Decentralized finance (commonly referred to as DeFi ) is an experimental form of finance that does not rely on central financial intermediaries such as brokerages , exchanges , or banks , and instead utilizes smart contracts on blockchains . DeFi platforms allow people to lend or borrow funds from others, speculate on price movements on a range of assets using derivatives, trade cryptocurrencies , insure against risks, and earn interest in savings-like accounts. Some DeFi applications promote high interest rates , but are subject to high risk. By October 2020, over $11 billion was deposited in various decentralized finance protocols, which represented more than a tenfold growth during the course of 2020. As of January 2021, approximately $20.5 billion was invested in DeFi.
Robinhood app restricts stock purchasing as regulators express worry.
A trading firm owned by hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin has played a quiet but critical role by executing orders for customers of Robinhood and other online brokerages.
Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman suggested Wednesday that her exchange could halt trading activity for stocks to enable investors to "recalibrate" in the event they were targeted by internet users.
Pet supplies entrepreneur Ryan Cohen has been buying up GameStop stock to help spark a turnaround at the brick-and-mortar video game retailer, feeding a frenzy among retail traders who are expecting big gains.
Highly shorted stocks are being targeted by some investors trying to force people who have bet the prices will fall into covering. Watch Dillard’s and AMC Entertainment.
A bull is a stock market speculator who buys a holding in a stock in the expectation that in the very short-term it will rise in value whereupon they will sell the stock to make a quick profit on the transaction. Strictly speaking the term applies to speculators who borrow money to fund such a purchase, and are thus under great pressure to complete the transaction before the loan is repayable or the seller of the stock demands payment on settlement day for delivery of the bargain. If the value of the stock falls contrary to their expectation, a bull suffers a loss, frequently very large if they are trading on margin . A bull has a great incentive to "talk-up" the value of their stock or to manipulate the market in their stock, for example by spreading false rumour, to procure a buyer or to cause a temporary price increase which will provide them with the selling opportunity and profit they require. A bull must therefore be contrasted with an investor , who purchases a stock in expectation of a medium-term (say 5 years) or long-term increase in value due to the underlying performance of the company and its assets . The speculator who takes a directly opposite view to the bull is the bear , who speculates on a stock decreasing in value, having sold short . A bull market is a period during which stock market prices rise over a sustained period, therefore to the advantage of bulls.