GameStop: a controlled explosion

FROM OUR JUNIOR TEAM /

What has really happened in the Gamestop case and what repercussions will there be? Now that the turmoil is over, our junior team will try to draw the first conclusions from this event.

Fig 1: Gamestop share price January 2021. Source: journaldugeek

The GameStop^[1] affair is indicative of a shift in the citizens’ mobilization, moving in the digital world and towards the economic sphere. Not a totally new thing, but a form of interventionism with new economic and mediatic repercussions that will set the trend in the long term. Will the affair represent a breakthrough? Our team believes it will not, because when you fight against speculation by speculating against speculators, in the end Wall Street is the winner. But this is not a non-event and the issue could lead to new market regulations. In any case, it leaves additional stigmas in the public opinion. Can this be seen as concerted political action aiming to denounce and strike a blow at deregulated finance? No. It is impossible to find any form of social coherence in the amateur investors who have bet on Gamestop, let alone a common political motivation. But in this case, as is often the case, it seems more interesting to focus on the consequences than on the original intention.