About the Reddit traders and Game Stop.

[RockRaven]

18. It's not pump and dump. It's similar in some ways but quite the opposite in others.

Reddit users and others like them spotted that short sellers were way overexposed on their gamble. They then bought cheap and held. And held. And held. So much that the short sellers faced a comeuppance for being so overexposed.

The two biggest differences are that the reddit people are not talking up the company or its financial fundamentals (they are aware that eventually the price bubble will burst and the stock will go back to being nearly worthless and are totally transparent about that), nor are they all planning on trying to sell all of their shares near the peak to maximize their earnings (a lot of them cashed out enough to cover their initial invest plus a nice profit, and say they intend to hold the rest indefinitely).

Pump and dumps create a frenzy of demand, this was a paucity of supply created by people saying "I bought this stock. It is mine now. I like it. I'm not selling." It is not the fault of non-selling owners that other people created a situation where their own demand was a) fixed and b) far exceeded supply.