chanting: shame on you! the head of the met police says she does not intend to resign and welcomes a review into the police�*s handling of last night's vigil for sarah everard. i don't think anybody who was not in the operation can actually pass a detailed comment on the rightness and wrongness of it. you know, this is fiendishly difficult policing. but criticism of the police has been swift from across the political spectrum and those who attended the vigil. authorities in the republic of ireland recommend temporarily suspending use of the astrazeneca vaccine, after a report of four new cases of blood clotting incidents in adults who'd had the jab in norway. the foreign secretary makes another call for the immediate release of british—iranian nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, after she faces new allegations of anti—government propaganda in court. and it's the music industry's biggest awards night of the year — the grammys. they're being held at a virtual ceremony in los angeles. now on bbc news, james clayton meets the investors who made a fortune trading from their bedrooms, the tech supremos who were watching on astonished and the hedge fund giants nursing their losses. there's this narrative that this was a david and goliath story. it's all of these hedge funds, like yours, against the people — and the people won. i'll put it this way. if a 5—year—old walked into this room right now, i could probably kick his ass. if 1,000 5—year—olds walked in here, they could probably take me down. just being honest about it. is that a david versus goliath story? uh, you know — no! something happened this january that no—one expected. it was a little bit like an internet revolution. we were team human, team normal, regular guy. it's united capitalists... it's like this focal point, a paradigm shift for everything that's gone on for the last few hundred years on wall street. ..socialists. .. if there was a smaller chance that i could have a direct impact on ruining some billionaire's life, i wanted in on it. ..and youtubers. so how much did you make? um, $40,000-ish? the idea that an internet forum could take a failing company and by collectively investing in it, or to use the parlance, "taking it to the moon," take on hedge funds and win, seemed impossible. houston, if that's not the earth, we're in trouble! but was this really a people's revolution? this is not a david—versus—goliath story, but more of a goliath—versus—goliath story. the gamestop story is the story of its investors, and we'll be telling it through the experiences of three amateurs in california who all buy and sell their shares using trading apps. gavin may, a 19—year—old youtube star, parkour enthusiast and amateur online trading guru. do you sometimes wonder why people listen to a 19—year—old who's been trading for, like, six months? yeah, no, totally. that's definitely a very valid question. john motter, who works for a homeless charity. he blames big finance for some of la's housing problems. have you ever bought any shares before? no. first time? first time. and casper and matt who run a social media marketing company. i'm a gambling guy and i really believed in the power of memes and i put my money where my mouth is. a year ago, gamestop to many was a business slowly dying. it sells physical games at an actual shop, and many on wall street thought that that business model wasn't just outdated, it was prehistoric. a business doomed to fail. its share price this time last year was around the $3 mark. over the summer, though, a few investors began to proselytise about gamestop. people like the then—obscure youtuber, keith gill, roaringkitty. many think it's a foolish investment, but everyone�*s wrong! they argued that far from being dead in the water, gamestop had potential. gamestop is an established, uniquely—positioned player in a thriving $150 billion gaming industry. one group in particular was listening. an internet message board called wallstreetbets. so could you just describe to someone who's never been on wallstreetbets, roughly what the culture is? yeah, i mean... it's hard to do it without, um, without using offensive terms, but it is veryjuvenile, very subconsciously absurdist. their favourite thing to do is something called "loss porn," where you share your biggest losses. and everyone will be like, "hey, man, goodjob!" like, "you lost $1 million, goodjob, man!" sort of the nature of the sub is, like, riskier bets. _ i can't tell, like, what's| a meme and what isn't. but all those meme posts are feeding into the larger goal of getting - as many people to buy stocks as possible. - slowly, gamestop started to get a buzz, and gradually the share price began to tick up. this is the first official close above $14, so cheers to that shit! so i first read about gamestop through the subreddit, wallstreetbets. i think the first time i bought in was late november to early december. i