'We're going to change the market': 5 ordinary people who took on Wall Street and won | CBC Television (2024)

Wall Street seemed like a world reserved for the few, the rich and the powerful. But when online communities of ordinary people banded together in January 2021, strength in numbers shook the North American financial market to its core.

Investing in the same few companies, they sent underdog stocks on a breathtaking climb. Shares of GameStop, a declining brick-and-mortar video game retailer, and AMC Theatres, a movie theatre chain struggling amidst a global pandemic, soon became a battleground between working-class investors and the financial elite. It was David versus Goliath, media said, and a power struggle over who really controls the system.

Wall Street Blues, a documentary from The Passionate Eye, features some of the ordinary people behind the extraordinary story, including a college student living in a van; an immigrant who invested most of his life savings; a baker who initially thought it was all a joke; an artist who became obsessed; and a former marine who ultimately refused to sell his shares.

Some invested just to make money, some were seeking a greater purpose. The one thing they shared was a wild ride on Wall Street.

Here are some of their thoughts, collected from the documentary. (Their quotes have been edited and condensed for clarity.)

Joe Fonicello

Living in a van and travelling the U.S. with his girlfriend, he jumped on the GameStop rocketship just as it was taking off. With his profits reportedly exceeding $250,000 US, he was able to move to Southern California and start his own business.

It wasn't until I was living in the van that I decided to look at social media more for potential investments versus just entertainment.

We were travelling. I was looking for new ways to make money on the road. I went on WallStreetBets. I went on Reddit. I went on Twitter. I was looking for the next stock.

There are 10 to 20 other GameStop investors, and [we were] all incredibly bullish on the company. We believed in this company when nobody else did. We looked at the balance sheet.… We did our due diligence. So I slowly dwindled in my entire savings, putting everything in.

Probably the scariest week of my life but also the most exhilarating.- Joe Fonicello

Once GameStop blew up in January of 2021, there were hundreds of thousands of people talking about it on Twitter…. We had this small, tight-knit community of investors and now suddenly the world's talking about it.

Everyone's perception of money changed. The small community that invested alongside me in GameStop all ended up seeing returns of 1,000 to 2,000 per cent or more. It's like, "Wow, this is way more than you could make actually being productive in society." [It] messes with your brain a bit. Like, it's tough to accept a day job.

I think people are learning more and more about their trades on social media. But it's tough to foster a productive discussion because you end up with misinformation and it becomes a bit of an echo chamber. It's tough to know what sources to trust, and it's certainly scary.

Justin Niklaus

When this baker first heard about people buying up GameStop stock, he thought it was a joke. But as he watched its value climb, he made the leap and invested, later cashing out $115,000 US.

I didn't really have much background with Reddit. But WallStreetBets was just like the Wild West. It was unbelievable.

GameStop — a company that's, in the middle of a pandemic, selling physical games. Off the top that sounds like a bad investment…. [But] sure enough, I look at the ticker and it's going up. And I drank the Kool-Aid.

It went up 100 per cent every few days. So when you wake up, you're giddy. I mean, it's like Christmas every day. I was surprised, shocked that this actually worked.

I was expecting maybe, you know, a 20 per cent return. By the time it was all over, it was up … let's say, conservatively, 500 per cent.

But it's not life-changing money for me…. I mean, I was up a considerable amount of money and not once did I think that I'm not going to get out of bed and come down and make some bread.

The profits that I did take, I mean, gave me a bit more disposable income — money that I can spend on relaxing. We've had a really good year, my girlfriend and I. We've made some trips. We went to Switzerland and got engaged.

Sorah Suhng

A comic book artist living in Pennsylvania, she put money in the market but admits she "freaked out" early and bailed. As a result, she didn't make much money, but she says some of her friends made "a pretty penny.

[I] just put in what I could, and I was able to jump in — but with tech, with social media, with the apps … it was weirdly addictive.

I could tell while I was doing it that it was not good for me. Like, I could not pull myself away.

My friends and I were just glued to our phones, invested, and we talked about it non-stop. You're swept up into the motions of it, and you become obsessive just watching it.

But when you're investing like that, emotionally, you have to hope that everyone else is investing in the same positive intent that you share. And so you're watching those numbers because when it goes in your favour, that means the people are on your side.

No, [I won't keep investing]. I have stuff to do. I've got books to write. And so my takeaway was I can't be involved in the day trading. It's absolutely too volatile for my personal well-being and my personal mental health.

Luis Serrano

An immigrant from Venezuela living in Miami with his wife, he invested almost 80 per cent of his life savings into the market in early 2021 — roughly $30,000 US. His profits reached "around six figures," enough to open a cafe and tea shop that he hopes can become a franchise in Florida.

[After investing our savings,] it was one of the hardest weeks, psychologically, I've ever had.

It's crazy how you could just open up your phone, [after] you only have had, like, three hours of sleep, and then you're $400,000 up.

Nerves is what killed me. Like, I would puke every time. I would not eat, you know, and that caused a lot of mental stress. It was really, really traumatizing in a way, but you were getting money.

[My wife] saw how detrimental that was for my mental health, and she was like, "I couldn't care less if we get a million dollars, Luis. Like, we're good [with] whatever we have right now. And the money isn't worth your mental health."

I got involved between these two feelings: I want to make money but, at the same time, I really want to make a change in the financial world.

Like, [if] I'm going to keep believing in the American system, then I have to make sure that in the future that system is going to play fair for everyone.

Mike Mynar

An army veteran living in rural Tennessee, he took notice of the shocking rise of GameStop and became an active investor in AMC Theatres. At its highest point, his shares were worth $300,000 US, but he didn't sell.

I didn't [start] investing until I was 40, when reality kicked in. And so I started finding communities online, learning about how stocks work…. All these different terms. I had no clue.

I continued to research and talk to people. I decided to take everything I had in my retirement account … sold everything off, and really just starting plunging deeper and deeper into AMC.

We don't [invest] for a living, but it became a movement. It became a passion … the majority of people I know and I surround myself [with], they're looking at it as much, much more [than just making money].

Retail [investors] own 80 per cent of AMC shares. Four million owners. And to think [it brought people together] and agree on saving that company — that, to me, is more than just making money.

When I got into investment, I started out with $200, and I built my account up to about $28,000 of AMC shares. At the high point, that little account of $28,000 turned into $300,000.

But as I believed in the community, I didn't sell a single share…. I'm not selling my shares. For me, it's an honour thing — an integrity thing. Even at $92,000 or whatever it is right now, currently, is huge. But yeah, to see $300,000 like that … that was surreal.

[Investing] became more about, "Wow, we're going to change the market."

I think we all believe it's going to be one of the greatest shifts of wealth the world's seen, to be honest with you.

Watch Wall Street Blues on The Passionate Eye.