New York time 12:03 noon.
Less than ten minutes after the CNBC interview clip went live on YouTube,
WallStreetBets Forum's GME Discussion Board has completely turned into an online gathering.
The first tipping point came from an account with an ID called "DeepFuckingValue" - DFV himself.
He posted a post five minutes after the CNBC interview, with a single sentence in the title -
"He said it. 'We are here to squeeze.'"
The text of the post is attached with a screenshot of Zhao Chen's original words in the interview--
"As for whether Short Sellers will be trampled to death in this process, that is their own position management problem."
DFV wrote a paragraph below the screenshot--
"Did you see it? Zhao Zong did not hide his intention to hit the sky at all.
He is telling the whole market - Era Vanguard came to GME just to correct a failed Short Selling structure.
Short Sellers borrowed all the shares from Circulating Supply, and they must buy back 50 million shares.
And there are not a lot of selling orders in the market, not at all."
In less than ten minutes after the post was posted, the number of replies exceeded 5,000.
The most popular reply has only three words--
"Buy. Buy. Buy."
The second most liked reply read--
"I don't care how much GME is worth. I don't buy GME to make money.
I bought GME so that those institutions that had been Short Selling for five years would receive insurance calls from brokers at three o'clock in the morning.
When they asked retail investors to cut their meat for five yuan, they never asked them if they could sleep at three in the morning."
The third reply is more direct--
"My salary will be paid tomorrow. Buy all GME."
The real-time online number of WallStreetBets Forum jumped from 120,000 to 200,000 within half an hour after the CNBC interview ended.
The posting speed of GME Discussion Board has refreshed to dozens of posts per second, and the forum administrator had to double the approval threshold for new user registration.
Someone started a new poll on the forum--
"What is your purpose of buying GME?"
The options are divided into four levels--
"Make money"
"Short Squeeze"
"Punishment Short Sellers"
"Bought because of DFV".
Within fifteen minutes after the vote was launched, more than 30,000 people participated.
Result--The total number of people who chose "Short Squeeze" and "Punishment Short Sellers" exceeded 60%.
Less than 20% of people choose "make money".
"Did you see it?" an ID called
Users of "WallStreetBets_OG" left comments below the poll,
"This is not an investment. This is a war. We are not buying GME to make money.
We bought GME to tell Wall Street--You cannot limit Short Selling a company and then expect retail investors to hand over their chips at the lowest point.
You can't borrow the same stock five times and expect us to pay for it for you.
You can't write a Short Selling report and expect us to panic."
This sentence has been forwarded repeatedly on the forum.
Someone replied below--
"You forgot to say - you can't Short Selling at the same time say retail investors are fools on CNBC.
When Sorkin asked Zhao Chen this morning if he was "taking advantage of retail investors' emotions," he probably didn't know that retail investors' emotions didn't need to be exploited at all.
The emotions of retail investors are already there. When the Short Selling ratio exceeds 100%, the emotions of retail investors are already there.
Zhao Chen just lit the fuse."
At 12:30 noon, a post titled "Buy GME, not for money" was pushed to the top of the homepage.
There is only one picture in the post text--
A hand-drawn GME stock price chart, with the horizontal axis from January 2020 to January 2021.
The vertical axis goes from three US Dollar to fifty US Dollar. The curve is almost vertically upward at the end.
There is a line of handwritten words in the lower right corner of the picture--
"Buy to squeeze. Not to profit."
Ten minutes after the post was posted, the number of replies exceeded 8,000.
The most upvoted reply reads--
"I bought 500 shares at 48 yuan yesterday. I bought another 500 shares at 50 yuan today.
My cost is higher than Era Vanguard. But I don't care.
I'm not here to make money.
I'm here to tell Short Sellers that they have been Short Selling for five years and now it's our turn."
The second most liked reply read--
"My GME holdings already account for 60% of my entire account.
My wife asked me why I had a full position in a loss-making company.
I said - this ticket is not betting on Financial Report.
This ticket is betting on whether Wall Street will admit that they were wrong.
I know they will. Because they have no leverage. All the leverage is in our hands."
CNBC's midday show aired a follow-up discussion of the interview segment at 12:45.
The host projected GME's real-time Trading Volume data on the screen--
Trading Volume exceeded 100 million shares in the first half of the morning, ten times the daily average Trading Volume.
The funds for long positions and Short Selling are pouring in at the same time, but the magnitude of Buying Pressure obviously exceeds the selling orders.
The host used an analytical tone--
"GameStop's stock price rose from 48 yuan to 52 yuan this morning.
Trading Volume hit a historical record. Retail investors are buying like crazy.
The sentiment indicator on WallStreetBets Forum has jumped from extreme greed to a new range--
The forum administrator named that range 'Euphoria'.
The purpose of retail investors buying GME seems to have deviated from traditional investment logic.
They publicly declared on the forum that buying GME is not to make money, but to buy Short Squeeze.
This sentiment is difficult to explain using traditional valuation Model."
Commentator Bloomberg invited a former Market Maker on the midday show.
The former Market Maker said something in front of the camera--
"Today's Buying Pressure is completely different from the past few days.
The previous Buying Pressure was retail investors following the trend, based on FOMO - fear of missing out.
Today's Buying Pressure is a declaration of war by retail investors. They publicly said on the forum, 'Short Squeeze for Short Squeeze'.
This emotion-driven Buying Pressure is scarier than the valuation-driven Buying Pressure.
Because it doesn't care about price. It only cares about one thing - driving Short Sellers to death.
Short Sellers needs to buy back 50 million shares. But no one is selling in the market.
When Buying Pressure doesn't care about the price and selling orders don't exist, the stock price will rise to any position."
By one o'clock in the afternoon, GME's stock price hit 54 yuan.
Lin Shicheng completed the last part of the day's planned purchase volume - 270,000 shares, with an average price of 53.2 yuan.
The position rose from 9.6% to 9.9%.
There is only 0.09 percentage points left from the upper limit of 9.99%, corresponding to about 60,000 shares.
He sent a message to Zhao Chen in the internal communication--
"Today's buying volume has been completed. The position position is 9.9%.
The remaining space is 60,000 shares, reserved to deal with the passive expansion of Options Delta."
GME's stock price fluctuated around 55 yuan after the market opened.
There is still a carnival on WallStreetBets Forum, and DFV's post has been pushed to the top of the homepage.
Zhao Chen's phrase "We are here for Short Squeeze" in the CNBC interview was made into an emoticon by retail investors and flooded the forum.
And by the fireplace of the Explorers Club, the data in front of White-Haired Old Man showed--
GME's total Short Position has grown from 50 million shares yesterday to 57 million shares.
Short Sellers has entered the market again.
Iceberg closed part of its position near $54 today.
But their average cost is 48 yuan, and closing the position means a loss.