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8 Times Retail Traders Did Something Amazing

Need a little brightness in your day? Whether we’re talking about thousand-dollar donations to food banks, tables-full of video game consoles for a children’s hospital, or the largest quantity of individual donates to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in history, these 8 instances of retail traders doing something positive with their stock market gains should put a smile on your face.

By Justin Nugent · March 2, 2023

8 Times Retail Traders Did Something Amazing

The stock market can be a cold place. Most people outside of the stock market view trading as gambling, or as something that could only help the rich get richer. When you succeed, “you got lucky”, and when you fail, “well did you know 90% of day traders fail!” (A trope beginning in the 90’s that has been repeatedly disproven).

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And if you’re trading meme stocks — forget it. The level of dismissal from people who “know what they’re talking about” is absurd. Hedge fund managers who deploy thousands of analysts just to scrape for 3% year gains will balk at the gains you’ve achieved from holding shares of a company you believe in. That’s how we get articles like this one:

*Sourced from* *this FastCompany article.*

The writer goes on to reference how other bubbles, like the supposed “bowling stock bubble of the 1960’s,” did lead to good and “help” people…

“The bowling-stock bubble led to more bowling alleys being built across America.”

More bowling alleys? Thank god.

But not the meme stock rally. The article wraps up with this assertion:

“The meme-stock bubble, though, has no real legacy […] It’d be nice to think that, at the very least, the bubble bursting taught traders not to make reckless gambles on crappy companies, but it didn’t. Look at Bed Bath & Beyond. It may be about to go bankrupt, but its stock? Retail traders taking a wild gamble have driven it up 100% in the past three days. Some people never learn.”

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Rather than picking apart the argument on display in this article, we’re going to take the positive route. Here are 8 times that meme stock investors and retail traders used their gains for good or made a lasting impact in someone’s life (even their own). (All images sourced from r/WallStreetBets)

8 Times Retail Traders Did Something Amazing

On 2/20/21, one retail trader gave his or her GME gains to give back to the community — in the form of a $5,000 donation to the Northwest Harvest Food Bank. We’re sure that the recipients of that food wouldn’t agree with this statement from the aforementioned article above:

“Unlike other bubbles, meme-stock mania didn’t really help anyone.”

2. $RKT Trader Uses 6-Figure Gains to Afford Wedding

Giving to charity is an incredible act of service – but that shouldn’t dismiss the impact of making a life-changing purchase for you and your loved ones. That’s something that this trader knows all-too-well.

3. Trader Pays Off House With Short-Squeeze Gains

Homes are typically a 30-year commitment. This trader was able to shorten that commitment with help from gains accrued over the course of just two months.

4. Trader Celebrates the Birth of his Second Child With 6-Figure Profits

This trader will certainly have more time to spend with his new budding family.

5. Gamestop Meme’ster Uses Profit to Pay Off Student Loans

Profits don’t have to be astronomical to make a change in someone’s life. This retail trader escaped their student loans with gains accrued from just 77 shares of GME.

6. GME Trader Donates $5,000 to Children’s Hospital

There are very few causes more noble to donate to than a children’s hospital. This trader’s donation surely put a few well-deserved smiles on a few less-fortunate children.

7. GameStop Trader Donates Table Full of Consoles and Games to the Children’s Hospital of Atlanta

Not to be outdone by the last donation, this trader donated thousands of dollars of Gamestop gear to the local children’s hospital, including 10 Nintendo Switches, 15 new games, and a bag full of accessories.

8. Apes Together Strong — “Apes” Donate Thousands to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund

One major charitable act that casts dispersion directly into the face of the “meme stocks were good for nobody” narrative from the article above is the massive donation spree cast upon the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. What started as a rallying cry for retail traders to “hold the line” — “apes together strong” — became a powerful movement that helped create a better life for actual, real-life apes.

Donations Continue

For a moment, everywhere you looked on the popular options trading subreddit r/wallstreetbets became a post about the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

Donations to Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Reach $77K

The donations didn’t go unnoticed by the charity. After just a few days, meme traders had donated more than $77,000 to the fund.

**Conclusion: Meme Stocks Did Help People, After All**

Looking back on the short squeeze trades from yesteryear, it’s clear — doing the right thing just feels good. Meme stocks clearly helped many people to pull themselves and others out of a hard spot — whether we’re talking about a 4-figure donation to a food bank, or a table full of brand new consoles for a children’s hospital, or the largest quantity of individual donations in the Dian Fossey Fund’s history.

After all, many people who traded GME during its heyday weren’t just blindly following trends. They were simply traders who took a calculated risk, and it paid off.

Did you know: Days before GME began its first meteoric rise, Jon Najarian publicly announced that he saw unusual bullish call buying in the stock.

Curious how you can get in on the next short squeeze trade or meme stock miracle before the rest of the market? Check out Unusual Option Activity to get started today.

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