fatigue rate index, capacity to sustain); cough (anorectal gradient pressure); push (rectum-anal gradient pressure, anal canal relaxation percent); recto-anal inhibitory reflex (anal canal relaxation percent). Results: No difference to genders: resting (LP, CP, and 3D); short squeeze (highest pressure asymmetry); endurance (CP); cough (CP, highest and lowest pressure asymmetry); push (gradient pressure); rectal sensory. Higher pressure in men: short squeeze (maximum incremental, absolute, and mean pressure, PV, lowest pressure asymmetry); long squeeze (PV); cough (anal canal and rectum maximum pressure, anal canal PV); push (anal canal and rectum maximum pressure). Anal canal relaxation was higher in women (push). Conclusions: LP reproducibility is feasible under water-perfused HRM, and comparative studies could bring similarity to dataset expansion. Novel 3D parameters need further studies with healthy and larger data to be validated and for disease comparisons. Key points: • London Protocol and Classification allied with the technological evolution of HRM (software and probes) has refined the diagnostic armamentarium in anorectal disorders. • Novel 3D and deepening the analysis of manometric parameters before the London Classification as a contributory diagnostic tool. • Comparison of healthy volunteers according to the London Protocol under a perfusional high-resolution system could establish equivalence points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the GameStop short squeeze of January 2021, which was driven by retail investors from the online Reddit forum r/WallStreetBets. The short squeeze resulted in unprecedented market volatility and significant losses for institutional investors like hedge funds, leading to controversial trading restrictions by brokerages like Robinhood. This case study uses the GameStop saga to delve into key legal and ethical issues pertinent to an undergraduate business law class, including market manipulation, regulatory oversight/compliance, and conflicts of interest. It also examines fiduciary duties and class action lawsuits. By ex ploring these aspects, the study highlights the event's educational value in demonstrating many real-life examples of business law concepts while underscoring the need for robust regulatory frameworks in an era shaped by social media and technological advances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a simple bounded stochastic motion to model equity price dynamics under shocks. The stochastic process has a quasi-bounded boundary which can be breached if the probability leakage condition is met. The quasi-boundedness of the process at the boundary can thus provide an indicator of the possible risk of equities under price shocks or in distress. Empirical calibration of the model parameters of the proposed process for equities can be performed easily due to the availability of an analytically tractable probability density function which generates fat-tailed distributions consistent with empirical observations. The volatility and mean-reversion of the S&P500 dynamics calibrated by the process are positively and negatively co-integrated, respectively, with the VIX index representing the level of market distress. The process captures the high likelihood of Hertz's default about two months earlier, using only information until that point, and before the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Empirical calibration of the process for GameStop's stock price shows that the short squeeze in the stock occurred when the condition for breaching the upper boundary was met on 14 January 2021, i.e., about two weeks before major short-sellers closed out their positions with significant losses. The trading volume of the stock was positively co-integrated with the probability leakage ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue that cash dividend is a type of arbitraging cost that short sellers tend to avoid. We find that dividend announcements lead to temporary short squeezes, causing the prices of highly shorted stocks to overshoot and fully revert over time. These stocks also experience excessive buy‐initiated trades and abnormal trading volume in response to dividend announcements. These results are driven mainly by stocks with unpredicted dividends, low lending fees, and high dividend yields. Overall, results suggest that news of a dividend distribution is magnified by short squeezes due to increased short costs and generates excessive nonfundamentals‐driven price fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alkaline–surfactant–polymer (ASP) flooding in oil-producing formations is associated with the deposition of scales. This hazard will affect the production flow assurance, which lowers the production flow, resulting in a reduced amount of product produced. One of the approaches to managing this scale is applying a scale inhibitor (SI) downhole to production wells via a continuous injection line. However, this process involved a high dose of chemical (250–500 ppm), and research has shown that none of the SIs deployed can inhibit this scale from occurring. One of the primary reasons is the poor adsorption of scale inhibitors onto rock formation, resulting in a short squeeze treatment lifetime. Therefore, it is vital to enhance the squeeze treatment program by "modifying" scale inhibitors with nanoparticles (NPs) that will help to prolong the squeeze lifetime with a much lower minimum inhibitor concentration (MIC) of inhibitor deployed. Oilfield scale management has recently emerged as a popular research topic in nanotechnology. The rationale behind employing nanoparticles and scale inhibitors is that nanoparticle is small-sized particles, with robust surface potential, yet the surface properties and morphologies can still be altered accordingly. With this nanotechnology approach, these nano-scaled particles are manoeuvrable for their size and can reach everywhere possible. Hence, making it more straightforward to be adsorbed onto the rock surfaces. This paper reviews the formation of scales in the reservoir and various nanomaterials previous researchers have used. The nanotechnologies studied in this paper are metal/ metal oxide nanomaterials, metal phosphonate, carbon-based nanoparticles, nanoemulsions, cross-link nanoparticles, and polymeric nanoparticles; when compared to traditional squeeze treatments, many nanoproducts created for squeeze treatments have shown increased squeeze lifespan. Nevertheless, several challenges still exist in applying nanotechnology downhole and further investigation should be carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay analyzes the rhetorics of social and economic protest surrounding the 2021 short squeeze where swarms of gamers-made-investors used the popular trading app Robinhood to create artificial demands for shorted stocks such as GameStop and AMC. Fueled by populist rhetoric on subreddit forum, r/WallStreetBets, the movement created a short-lived bubble that cost hedge funds billions. I argue that investors were subjectivized by market-based agencies through anger and nostalgia during a COVID-19 period when many were feeling powerless. Through market jamming, investors temporarily