This is Financial Advice

Caption notes

In this 2023 Folding Ideas essay, Dan Olson looks at how some online investing communities sustained the expectation of another surge after GameStop’s price swings. He separates their central expectation from the replaceable claims used to explain it. In one example, he recounts how discussion around a shareholder vote shifted toward explaining why the expected evidence would not appear once the vote did not yield it. He then uses Bed Bath & Beyond to compare community interpretations, company filings and the subsequent events as he recounts them. This guide follows how Olson tests whether a narrative can be challenged by contrary evidence. Market mechanics, legal claims, claims about individuals and investment outcomes await independent verification.