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Robinhood Has Blocked Users From Trading GameStop, AMC, And Other Stocks Targeted By Redditors, And People Are Livid

If you aren’t exactly sure what’s happening with the Redditor-fueled GameStop (and AMC) mayhem, you’re not alone (that’s where The Daily Show‘s alternative to Margot Robbie might come in handy). The chaos has been sparking Wall Street anxiety for at least a week, and it all began when the flagging stock of GameStop (a brick and mortar operation that sells physical copies of games, which can more conveniently be streamed) began skyrocketing. The WallStreetBets Subreddit had led the charge and also sent AMC stock soaring in a move that might just save movie theaters.

Well, none of this sat too well with the Wall Street big boys, especially when the GameStop stock frenzy crashed a hedge fund that made a ton of money when Cyberpunk 2077 flopped. Days later, and GameStop was still soaring and even briefly topped $500 a share during early Thursday trading after another massive rally on Wednesday. Well, someone must have pressed hard for an end to the madness, or brokerages are growing nervous about retaliation or… some other financially punitive repercussion (by the more typically powerful traders or even the government).

This led to TD Americatrade temporarily restricting trading on both GameStop and AMC on Wednesday before thinking better of the move and reversing course with an apology (after a backlash). Well, this didn’t stop Robinhood Interactive Brokers from deciding to restrict GameStop trading on Thursday, which is an ironic move because it’s apparent that any claims of “market manipulation” (by Redditors) aren’t acknowledging how hedge funders (like those on Showtime’s Billions) already do this on the regular.

In any event, Robinhood boasts “Democratizing finance for all” as one of its slogans. The company holds itself out as a free-stock trading pioneer, and this 2016 tweet (“Let the people trade”) is now attracting a lot of attention.

All of this has led to justifiable responses (on Twitter) about the free market putting on the brakes because the wealthy are losing money due to this Subreddit/GameStop rally. People are angry as heck because, yes, the market is being manipulated again under the guise of halting market manipulation. It’s very circular, given that the GameStop rally began as a means to illustrate (and maybe even punish) those who profit big time from manipulating the market.

Even Fyre Fest co-founder Ja Rule has weighed in.

The Biden Administration has yet to step into this mess but is said to be “monitoring” the situation. As if Joe Biden didn’t already have enough to deal with this month, right? This isn’t over yet.