think the stock price was around $16 back then. gamestop�*s share price had attracted the attention of another kind of investor — short sellers. hedge funds that thought gamestop was overpriced. hedge funds like citron capital, founded and run by this man, andrew left. to me it looked like they were following the blockbuster video path. and then all of a sudden we found out in december, while the industry was actually up — the video game industry had their best month ever, december of 2020 — gamestop actually had a bad quarter, ora bad month. they were declining, and that was supposed to be their saviour month. and that's when i started to short the stock. left�*s hedge fund was now one of the many hedge funds that were shorting gamestop. essentially, they were betting that the share price would fall. if it did, they would make money. but that had also been noticed by people on wallstreetbets. gamestop happened to be one of the names that was most frequently shorted. they'd worked out that if gamestop�*s share price went up, hedge funds would lose money. and many users on the platform came up with a theory that went like this. if enough of us were to buy together, in conjunction, could we create a short squeeze which would force some of these hedge funds who are betting against gamestop to close out their position by buying gamestop back, and therefore pushing the price of gamestop even higher? wallstreetbets is a forum on san francisco—based reddit, one of the biggest social media companies in the world. and watching on was its chief executive and founder, steve huffman. i've known about wallstreetbets for years. wallstreetbets is in fact one of my guilty pleasures on reddit. was there a point where you were like, huh, this is a bigger story than i thought? 0n wallstreetbets, there's often a couple of stocks or companies that have their attention. and so over the years, it's been tesla, it's been virgin galactic, it's been blackberry. and so in my mind i'm just browsing reddit, gamestop, 0k, gamestop�*s got their infatuation right now. so i was actually a little bit late to the party. i didn't realise reddit had leaked into the real world again. so it was really at the take—off of the mania, i was like, 0k, this is a bigger one. by mid—january the price of gamestop shares was nearly $30, a tenfold increase from eight months before. it was about to go stratospheric. i got the champagne. cheers, congratulations, look at this shit! look at this shit, 60%! when did you start thinking, oh, dear — something's happening here? well, i was about to go do a twitter live feed. and i think like 150,000 people would sign on in the first few minutes. remember that line from jaws — "i think i need a bigger boat!" it's about this point when gamestop shares truly took off. ridiculous, ridiculous. ridiculous, argh! i remember that day. i think we opened at, like, $39 and at the peak of the day it was $76. watching this chart gives me heart problems, i swear to god. we both bought between, what, $70 or $80? around there. newsreel: gamestop had another wild day of trading. _ and it was ridiculous. we were texting each other all night. there was a couple of good mornings... a couple of really good mornings, yeah! newsreel: gamestop isn't stopping. fuelled by social media, i the video game company... all the money you had in the world was doubled? yeah, crazy. in just a few hours? completely crazy. and that was only, like, the first of five days of craziness. gamestop was going to the moon. the price was going up and up and up. there's more and more activity, more and more news, more and more attention. newsreel: the video game retailer hit a high of $380 a share... - gamestop was now in uncharted waters. its share price had increased by 100 times since march. we have gamestop hitting $300 and $350, and there was even an after hours session when the market was closed, but you know, especially large institutions can still trade, where it hit $450! i bought in at around $330, a first share. so i was a latecomer. word got out there was a good chance the hedge funds and billionaires that got greedy, and bought those enormous short positions, were going to be completely ruined over this. and so, even if there was a smaller chance that i could have a direct impact on ruining some billionaire's life, i wanted in on it. steve huffman was looking on. he had the power to switch wallstreetbets off. was there any pressure on you to maybe lock down wallstreetbets? we faced that question, that literal question — is there pressure, should you do something? but our motivation, or what we were trying to do, our duty in the situation was actually the opposite, to keep wallstreetbets online. so we did take a closer look here, but really, we were making sure the community didn't break. because a lot of people were coming to reddit for that experience. with reddit keeping wallstreetbets up, it now seemed unstoppable. can i ask how much you lost in total? no, i mean... i think the fund was down approximately, i don't even know... 18%, 19% —18%, possibly. how much is that in cash terms? i won't discuss that. that figure is certainly in the millions, and likely the tens of millions. but then, something happened. 