Right after posting the above, I received this from my broker. It is right along the same line of the discussion on margin and volatility.


Interactive Brokers
Securities Subject to Special Requirements
Dear Client,

We are seeing unprecedented volatility in GME, AMC, BB, EXPR, KOSS and a small number of other U.S. securities that has forced us reduce the leverage previously offered to these securities and, in certain instances, limit trading to risk reducing transactions. IBKR currently has no restrictions on trading shares in those companies, and customers can open or close positions in those shares. Like many other brokers, IBKR placed options on certain of those stocks in closing only earlier this week. The plan is to lift those restrictions in an orderly manner while closely monitoring market conditions. To be clear, IBKR has not restricted clients’ ability to close existing positions in any of the U.S. securities subject to market volatility, and does not plan to do so.

The limits IBKR has placed have applied to all customers and were not limited to “retail clients” or any other group.

In order to keep you up-to-date on this fast-moving situation, we have put together a Knowledge Base site with current information on margin requirements and any trading restrictions for this group of securities. This site will provide the relevant information on the securities in one place, in addition to your existing ability to preview margin requirements prior to initiating a position and monitor them afterwards. Click here to review this Knowledge Base article.

We also invite you to visit the website for additional information regarding margin requirements and managing the risk of your portfolio

• For information on previewing margin requirements prior to order submission, click here.
• For general information on margin and margin requirements, click here.
• To monitor your portfolio risk using Risk Navigator, click here.

We understand that you may have experienced occasional market and systems delays or interruptions as a result of this week’s extraordinary volatility. Please be assured that IBKR is doing everything possible to keep you informed of developments that might affect your trading decisions. We appreciate your patience, and regret any inconvenience that you might have experienced over the past few days. Thank you for the trust and confidence that you continue to place in Interactive Brokers.
Interactive Brokers Client Services
Interactive Brokers LLC, member NYSE, FINRA, SIPC

Absolutely right. They would have taken the money and run.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm all in favor of the little guy making a killing when he can.

What I have a problem with is people claiming that someone did something illegal when we don't know that.

As far as regulation goes...............I generally don't like it. On the other hand, without it the retail trader wouldn't have a prayer.

I'm a lot older than you and can remember when the commission on a 100 shares of stock was over a hundred bucks.
Today it's zero in many cases. The bid-ask spread used to be several dollars wide. Today it is only a penny or two for most things. The change from fractions to decimals further reduced that spread. Regulations that force specialists to make a two-sided market at all times means there is always a buyer or seller available. All these are the result of regulations and go a long way toward leveling the playing field between professional and retail traders

A lot older than me?

I'll be 51 in a couple weeks. You're only twice as old as I am...

Oh yeah you're right !!

The market always frowns on shady dealings, cooked books, etc.

Thanks for the info white17. It explains a lot.

Ken, I'm not sure if he had a low sell price or not. I've heard rumblings of others having the same issue with them selling their shares off. I do know he bought it back in Nov. and tried to get me to buy. But they're closing Game Stops around here left and right so I was very leery of it. He lives for the thrill of buying things and seeing what happens.

He bought into Tesla real early and bought heavily. He's been grinning like the Cheshire cat since it split and started moving up.

That's a good lick on Tesla. I'd be unloading that too if I was in his shoes. )))))))))))

Not knowing your cousin it is impossible to say for sure but a lot of people, especially those who are not active traders, are confused by certain different order types. He may have had a sell stop active just for safety. Or it could have been a stop limit. The two seem like they would both work but they don't work the same. Many people get burned by little things like that.

But in this case my guess would be that RH liquidated his shares because of the aggregate maintenance requirement was not met when the value of GME in his account dropped.

What many people don't understand is that the broker is on the hook if an investor goes broke or can't come up with enough cash to meet his obligations.

If the broker fails , then the clearing corporation is on the hook. Pretty soon the entire system could have severe problems meeting the trillions of dollars per day that are being exchanged in cash and securities.

The brokers have to maintain adequate capital to meet collateral requirements, and they can't use client funds . It has to be their own.

That is why RH shut down some BUY transactions yesterday ...it allowed them time to borrow a couple billion to improve their capital requirements.

Selling on RH was still allowed because their only obligation there is to deliver the stock to the buyer's broker. They don't need cash to do that.


Personally, I can't imagine GME doing anything but entering bankruptcy eventually. They are like the buggy whip makers of the 19th century.

Regardless of how this ends I can't see many smiles among the Reddit or RH users

It's a mess but I think it will soon resolve it's self. All of those people that "drank the kool aid" will soon realize they are now holding worthless stock that they paid $300 a share for.

Robinhood had a lawsuit brought against them by an eastern state for not safe guarding people who had little investing now how. So this time they get protective and people want to sue them over it.Not saying what they did was right or wrong but can see why they did it.

Exactly what I mentioned above. Darned if they do and darned if they don't

Robin Hood came out with a new list Friday of securities that are being restricted on their platform.





