How Memestock Traders Responded to Mockery From the Government

In one SEC video, a phony game-show contestant (“Brad”) chooses the category “Meme Stocks.” He’s blasted by the wrong-answer buzzer and his money falls through a small trap door. Then he’s slapped in the face with a pie. “Things like this just further galvanize these diamond hands,” one redditor wrote. “There’s no way the US Government does shit like this unless they know we’re right.” Another replied: “Like, are they TRYING to get me to buy more?” On FinTwit, Lisa Braganca, a former SEC regulator turned crypto-startup defense lawyer, said she was was “disappointed” to see the agency “disparage investors” in memestocks as generally thoughtless. Firing back at SEC chair Gary Gensler’s account, Braganca added, “How about a video about dark pools,” referring to private exchanges that conduct anonymous trades outside the public markets they compete with.