0ne but then, something happened. one of the biggest trading apps in san francisco made a crucial decision. it and other trading apps were happy for people to cell first macro shares, but the stricter people from buying them. == shares, but the stricter people from buying them-— shares, but the stricter people from bu inuthem. ,, , ., , ., buying them. -- gamestop shows. now the ma'ori buying them. -- gamestop shows. now the majority of — buying them. -- gamestop shows. now the majority of people _ buying them. -- gamestop shows. now the majority of people could _ buying them. -- gamestop shows. now the majority of people could not - buying them. -- gamestop shows. now the majority of people could not buy - the majority of people could not buy the majority of people could not buy the stock. the the majority of people could not buy the stock. . . the stock. the chief executive testified to _ the stock. the chief executive testified to congress - the stock. the chief executive testified to congress they - the stock. the chief executive l testified to congress they have the stock. the chief executive - testified to congress they have run out of capital to meet deposit requirements, or in other words, they were running out of money. irate they were running out of money. we do not they were running out of money. - do not answer to hedge funds. the millions of small investors use our platform is everyday to invest. then it basically started _ platform is everyday to invest. then it basically started falling back down — it basically started falling back down to — it basically started falling back down to earth and at first it fell back_ down to earth and at first it fell back to — down to earth and at first it fell back to the 200s, then 100s. the clue to robin _ back to the 200s, then 100s. tue: clue to robin had's back to the 200s, then 100s. tte: clue to robin had's branding is in the name. a trading app that self—reported's embo was to democratise trading had to sum protected the rich. tt democratise trading had to sum protected the rich.— protected the rich. it happened riaht in protected the rich. it happened right in front _ protected the rich. it happened right in front of _ protected the rich. it happened right in front of your _ protected the rich. it happened right in front of your face, - protected the rich. it happened right in front of your face, they j right in front of your face, they blatantly did it and no one could say anything, so that was when we were thinking 0k, we give brands and companies a voice all the time, let's try and give the little guy a voice for something we really are passionate about. you voice for something we really are passionate about.— voice for something we really are passionate about. you decided to fly lanes passionate about. you decided to fly planes over— passionate about. you decided to fly planes over robin _ passionate about. you decided to fly planes over robin hood's _ passionate about. you decided to fly planes over robin hood's offices - passionate about. you decided to fly planes over robin hood's offices in l planes over robin hood's offices in the bay area. irate planes over robin hood's offices in the bay area-— the bay area. we did. robin hood catchin: the bay area. we did. robin hood catching the _ the bay area. we did. robin hood catching the run _ the bay area. we did. robin hood catching the run of _ the bay area. we did. robin hood catching the run of this, _ the bay area. we did. robin hood catching the run of this, they - catching the run of this, they created that irony for themselves. they cashed in on the ground image of democratising trading and making it that the average man can participate and play in this much bigger game than typically they had been closed out of and as soon as the little guy starts to actually win at some chips at the table, they have to shut down the game. {line win at some chips at the table, they have to shut down the game. one of the thin . s have to shut down the game. one of the things that _ have to shut down the game. one of the things that came _ have to shut down the game. one of the things that came up _ have to shut down the game. one of the things that came up time - have to shut down the game. one of the things that came up time and . the things that came up time and time again when talking to amateur investors is how much they relieved the financial systems were rigged to benefit the rich. much of that seemed to stem from the 2008 financial crash.