American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ: AAL): 1 share, 10 options
Aurora Cannabis (NYSE: ACB): 1 share, standard limits
First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE: AG): 1 share, standard limits
AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC): 1 share, 10 options
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ: AMD): 1 share, standard limits
BlackBerry Ltd (NYSE: BB): 1 share, 10 options
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (NASDAQ: BBBY): 1 share, 10 options
BYD Co (OTC: BYDDY): 1 share
Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND): 1 share, standard limits
Churchill Capital Corp IV (NYSE: CCIV): 1 share, standard limits
Clover Health (NASDAQ: CLOV) 1 share, standard limits
Curis (NASDAQ: CRIS): 1 share, standard limits
Castor Maritime Inc (NASDAQ: CTRM): 5 shares
Express Inc (NYSE: EXPR): 5 shares, 10 options
EZGO Technologies (NASDAQ: EZGO): 5 share
General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM): 1 share, standard limits
GameStop Corp: 1 share, 5 options
Gran Tierra Energy (NYSE: GTE): 5 share, standard limits
Hims & Hers Health (NYSE: HIMS): 1 share, standard limits
Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: INO): 1 share, standard limits
Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp V (NYSE: IPOE): 1 share, standard limits
Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp VI (NYSE: IPOF): 1 share, standard limits
Jaguar Health Inc (NASDAQ: JAGX): 5 share, standard limits
Koss Corp (NASDAQ: KOSS): 1 share
Lianluo Smart (NASDAQ: LLIT): 5 share
Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA): 1 share, standard limits
Naked Brands Group (NASDAQ: NAKD): 5 shares
The9 Ltd (NASDAQ: NCTY): 1 share
Nokia Oyj (NYSE: NOK): 5 shares, 10 options
Novavax Inc (NASDAQ: NVAX): 1 share, standard limits
Opendoor Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: OPEN): 1 share, standard limits
Rocket Companies Inc (NYSE: RKT): 1 share, standard limits
RLX Technology (NYSE: RLX): 1 share, standard limits
Rolls-Royce Holdings (OTC: RYCEY): 5 shares, standard limits
Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ: SBUX): 1 share, standard limits
Shoals Technologies Group (NASDAQ: SHLS): 1 share
Siebert Financial Corp (NASDAQ: SIEB): 1 share, standard limits
iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV): 1 share, standard limits
Sundial Growers Inc (NASDAQ: SNDL): 5 shares, 10 options
Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares (NYSE: SOXL): 1 share, standard limits
Sorrento Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: SRNE): 1 share, standard limits
Star Peak Energy Transition Corp (NYSE: STPK): 1 share, standard limits
Tengasco (NYSE: TGC): 5 shares
Tian Ruixiang Holdings (NASDAQ: TIRX): 1 share
Tootsie Roll Industries (NYSE: TR): 1 share, 10 options
Trivago (NASDAQ: TRVG): 55 shares, 10 options
Workhorse Group (NASDAQ: WKHS): 1 share, standard limits
Qualtrics International (NASDAQ: XM): 1 share, standard limits
Zomedica Corp (NYSE: ZOM): 5 shares

Robin hood taking it apon themselves to halt trading which killed the rally, for their own well being. If what was happening were illegal there are regulators and the SEC to handle it.

Second would be big tech yet again using censorship by shutting down chat rooms.


The average buy and hold investor probably didn't know their stock had been "borrowed" and sold by a hedge fund that didn't have the money to buy it back. That's why Robin hood shut it down.

It had to have been done in a way that the stocks had to be returned to their owners or the hedge funds could/would just give the owner the money they sold them for, not market price and say sorry, in the fine print it says we can sell at our discretion.??

I don't understand how the hedge funds got caught so flat footed by this thing. Their job is managing and I assume a part of that would involve monitoring what is going on especially with something that could result in these types of potential losses. I thought I heard one report that stated combined losses for the hedge funds involved could reach $70B? I understand you might not see it at the onset but it shouldn't get this far out of hand should it?

Hippie, the people manipulating GME on both sides are not buy and hold investors. I am talking about people holding positions in companies with strong balance sheets. They are also getting hurt in this situation. What are they being punished for exactly? I do agree that the market should be allowed to work and the speculators on both sides of that trade should be allowed to reap what they have shown. The social media sites getting involved is a completely different can of worms.

Agree, not the average buy and ho!d invester. How are they being punished as you say if their stocks would still be there for them to make 1500% if they wanted to sell?

How are they being punished other than their stocks were sold by the hedge fund with the expectation of them tanking?

This type of scenario is not new. It happened several times last spring. I think JCPENNEY was one of the companies that mysteriously spiked and just as quickly crashed. The mountains of money injected into the economy made this type of trade unnecessary because there was instantly a whole universe of stocks to put your money in. Check out the charts on a few midstream oil companies.

Hedge funds make money by people losing money.
This time it's reversed and they controlled the one-off switch which isn't right.

Hippie, I am not talking about long term investors holding GME. If there are any left they are either greedy or stupid and most probably both. I am talking about the ones holding things like axp and apple.

Elon Musk tweeted......

You can't sell a house you don't own..
You can't sell a car you don't own..
But evidently you can sell stock you don't own.

I'm talking about the principle of this, not getting into every single stock offered.