The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees

Synopsis

The definitive account of the story of the year, the can\x26rsquo;t\-make\-this\-up Gamestop short squeeze\x26mdash;a David vs. Goliath tale of fortunes won and lost overnight that changed Wall Street forever. In The Antisocial Network, bestselling author Ben Mezrich tells the true story of\x26#160;the subreddit WallStreetBets, a loosely affiliated group of private investors and internet trolls who took down one of the biggest hedge funds on Wall Street, and in so doing, fired the first shot in a revolution that threatens to upend the financial establishment. Told with deep access, from multiple angles, it examines the culmination of a populist movement that began with the intersection of social media and the growth of simplified, democratizing financial portals\x26mdash;represented by\x26#160;the biggest upstart in the business, RobinHood, and its millions of mostly millennial devotees. The unlikely focus of the battle: GameStop, a flailing brick and mortar dinosaur catering to teenagers and outsiders, that had somehow outlived forbearers like Blockbuster Video and Petsmart as the world rapidly moved online. The story comes to a head in a wild battle between Melvin Capital, a 13\-billion\-dollar hedge fund,\x26#160;one of the most respected and staid funds on the Street, and a disparate group of amateur day traders, video game nuts, and internet trolls on a subreddit calling itself WallStreetBets. At first, the subreddit was a joke\x26mdash;a meme\-filled, freewheeling place\x26#160;to share shoot\-the\-moon investment tips, laugh about big losses, and diamond hand emojis. Until some members noticed an opportunity\x26mdash;and rode a rocket ship\x26#160;to tens of millions of dollars in earnings overnight.