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This is Financial Advice

This is Financial Advice on HackerTube: recommended by 9 Hacker News commenters across 7 separate months, 2023–2026.

Folding Ideas

documentary · evergreen

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Dan Olson's long Folding Ideas video on the GameStop meme stock phenomenon, its online community and the conspiracy thinking around it. It runs over two hours.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Recommended as a thorough, sober critique of meme-stock culture and a good starting point whenever GameStop news appears.

people recommended it
9
separate months
7
strong recommendations
3
discussed on HN
2023–2026
“I would highly recommend "This is Financial Advice" by Dan Olson to anyone not already familiar with the community.”
— richbell, Jun 2024, in “GameStop stock influencer Roaring Kitty may lose access to E-Trade, report says”

What HN commenters said

12 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

richbellJun 2024Strongly recommends

> If that is the case half of the superstonks subreddit would have to be charged. You could make a compelling argument that they should be. Superstonks doesn't just post their positions. They, too, try to manipulate the market by hyping up GME. I would highly recommend "This is Financial Advice" by Dan Olson to anyone not already familiar with the community. ▶ this video

in “GameStop stock influencer Roaring Kitty may lose access to E-Trade, report says” · View on HN

eroppleMar 2024Strongly recommends

The newfound hype around DRS arises as a meme directly out of the Gamestop crankfest/fever-dream. It is harmless, but also meaningless; equities are not any more "yours" because of undertaking the timewaster of DRS and the concept is in current discourse as a shibboleth for membership in weird fin-cult silliness, which is exemplified really well in the parent poster's link to breathy, red-Arial-on-black "Central Bankers" fearmongering. Dan Olson covers it effectively in "This Is Financial Advice", which is a sober and well-researched drubbing of the meme-stock culture from which this nonsense comes. Worth watching in its entirety, both for entertainment value and for its thorough treatment of the subject. ▶ this video (If you want to see a real-life BSOD, get one of these people into a corner and ask them how equities are going to survive the "market collapse" they magically-think is right around the corner, regardless of method of registration.)

in “What I wish I knew about ESPP and RSUs sooner” · View on HN

foobiekrJan 2024Strongly recommends

Dan Olson covers NFTs very solidly in "Decentraland is a dead mall" ( [link] ) and "Line Goes Up" ( [link] ). Both as well worth watching. Since this is also about GameStop specifically, his "This is financial advice" video addresses the GameStop cult, and to a lesser extent the bizarre cult around GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen, really well: ▶ this video Also, cue some apes/NFT investors coming in to ask "why do you care about my money?" and other oft-repeated talking points.

in “GameStop Ends NFT Marketplace, Is This Beginning of the End?” · View on HN

surgical_fireMay 2026Recommends

Apologies. Maybe you just came out of a coma that spans half a decade and is unaware of the events surrounding GME stock. It's a bit of a rabbit hole, but this is a good place to start: ▶ this video

in “GameStop Preparing Offer for eBay” · View on HN

kentmMay 2026Recommends

For more information, see Dan Olsen's "This is Financial Advice." ▶ this video Its a few years old, but gives you some perspective on the weird cult that has been built around GME.

in “eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible” · View on HN

axpvmsMay 2026Recommends

They have an entire library regarding their "due diligence" by the way It's pre-ChatGPT, so people actually wrote all this out (they are reddit posts disguised as books) [link] Also an fun long form video for anyone interested ▶ this video

in “eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible” · View on HN

Show 6 more comments
monroewalkerJul 2024Recommends

I'm sure you're already aware of the general consensus around how speculative cryptocurrency and meme stocks are but it's worth repeating that this is a very dubious approach. On GME specifically, this is a good documentary to watch: ▶ this video I think it's worth it for you to consider reducing your allocation to these even if you have strong conviction in their long term success. If you do 25% GME/crypto and 75% index funds (or target retirement) then you're still going to be doing extremely well if these assets take off as hoped for but you'll be much better off in the alternative and less surprising scenario where they don't

