from Hacker News

SEC suspends trading in 15 securities due to questionable social media activity

by minkeymaniac on 2/26/21, 9:39 PM with 212 comments

  • by kristopolous on 2/26/21, 10:37 PM

    The list is two clicks away, buried a couple paragraphs deep, here's the copy paste of what everyone is looking for

    Bebida Beverage Co. (BBDA);

    Blue Sphere Corporation (BLSP);

    Ehouse Global Inc. (EHOS);

    Eventure Interactive Inc. (EVTI);

    Eyes on the Go Inc. (AXCG);

    Green Energy Enterprises Inc. (GYOG);

    Helix Wind Corp. (HLXW);

    International Power Group Ltd. (IPWG);

    Marani Brands Inc. (MRIB);

    MediaTechnics Corp. (MEDT);

    Net Talk.com Inc. (NTLK);

    Patten Energy Solutions Group Inc. (PTTN);

    PTA Holdings Inc. (PTAH);

    Universal Apparel & Textile Company (DKGR);

    Wisdom Homes of America Inc. (WOFA).

    The SEC also recently issued orders temporarily suspending trading in:

    Bangi Inc. (BNGI);

    Sylios Corp. (UNGS);

    Marathon Group Corp. (PDPR);

    Affinity Beverage Group Inc. (ABVG);

    All Grade Mining Inc. (HYII);

    SpectraScience Inc. (SCIE).

  • by oip on 2/26/21, 11:38 PM

    Hi all,

    I am a mod on r/WallStreetBets and wanted to share with you that our bots haven't seen any of the tickers mentioned in the SEC press release.

    We filter tickers based on a number of factors, but low market cap (below $1B), is the most common reason for content being removed.

    One of our biggest issues is data reliability. If you know of an API that can provide accurate data and an exhaustive list of tickers (especially on non-US exchanges), please reach out to our modmail. [0]

    Best,

    OIP

    [0] https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fwallstreetb...

  • by jrockway on 2/26/21, 10:41 PM

    What is the next step in cases like these? Let's say social media activity led someone to making an unwise trade. Suspending trading doesn't fix the problem for that person, now they're just stuck in a bad position. Does the SEC ever "fix it" for that person, or is it all damage control now to reduce the extent of the problem, and those that are already in are kind of screwed?

  • by joshstrange on 2/26/21, 10:39 PM

    Honest question: How often does the SEC do something like this? More specifically: How often does volatility caused by hedge funds result in suspended trading of certain stocks?

  • by ldbooth on 2/27/21, 2:55 AM

    Meanwhile most major banks are convicted felons in the US. JPMorgan, Citibank, Wells Fargo...

  • by mike503 on 2/26/21, 11:03 PM

    I’m confused at the end goal here. Is this for “protection” or for “fraud” concerns? Stock manipulation isn’t legal, but banding together to pump and dump and things like that... if they’re not part of the company where insider trading or anything could be a reason, how is that really anything that should be regulated? Sounds like free market to me.

    This just seems like worries that the villagers are figuring out ways to band together and the rulers are scared.

  • by computronus on 2/26/21, 10:51 PM

    The suspensions are due to "questionable trading and social media activity", so they are apparently looking at more than social media.

    Still, the consequence may be that the social media activity moves to venues that the SEC can't observe as easily.

  • by jl2718 on 2/28/21, 3:05 PM

    Unfortunately they’ll never keep up with the ‘demand’ for market manipulation unless they fix the ‘supply’ of scared people that have no stable store of value. What you’re witnessing, is a vote of no confidence in monetary policy, and a scared populace, unfortunate breeding grounds for small time scammers as in these stonks. I’m sure there’s more; people don’t know anything about what they’re investing in. That includes top investors and analysts. It’s all pump and dump, just more elaborate as it gets bigger.

    I don’t know what the fed’s objective is anymore (actually ever), but a successful nation is one in which people are not concerned with finances at all, except that they put their minds and hands to socially-positive activity. Now our savings account is an endless gamble on stocks. Might as well be sports betting; that’s at least a lot more transparent.

    I don’t want to put 10 seconds a year into thoughts about finances, taxes, housing costs, inflation, deflation, interest rates, stocks, bonds, Bitcoin, or whatever. But their policies are forcing me and so many other people to put our whole lives into it. It’s probably 80% of the economy right now, totally wasted on a few people’s failed theories about macroeconomics, the same people over and over again, covering for their mistakes with new failing theories and policies. Unfortunately we can’t just write it down mathematically, program it into a computer, release source, and be done with it. No; it’s based on their personal feelings at any given moment. Oh and by the way, it all just so happens to make them and their families and friends and business and religious associates impossibly wealthy. Must be because they “understand” more than we do. Sure.

    I wonder if they ever think, “hey, maybe if we want less financial manipulation, we should stop doing it ourselves.” (Not the SEC; they just react.)

    You should not be an investor. You should save until you have everything you’ll ever need, and then invest in things you know about, and only because the money is going toward something productive and socially-valuable, as in the society that you, individually, want to live in. This is the most powerful form of voting. Index funds don’t solve the problem. That’s just paying someone else to steal your vote.

  • by gorgoiler on 2/27/21, 9:54 AM

    If you post on Reddit to promote a stock and also buy some of that stock, you’re fine.

    If you denounce the stock at the same time as you sell it, you are also fine.

    If you promote-and-sell* or denounce-and-buy, the SEC will be contacting you for assistance in their ongoing investigation.

    *pump-and-dump

  • by abarrak on 2/26/21, 11:25 PM

    There's also that rubbish app (forgot its name) for parent control in phones is not in the list. Only 1 employee (founder) and in daylight using twitter to cash out, manipulate the price, issue more shares, etc..

  • by intricatedetail on 2/28/21, 8:03 PM

    What's next? Allowing only profitable trades? This is a worrying trend when SEC thinks they know better and usurp the right to tell people what to do with their own money. They should look at banning sales of borrowed shares, but that would upset their rich mates?

  • by ketanmaheshwari on 2/26/21, 11:53 PM

    The title should be edited to say (not GME/AMC/BB/NOK).

  • by edoceo on 2/26/21, 10:37 PM

  • by modeless on 2/26/21, 10:40 PM

    Not Gamestop or AMC, which is what I thought at first.

  • by mtnGoat on 2/27/21, 1:31 AM

    Whatever happened to a free market in the land of the free?

    Every investor Should be aware of the risk that they could lose everything and that markets, whether we like it or not, are manipulateable.

    Let them run wild.

  • by airhead969 on 2/27/21, 2:08 AM

    So does this mean anyone can selectively game the freezing (DoS) of any stock by throwing spurious social media activity?

  • by liquidify on 2/26/21, 11:52 PM

    I bet it really pisses them off that they can't stop trading in Dogecoin.

  • by chovybizzass on 2/27/21, 7:35 AM

    this is how they stop us. move to crypto.

  • by dang on 2/27/21, 1:54 AM

  • by paulie_a on 2/26/21, 11:06 PM

    The SEC has caught up to 2001, yay

  • by techbio on 2/27/21, 1:00 AM

    Can't resist, forgive me:

    "FEC suspends [nothing] due to questionable social media activity"

  • by somerandomboi on 2/26/21, 11:03 PM

    Interesting article.

  • by Simulacra on 2/26/21, 10:40 PM

    Will they do this every time, and what's the breaking point before reform?

  • by nojito on 2/26/21, 10:46 PM

    Many of these OTC stocks were spammed on r/wsb and others during the GME surge.