used the market, and its neoliberal rationalities, against itself and created new spaces for agency. While market jamming comes with real financial risks, such as a rhetorical panic, it also shows how investors can use détournement in the marketplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the use of social media as a tool for orchestrating activism has yielded a variety of social outcomes such as the #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo movement, shedding light on the power of online activism and participatory culture. However, outside of fundraising and donations, financial gain has never been seen as an incentive for online activists until January 2021, when users on the popular social media platform, Reddit, were able to achieve a substantial monetary gain in the GameStop Short Squeeze without the use of any physical protests or marches. Through utilising a qualitative research design and examining Reddit, this study aims to understand the evolving nature of social media usage as an orchestration tool for activism, focusing on how the r/wallstreetbets subreddit helped investors drive up GameStop shares amidst the attempts by hedge funders to lower prices - whose aim was to make larger profits from shorting the stock. Gatekeeping theory and the role new media plays in the production and exclusion of information, along with Active-Audience Theory, the participatory nature of users in online spaces and their active involvement with topical financial movements shall assist in shedding light on the activity that unfolded on Reddit, leading up to the events of the crash, will be addressed in this paper. This was a desktop research paper. Drawing on Shoemaker & Vos's (2009) gatekeeping theory and the role new media plays in the production and exclusion of information, along with Katz & Foulkes' (1962) active-audience theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The short squeeze in GameStop attracted worldwide attention and resulted in congressional hearings. The increase in GameStop stock from an opening price of $21 on January 26 to an interday high of $483 on January 28 was not the result of obvious fundamental earnings prospects. Buying pressure from investors on a social media site accompanied by short covering, resulted in the stratospheric ascent of stock price. We use put–call parity to investigate the related issue of the no‐arbitrage violations before, during, and after the squeeze. We do not find evidence of abundant free money after accounting for short selling frictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: The research offers a description of the nature of the excited vibrations of rotors equipped with squeeze film dampers. The achieved results are particularly applicable in the field of high-speed rotating machines. The article deals with the computational study of the rigid rotor coupled with squeeze film dampers. Various techniques such as the method of computation of the synchronous response with a circular centred orbit, the harmonic balance method, and the direct time integration method are used to analyse the nonlinear behaviour of the rotor system. The results indicate that the rotor system can exhibit both a synchronous circular response with a large orbit radius and a nonsynchronous response with a quasiperiodic character. However, both responses are undesirable in rotating machinery and should be avoided. The new results are presented to provide insight into the impact of initial conditions on the vibration response via basins of attraction. The simulations show that: (i) the basins of attraction are more sensitive to the choice of the initial velocities than displacements, (ii) the basins of attraction are noticeably dependent on the rotor speed in the region of a nonsynchronous response, and (iii) the border between the basins of attraction can be smooth or without a clear structure. The research brings clear conditions defined by parameters such as the dimensionless SFD constant, unbalance, and rotational speed for the suppression of undesirable nonlinear phenomena. The results suggest that the damper can effectively improve the vibration response of high-speed rotating machinery, but its design must be chosen appropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a simple bounded stochastic motion to model equity price dynamics under shocks. The stochastic process has a quasi-bounded boundary which can be breached if the probability leakage condition is met. The quasi-boundedness of the process at the boundary can thus provide an indicator of the possible risk of equities under price shocks or in distress. Empirical calibration of the model parameters of the proposed process for equities can be performed easily due to the availability of an analytically tractable probability density function which generates fat-tailed distributions consistent with empirical observations. The volatility and mean-reversion of the S&P500 dynamics calibrated by the process are positively and negatively co-integrated, respectively, with the VIX index representing the level of market distress. The process captures the high likelihood of Hertz’s default about two months earlier, using only information until that point, and before the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Empirical calibration of the process for GameStop’s stock price shows that the short squeeze in the stock occurred when the condition for breaching the upper boundary was met on 14 January 2021, i.e., about two weeks before major short-sellers closed out their positions with significant losses. The trading volume of the stock was positively co-integrated with the probability leakage ratio.

Ever since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus have resulted in an increased interest of retail investors in the stock market, due to more free time, capital, and commission-free trading brokerages. This interest culminated in the January 2021 short squeeze wave, caused in no small part due to the coordinated trading moves of the r/WallStreetBets subreddit, which has rapidly grown in user base since the event. In this paper, we attempt to discover if coordinated trading by retail investors can make them a market moving force and attempt to identify proactive signals of such movements in the post activity of the forum, to be used as a part of a trading strategy. Data about the most mentioned stocks is collected, aggregated, combined with price data for the respective stock and analysed. Additionally, we utilise predictive modelling to be able to better classify trading signals. It is discovered that despite the considerable capital that retail investors can direct by coordinating their trading moves, additional factors, such as very high short interest, need to be present to achieve the volatility seen in the short squeeze wave. Furthermore, we find that autoregressive models are better suited to identifying signals correctly, with best results achieved by a Random Forest classifier. However, it became apparent that even the best performing model in our experimentation cannot make accurate predictions in extreme volatility, evidenced by the negative returns shown by conducted back-tests.