in “Ask HN: Where do you keep your 401k investments?” · View on HN

jcranmerMay 2024Recommends

I thought I knew how bad it was, and then I saw Folding Idea's video on the post-crash meme stock phase here: ▶ this video So, apparently a lot of the people who are still holding onto the stock have engaged in full-on apocalyptic cult insanity. They're under the delusion that the "Mother of All Short Squeezes" hasn't happened yet, and that when it will happen, it will be an absolute financial calamity, as literally all Gamestop stock will be held by "true" holders [1], who can therefore extort any price from the short sellers desperate to buy the stock back to cover the short squeeze, causing the price to hit millions of dollars per share, allowing the true holders comfortable retirement as billionaires. It really is an apocalyptic cult mindset, people seeing themselves as the sufferers who will receive redemption in the imminent apocalypse as their (currently more successful foes) receive absolute punishment at the same time. Although even compared to most apocalyptic prophecies, this one is particularly far-fetched: the means of deliverance is extremely vague, with the closest hint of an idea is essentially that the Big Bad who is currently oppressing them will somehow turn around and reward them handsomely for their perseverance (usually stated with some amount of cognitive dissonance--you get the sense that the adherents don't really believe this, but they need to justify deliverance somehow and there's no better option than this). [1] There's a belief that most of the shares

in “GameStop rockets, as 'Roaring Kitty' returns; shares halted” · View on HN

kiernanmcgowanApr 2024Recommends

This is Financial Advice (2023) is also excellent - ▶ this video Its about the fallout of the memestock craze and where the community ends up.

in “Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made” · View on HN

jcranmerMay 2024Cites it

Folding Ideas (of Line Goes Up and In Search of a Flat Earth fame) had a video on the Gamestop meme stock here: ▶ this video Apparently, the people still holding Gamestop have devolved into absolute insanity, somehow believing that the Mother of All Short Squeezes hasn't happened yet, and they need to hold on for dear life to perpetuate the short squeeze, which will cause absolute financial calamity as the Federal Reserve will pay those people millions of dollars per share to bail out the hedge funds. These are the people who are helping to prop up the share price.

in “GameStop shares soar 110% and are halted as trader 'Roaring Kitty' resurfaces” · View on HN

noveltyaccountOct 2023Cites it

This probably isn't what you want, but this summarizer tool can give you a written version of the video. ▶ this video

in “This is Financial Advice [video by Folding Ideas]” · View on HN

netsharcOct 2023Cites it

One of the video's conclusion from 2:14:27[1] - 2:18:03 is chilling, "the illusion must be defended at all costs, because the illusion is all that is.". He does call it outward-facing performance, but I'm not so sure if it's not also inward-facing, I think there are many "unhinged" out there who'd rather live in (and defend) the fantasy world rather than accept reality. Accepting reality would mean admitting they've been conned (or even, fooled themselves), that they're not as smart as they thought they were (because in their view: what smart people get conned?), and many of them have too fragile of egos to admit that, and would rather emotionally lash out rather than go down that "shameful" path of self-evalution when challenged. Throughout the whole video I'm reminded of the Game Designer’s Analysis Of QAnon[2], where people are thrilled about connecting dots and finding hints where there are none intended. To delve into politics, there are also many unhinged who put their hope of a better life, some of them probably did so first into Obama (Obama himself has said in his post-presidency book, he found it worrying when running in 2008 that people were putting their dreams and hopes into him), and some of them, when they found their lives hadn't gotten better in 2016, probably thought "Well, Hillary will be more of the similar, and Trump promises greatness (again), what the hell do I have to gain for voting 'similar', and what the hell do I have to lose for voting 'greatness

in “This is Financial Advice [video by Folding Ideas]” · View on HN

Topics & tags

Gaming culture & analysisInvesting & personal financeInternet culture & memesgamestopmeme stocksconspiracy theoriesonline communitiesinvesting