WallStreetBets Plots Revenge On Robinhood's AMC And GameStop Trading Block Manipulation

gamestop mall
Is the party coming to the end for the "little guys" that banded together to take on some of the biggest hedge funds on Wall Street? Earlier this week, we reported on the meteoric rise of GameStop shares (NYSE:GME), which has been fueled by "degenerates" -- a title that the group has coined for themselves -- over at the WallStreetBets subreddit. They then moved on to push AMC Theaters (NYSE:AMC) and Nokia (NYSE:NOK) in a financial windstorm that has rocked Wall Street.

However, there has been a lot of commotion raised about these degenerates and other everyday Americans that have joined in on this fascinating gold rush, as GME shot from $70 to $347 in a matter of days. This is a stock that was trading below $10 during Summer 2020. Popular financial platform Robinhood has stepped in to put a stop to the festivities for those traders using its platform.

Robinhood explained in a blog post today entitled “Keeping Customers Informed Through Market Volatility" that it is “restricting transactions for certain securities to position closing only, including $AAL, $AMC, $BB, $BBBY, $CTRM, $EXPR, $GME, $KOSS, $NAKD, $NOK, $SNDL, $TR, and $TRVG.” 

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Robinhood is putting the squeeze on users attempting to trade GME, AMC, NOK, and more.

"Amid significant market volatility, it’s important as ever that we help customers stay informed," the company continues. "We’re committed to helping our customers navigate this uncertainty. We fundamentally believe that everyone should have access to financial markets."

But despite that last statement, the restrictions put in place seem to run counter to that line of thought. While users can still close out their positions in the companies on Robinhood's "blacklist", they can no longer purchase the stocks.

TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab have also joined in on the ban-wagon by restricting the trading of the stocks. Amid the news of trade restrictions, shares of GME and AMC have been tanking today. The former is down 21 percent from yesterday's highs, while the latter has dropped nearly 50 percent. Trading for both stocks was halted multiple times during the morning hours.

Needless to say, the folks over at WallStreetBets are not at all happy about this turn of events, as witnessed by the tweet below by one of the group's moderators:

This is a rather volatile time for anyone attempting to trade these hot stocks in an effort to make a quick buck. Tell us your thoughts, HotHardware readers. Were Robinhood and its counterparts really looking to help customers "stay informed" by implementing trade restrictions? Did any of you hop in on this madness this week, or even earlier before the market rush?