Online Trading Academy (OTA) is excited about the conversation coming out of last week's GameStop and WallStreetBets story.  

The radical price move caught the world by surprise and introduced a new phrase into the mainstream news..." the Short Squeeze".  Despite the new awareness of this condition, the short squeeze is not a new thing.    It's actually a strategy that's been used by Wall Street for years according to instructors at Online Trading Academy.

The company's education is rooted in supply and demand.   They believe that retail investors can't outsmart the market but can learn from the market price action to determine when there is a depletion of buyers or sellers.  They use the patterns created in price action to identify potential investment opportunities.

"We don't see this as us versus them as many people are claiming today.  This isn't the little guy taking down Wall Street. The price will move up or down no matter who's behind the trade, whether that be a large institution or a group of small investors, or retail traders."  Said Larry Jacobson, Senior Director of Instructor Development.  "Our students understand that there is a ceiling and a floor.  When you run out of buyers, as we saw last week, the price came crashing down.", he added.

OTA's Director of Portfolio Services, Todd Davis added, "While what happened with GameStop could be an anomaly, what this does do is expose so many new investors and traders to the strategies used by Wall Street Professionals.  It also shows how many people really lack the skills and tools to invest." 

"New students at Online Trading Academy often lack a basic understanding of fundamental concepts like shorting and risk management.  Many simply don't know how to protect themselves when price whipsaws like that." 

"Too many new investors are guessing.  They're buying based on news articles," added Jacobson. "Things like zero-dollar commissions, online platforms, and follow-me social trading apps have created a flood of new investors and traders.  We think that's great.  We just want to make sure they have the knowledge and tools before risking their own money.  In some cases, their life savings."

The Reddit Trading Group story created a lot of questions and conversations. Who's right? Who's wrong? What's legal? What's not? Who is in control? What matters to Online Trading Academy is that questions about the financial industry are earnestly being asked, and OTA is standing by to help provide the answers and the education.

About Online Trading Academy:

Online Trading Academy (OTA) is a world leader in financial education for people who want to build skills and confidence for trading and investing in the financial markets. OTA's proprietary and step-by-step Core Strategy methodology teaches strategies designed to help traders and investors make smarter decisions aligned with their short-term and long-term financial goals.  Students learn from knowledgeable instructors, in an interactive classroom setting with extensive online education resources and a next-generation education, analysis, and trading platform called CliK.  The courses are geared toward individual investors or traders, novice or experienced, who want to learn how to use techniques similar to professional traders on Wall Street. Founded in 1997 at a single location in Irvine, CA, Online Trading Academy has since expanded to more than 40 worldwide education centers and has served over 80,000 students with access to lifelong education who have rated their satisfaction at 94.4% from more than 200,000 post-class exit surveys.  It all starts with a free introductory class.