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I really don't know what all the fuss is about.

Robinhood decided to halt trading on a number of stocks due to uncommon volatility, just for a day, so they can assess the matter. [0]

And as is common practice in the trading world... when a market is closed, you are still allowed to close your position.

Which means that you are allowed to sell, and not buy.

(If robinhood allowed for true shorting then people could still technically buy by closing their short positions as well.)

It's not some huge conspiracy to keep the price down for the little guy.

It's actually a fairly common practice in financial exchanges around the world.

[0] https://blog.robinhood.com/news/2021/1/28/an-update-on-marke...

discuss

JMTQp8lwXL|5 years ago

Who is supposed to buy the stock if nobody else in the app is allowed to enter positions? It's strictly forcing the transfer of the stock from a retail investor to a market maker. It's the antithesis of a free market where any market participant can act as buyer or seller.

I don't think it implies there's a huge conspiracy, but it does implicate certain bad actors in the financial system. No, not everyone is bad. But the idea of some participants evading the rules is extremely plausible. It's happened in the past (see: 2008 GFC). Saying everyone thinks it's a 'huge conspiracy' is a straw man fallacy of the more legitimate concerns raised today.

roywiggins|5 years ago

If the only other people left to sell to are Robinhood investors, you're in trouble anyway.

cush|5 years ago

Robinhood didn't halt selling, only buying, and they have a massive conflict of interest.

MattGaiser|5 years ago

Everyone would rather believe that trillions of dollars worth of companies and dozens of government officials are all conspiring because one (not terribly well liked) short seller and his fund exploded.