Scholarship@WashULaw

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2021

Publication Title

Hastings Business Law Journal

Abstract

In late January and early February 2021, an astounding story of stock market price volatility captivated the nation. GameStop, a corporation that in recent years had prodigiously lost money – $492 million two years earlier, $296 million the last year for which it reported data – rose from a low of $2.57 to a high of $483. In January 2021 alone, GameStop had risen from a closing price of $17.25 on January 4 to a close of $347.61 on January 27 before falling 44 percent to a close of $193.60 on January 28, rising 68 percent to a close of $325 on January 29, then falling 31 percent to a close of $225 on February 1, 2021, followed by a painful collapse of 82 percent to a close of $40.59 on February 19, 2021, before rebounding to close at $300 by March 12, 2021.

The saga of GameStop, Robinhood, Reddit and Roaring Kitty, however, does involve a profound area of long overdue securities regulation policy concern. 6 The business model of Robinhood aptly demonstrates why the structure of our securities markets urgently needs revision.

Keywords

Securities Regulation

Publication Citation

Joel Seligman, Payment for Order Flow and the Great Missed Opportunity, 18 Hastings Bus. L.J. 3 (2021)

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