Investing legend Jack Bogle once said that “if you have trouble imagining a 20% loss in the stock market, you shouldn’t be in stocks.”
He didn’t mention anything about a 2,000% loss though.
That’s where 1R0NYMAN comes in. The anonymous trader/internet hero created a stir on Reddit earlier this month with this absolute corker of a trade .
It’s called a box spread, a four-sided options strategy billed, in theory, as a riskless arbitrage play using call and put options. In this case, it started with a $5,000 “investment” executed through Robinhood, a no-commission trading platform.
Check out The Options Guide’s detailed explanation.
Clearly, 1R0NYMAN figured it was a slam dunk.
“I have no money at risk,” he responded to those questioning his approach in Reddit’s raucous “Wall Street Bets” group. “It literally cannot go tit* up.”
Famous last words.
Even one of the group’s moderators pleaded, “DO NOT DO THIS,” pointing out the potential downside. But that didn’t stop 1R0NYMAN. In fact, he apparently managed to withdraw $10,000 before it all hit the fan. And hit the fan it did.
A few days and some unforeseen twists later, he shared the results:
So, almost $58,000 in losses and the account gets shut down. This debacle was red meat for the “Wall Street Bets” crowd, as the memes poured in:
Here’s a video summary of the whole thing:
For perhaps a more serious take on what happened, here’s one Reddit user’s attempt at breaking it down in simple terms.
“He bought 4 different types of options that gave him a $300k credit. At the end of expiration, like 2 years from now, he would’ve collected $40k or $50k. The way he bought it was set up like a hedge, so it didn’t matter if the stock went up or down because he had options that covered him no matter what. But then 283 of those options were exercised by the guy on the other end of his trade meaning he had to come up with 28,300 shares of that stock which he didn’t have. I guess then Robinhood took the liberty of exercising his call options to pay for the options that got exercised from him and then it was just a whole sh*tshow after that.”
Robinhood, the investing app that came under fire for the clumsy rollout of its cash management accounts last month, decided soon after that it would no longer allow the trading of box spreads.
“A box spread is an options strategy created by opening a call spread and a put spread with the same strike prices and expiration dates,” Robinhood wrote. “Box spreads are often mistaken for an arbitrage opportunity, however, they have hidden risks that could lead to losing much more money than expected.”
Robinhood didn’t immediately respond to questions as to whether it has any responsibility for allowing such outsize risk on such a small account.
As for 1R0NYMAN, he’s ready to get right back in the ring.
“Stay tuned for the comeback tour,” he wrote this week.
