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Austin / New York / Washington (dpa) - The first judicial authorities have intervened in the dispute over speculation in shares of the video game retailer Gamestop and other companies on the US stock exchange.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Friday (local time) that he had requested information from Robinhood and a number of other online brokers to find out whether everything was right with the restrictions on trading in shares from Gamestop and a few other companies .

There are apparently agreements between hedge funds and trading platforms and web servers to ward off threats to their market dominance.

Wall Street companies should not restrict public access to the free market for their own benefit, the prosecutor said.

"It stinks of corruption."

In the conflict, there are hedge funds, which bet on the decline of shares in troubled companies, and hobby investors, some of whom are organized in online forums, who drive prices up with concerted purchases.

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Due to the trading restrictions of brokers like Robinhood, the small investors, who had the upper hand in the trial of strength, see themselves thwarted on their profit path.

Some hedge funds have suffered extremely heavy losses from their bets, so there is a suspicion that the trading platforms have their backs covered.

Robinhood and Co. deny this, but the outrage is not only great among the investor community, but also in politics.

New York Attorney General Letitia James also wants to investigate.

There is also serious criticism of the brokers in Germany.

Marc Tüngler from the German Association for Protection of Securities Holdings (DSW) told the newspapers of the Funke media group: “The fact that neobrokers are now suspending trading in the share is a super disaster.

In such an intense situation, they deprive investors of the basis for being able to act freely. "

The question arises as to the basis, said Tüngler.

If the possibility for Robinhood's step is recorded in the terms and conditions, the broker will suffer reputational damage.

"If it is not recorded, we have a serious legal problem."

The Green EU politician Sven Giegold also sees a risk for the stock exchanges in the EU.

"We shouldn't wait until there are similar problems in the EU," he told the editorial network Germany (RND / Saturday).

There are currently large short positions in European companies such as Varta and Evotec.

"To me, this suggests that the short selling rules that were introduced after the great financial crisis are not effective in ensuring market integrity."

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On Friday, the papers of Gamestop closed with 68 percent plus, those of the cinema chain AMC, which is also the focus of speculation, increased by 54 percent.

On Thursday, trade restrictions had been eased at least somewhat.

But investors have become so frustrated with Robinhood that well over 20,000 of them have already joined a class action lawsuit via a special app.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission had reaffirmed before the start of trading that it would investigate the events surrounding the gamestop hype.

The SEC promised to protect retail investors if the facts point to manipulative trading activities.

The supervisory authority will ensure “fair, orderly and efficient markets”.

In view of the great excitement, the agency set up an extra online form and also urged investors concerned to contact the SEC by email or telephone hotline.

According to the financial network CNBC, 4,000 complaints had already been received on Friday afternoon.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210130-99-232893 / 2

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Communication from Ken Paxton

Communication from the SEC