Popping S(h)ells - Hunting for Vulns in the Stock Market

Saturday, July 13, 2024: 12:00 pm (Tobin 201/202): Blaming short sellers for your GameStop shares cratering is so 2021. In this talk, Eric will explore how market manipulation actually works. After first getting through some math and strategy, the ta...

Saturday, July 13, 2024: 12:00 pm (Tobin 201/202): Blaming short sellers for your GameStop shares cratering is so 2021. In this talk, Eric will explore how market manipulation actually works. After first getting through some math and strategy, the talk will take a deep dive into how stock exchanges are built. He'll talk about assumptions made in designing markets, and show how those design assumptions create vulns that bad actors can exploit. Finally, the presentation will break open the SEC archives and walk through past cases of real market manipulation. You'll learn why the schemes worked and how those involved got caught. The audience will come away from the talk with a new appreciation for late-stage capitalism, a deeper understanding of how markets work, and (hopefully) sufficient discouragement against trying this at home.

Eric Bryce