In recent years, Bitcoin has garnered attention as a digital currency, prompting increasing debate regarding its effects on traditional financial markets, particularly the US dollar. This study investigates the relationship between Bitcoin and the US dollar, especially in the contexts of speculative attacks, where investors attempt to devalue a currency, and short squeezes, where rapid price rises force short sellers to quickly buy back assets to avoid further losses. The study employs a novel hybrid model combining an autoregressive moving average, Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity, and Wavelet Neural Networks techniques with neural networks approaches. The results suggest that significant trading activity in Bitcoin/US dollar, particularly during speculative attacks and short squeezes, can substantially impact the US dollar/EUR market, increasing price volatility as traders adjust their strategies. These adjustments, along with risk management strategies, drive higher trading volumes and further volatility. Our findings demonstrate that our novel hybrid model combined with Quantum Recurrent Neural Networks provides the most accurate predictions, offering valuable insights to inform trading strategies in both Bitcoin/US dollar and US dollar/EUR markets. This study has important implications for policymakers and market participants, emphasising the need to understand the relationship between Bitcoin and the US dollar for financial stability and effective policy formulation. It also highlights the necessity of advanced modeling techniques to accurately predict cryptocurrency market behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically interrogates the claims of game-like elements in online brokerages through an interface analysis of three platforms, eToro, Plus500 and DeGiro. The 2021 GameStop Short Squeeze, where coordinated Redditors influenced financial markets through the mass purchase by individuals of 'meme stock', was made possible through the availability of retail trading platforms. One popular reading of the events saw it as 'gamification' of trading, without necessarily defining how the term is applicable. While we do not find evidence of direct gamification, we offer an explanation of why the gamification discourse persists. The platforms subtly deploying affective grammars linked to playfulness, thus creating a feeling of play without explicit game-like elements. In so doing, they are not just encouraging users to trade extensively, but are calling into question the epistemic distinction between investment and play, which has underpinned the development of finance since the eighteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the recent short squeeze of the GameStop (GME) stock in early 2021. This event, although not the only case of short squeeze, has some idiosyncratic features that make it extremely interesting, mainly because it was organized by non-institutional investors through social media like Reddit. Using intraday data during the period January 4, 2021-March 26, 2021, we conclude that volume and Google searches provide useful information, which enables us to explain the GME performance. Moreover, we show that information on volume and Google searches can provide investors with valuable data, but the faster investors have access to this information, the greater the advantages. This analysis could be very useful for scholars and practitioners who examine profitable investment strategies when such conditions emerge in the markets, and it also provides some thoughts for regulators regarding the impact of networks, social or not, on the stability of the financial markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus have resulted in an increased interest of retail investors in the stock market, due to more free time, capital, and commission-free trading brokerages. This interest culminated in the January 2021 short squeeze wave, caused in no small part due to the coordinated trading moves of the r/WallStreetBets subreddit, which has rapidly grown in user base since the event. In this paper, we attempt to discover if coordinated trading by retail investors can make them a market moving force and attempt to identify proactive signals of such movements in the post activity of the forum, to be used as a part of a trading strategy. Data about the most mentioned stocks is collected, aggregated, combined with price data for the respective stock and analysed. Additionally, we utilise predictive modelling to be able to better classify trading signals. It is discovered that despite the considerable capital that retail investors can direct by coordinating their trading moves, additional factors, such as very high short interest, need to be present to achieve the volatility seen in the short squeeze wave. Furthermore, we find that autoregressive models are better suited to identifying signals correctly, with best results achieved by a Random Forest classifier. However, it became apparent that even the best performing model in our experimentation cannot make accurate predictions in extreme volatility, evidenced by the negative returns shown by conducted back-tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The short squeeze of GameStop (GME) shares in mid-January 2021 has been primarily orchestrated by retail investors of the Reddit r/wallstreetbets community. As such, it represents a paramount example of collective coordination action on social media, resulting in large-scale consensus formation and significant market impact. In this work we characterise the structure and time evolution of Reddit conversation data, showing that the occurrence and sentiment of GME-related comments (representing how much users are engaged with GME) increased significantly much before the short squeeze actually took place. Taking inspiration from these early warnings as well as evidence from previous literature, we introduce a model of opinion dynamics where user engagement can trigger a self-reinforcing mechanism leading to the emergence of consensus, which in this particular case is associated to the success of the short squeeze operation. Analytical solutions and model simulations on interaction networks of Reddit users feature a phase transition from heterogeneous to homogeneous opinions as engagement grows, which we qualitatively compare to the sudden hike of GME stock price. Although the model cannot be validated with available data, it offers a possible and minimal interpretation for the increasingly important phenomenon of self-organized collective actions taking place on social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]