We provide evidence that the online discussion on the WSB subreddit had a substantial negative impact on the profitability of shorting strategies across a number of stocks -- even those that were neither heavily discussed on the subreddit, nor experienced an unusual increase in retail buying...

"We present a model in which some investors are prohibited from using leverage and other investors' leverage is limited by margin requirements. The former investors bid up high-beta assets while the latter agents trade to profit from this, but must de-lever when they hit their margin...

"We present a model in which some investors are prohibited from using leverage and other investors' leverage is limited by margin requirements. The former investors bid up high-beta assets while the latter agents trade to profit from this, but must de-lever when they hit their margin...