— seemed to stem from the 2008 financial crash. ., ., , ., financial crash. nothing was learned from 2008- — financial crash. nothing was learned from 2008- no _ financial crash. nothing was learned from 2008. no one _ financial crash. nothing was learned from 2008. no one was _ financial crash. nothing was learned from 2008. no one was held - from 2008. no one was held accountable, the banks were bailed out, i cannot get a job or afford housing at that point. i crashed at my friend's couch. you can kind of see on the posts, between the memes and the jokes, see on the posts, between the memes and thejokes, and the person see on the posts, between the memes and the jokes, and the person who see on the posts, between the memes and thejokes, and the person who is like this is for my immigrant parents, the people who bring to my dad's business in 2008. —— ruined my dad's business in 2008. —— ruined my dad's business in 2008. —— ruined my dad's business will stop it is not just socialists who think that. jordan was a vocal supporter of wall street bats. his financial crimes were characterised in the film the wolf of wall street. that is a real life wolf. wolf of wall street. that is a real life wolf. ., ., , ., life wolf. that was there at the time. he went _ life wolf. that was there at the time. he went to _ life wolf. that was there at the time. he went to prison, - life wolf. that was there at the time. he went to prison, but i life wolf. that was there at the - time. he went to prison, but claims now to be reformed. _ time. he went to prison, but claims now to be reformed. when - time. he went to prison, but claims now to be reformed. when i - time. he went to prison, but claims now to be reformed. when i got - now to be reformed. when i got indicted with — now to be reformed. when i got indicted with the _ now to be reformed. when i got indicted with the jail, _ now to be reformed. when i got indicted with the jail, never- now to be reformed. when i got| indicted with the jail, never once did it _ indicted with the jail, never once did it occur— indicted with the jail, never once did it occur to me that i was innocent _ did it occur to me that i was innocent i_ did it occur to me that i was innocent. i neverfelt did it occur to me that i was innocent. i never felt like i was persecuted, got what i deserved, trusted _ persecuted, got what i deserved, trusted the institutions that put me iniaii, _ trusted the institutions that put me iniaii, i_ trusted the institutions that put me iniaii, idid— trusted the institutions that put me injail, i did my time and i got out and i_ injail, ! did my time and i got out and i rebuiii— injail, i did my time and i got out and i rebuilt my life. most people today— and i rebuilt my life. most people today do— and i rebuilt my life. most people today do not trust the institutions that are _ today do not trust the institutions that are essentially netting out justice — that are essentially netting out justice. what what happened in 2008, and at _ justice. what what happened in 2008, and at the _ justice. what what happened in 2008, and at the end of the film at the bil and at the end of the film at the big short. — and at the end of the film at the big short, they say all the bad guys that went _ big short, they say all the bad guys that went to jail, just kidding, no one went — that went to jail, just kidding, no one went to jail. and we laugh and smack_ one went to jail. and we laugh and smack because we know it is true, it is not _ smack because we know it is true, it is not right — smack because we know it is true, it is not right -- — smack because we know it is true, it is not right. —— we smirk. i think you _ is not right. —— we smirk. i think you find — is not right. —— we smirk. i think you find a — is not right. —— we smirk. i think you find a lot _ is not right. —— we smirk. i think you find a lot of people right now, they know — you find a lot of people right now, they know it is not right. by you find a lot of people right now, they know it is not right.— they know it is not right. by early fab , they know it is not right. by early fabry. the _ they know it is not right. by early fabry, the share _ they know it is not right. by early fabry, the share price _ they know it is not right. by early fabry, the share price of - they know it is not right. by early fabry, the share price of a - they know it is not right. by early fabry, the share price of a first . fabry, the share price of a first macro was about a tenth of its market high and on the way down, people lost a lot of money. —— the share price of gamestop. casper shares were at one point worth around $1000, he sold a few but hang on to most of them, he said at a principal. 0n the way down, his shares increased in value by more than $6,000. t shares increased in value by more than $6,000-_ shares increased in value by more than $6,000. i could have made a little bit of — than $6,000. i could have made a little bit of money, _ than $6,000. i could have made a little bit of money, but _ than $6,000