I am not involved in the stock market. So is this GameStop thing as big as a mess as I am reading or is it a media hype?

From what I can tell, it's a big mess. Started hearing about it before the media decided it was worth reporting on, and sort of assumed it was just internet chatter. Guess not.

It has the potential to become extremely serious. It needs to be halted IMO before we see a complete meltdown

needs to be halted by whom and FOR whom?

It's already been halted for the most part as your not being allowed to buy the stock, only sell. My understanding is that the hedge funds had shorted more shares than there were available to purchase, a group of investors on Reddit noticed it and triggered a mess. Think of the scene at the end of Trading Places with Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd but in reverse. Prices started soaring as the hedge funds had to try to buy shares as quick as they could to minimize losses.

Similar stocks are in the same position and already they're blocking those shares from being bought.

It needs to be halted by the SEC for the benefit of everyone invested in the market

Apparently some of the platforms have reenabled trading as the stock is up 70% or close to it today.

BTW Bitcoin is up 6000 from yesterday

Buying is not currently halted. I can buy shares right now with one mouse click. I'm not going to but I could.

One of the problems is that one group of players is constrained by and acting within the law. The other group is not. This will not end well for anyone if it's allowed to continue.

You're right too that this same reddit group is moving on to stocks like American Airlines, Bed Bath & Beyond and a few others. Stay far away !!

Hedge fund managers have been shorting stocks since hedge funds were first established. Perfectly legal. They had a marked advantage since AUM were very large, sometimes in the billions. With this kind of fiscal power they could easily manipulate a single stock or groups of stocks. What the reddit investors learned is that if they pulled their collective resources they could counter the shorts. Perfectly legal. If people decide that these events should not occur, then the laws and rules must be changed. But new rules should not just favor Wall Street so there must be some very deliberative thought before changing the game.

The truth is that the shady hedge fund traders have made billions off of spreading negative information about companies, and then bet ("short") that the stock will go down. They benefit from the failure of companies vs. most of us who invest in the long game, meaning that we are putting money into the market which helps companies. These hedge fund guys do nothing to benefit the economy with their tactics. I think the Reddit game-plan is hilarious and exactly what Wall St. deserved. I hope the Reddit followers (and others) go after them more. This could all be solved if the hedge fund sharks didn't get too greedy. Then again, everyone is greedy on Wall St.

From my understanding, Robinhood is back to allowing people to buy GameStop, etc. on their app. I think it's too late, though. They committed suicide yesterday when they rigged the market to protect the hedge fund guys and elites at the expense of the everyday investor. I hope they have to close their doors and people should be jailed.

There's some debate as to whether the Reddit thing was legal. Most of what Ive seen suggest it is legal because it was public information.

https://youtu.be/jJTJi1zyqhw

Its the same thing the big guys do but this time its little guys banding together. Everyone I have heard involved in it invested small amounts and plan on loosing it. It is being done to srcew the big hedga fund guys.

One of the funny things on this is one of the biggest owners of GameStop stock is the biggest fund Blackrock which now had more people in the adminstration than Goldman Sachs ever had.

I disagree. Short sellers serve a public interest by raising questions about accounting practices, false reporting, defective products, misleading statements in SEC documents. Some times they are wrong but if they were wrong most of the time they would be out of business.

What the hedge funds are doing is, as Tim notes above, perfectly legal. On the other hand, the Reddit group MAY be the ones engaged in price manipulation by conspiring online with one another.. I know that sounds like a stretch, but just imagine if the hedge funds were talking with one another and coordinating their activities.

You can't have a market where only one side plays by the rules. Sort of like elections.

There is a LOT wrong with Blackrock in my opinion

I'm sure the public information part is legal. It's the coordinated action and planning by the Reddit group that will be investigated.

Wall Street can dogpile with "shorts", so the average day-trader should be able to buy "long" and drive the price up. The elites just hate the fact that the average Joe (who they view as beneath them) is beating them and costing them billions. The fact of the matter is the hedge fund game has been put on notice that they can't rape and pillage without exposing themselves and potentially taking one in the shorts. Even with the massive wrongdoing yesterday by halting all buying, I predict the elites will escape without any legal ramifications as usual. Wall St. is in bed with D.C., and we've seen how they view "justice". Its a joke.

They do have a place(short sellers)but when the CEO'S of the hedge funds companies go on tv bad mouthing a stock to manipulate it to their benefit and someone beats them at their own game, game on.

Yep.

I am not clear what you think was "wrongdoing yesterday". All buying was NOT halted. Opening purchases were halted. But you could initiate a closing trade with no problem. Brokerages are required by law to protect their customers and themselves.