A Wall Street Genius’s Final Investment Playbook

Chapter 179

"Retail investors’ interest in short selling is soaring to unprecedented levels."

Surprisingly, the person presiding over today's meeting was none other than Gonzalez.

He apparently asked Dobby directly and had the order switched.

"Social media is currently filled with memes like these."

An image appeared on the screen.

An orca hunting a seal on the ice.

Two speech bubbles hovered above it.

[Ackman: Our stock is stable]

[Sean: Then I’ll make it unstable for you]

Gonzalez swiftly flipped through the screen, showing a series of similar memes.

[What happens when Ha Si-heon declares a short]

[Wall Street: Analysis]

[Retail investors: Whip out the glow sticks]

Next, a flood of social media posts appeared.

The 1% who’ve long ignored our voices—now let’s talk through short selling.

#ShortSellingWar #OrcaTaskForce

– You raise the drug prices, we lower the stock. Fair, right?

#MarketJustice #DownWithThe1Percent

– For the grandmother who lost everything in 2008

#NeverForget #DownWithThe1Percent

– Short-term profit is not the goal. We’re sending a message.

#JusticeServed #DownWithThe1Percent

Soon, statistical data appeared on the screen.

"In the past five days, small-scale put option volume has surged 310%. Also, according to AmeriTrade data, new account openings this week have increased by 38%, with a high percentage choosing ‘Valeant short’ as their first trade…"

There was a strange spark in Gonzalez’s eyes, usually half-asleep.

But honestly, I was a bit disappointed inside.

‘The firepower is weaker than I expected.’

By today’s standards, those numbers weren’t bad…

But having witnessed the true power of a retail army in the future, it didn’t feel very impressive.

‘Still too weak compared to the GameStop-level impact?’

The GameStop incident.

It was a legendary moment in financial history—when retail investors pushed back against hedge fund short selling and delivered a crushing blow to Wall Street.

To summarize:

In 2021, GameStop, an outdated offline game retailer, was on the verge of bankruptcy, unable to adapt to the digital age.

Seeing an opportunity, hedge funds rushed to short it…

Unexpectedly, retail investors stepped in and disrupted the plan.

Short selling is an investment strategy that profits when stock prices fall.

So, to stop short selling was simple.

‘Drive the stock price up.’

Retail investors started buying in groups, and GameStop's stock, once only $20, soared past $500.

As a result, many hedge funds suffered massive losses…

It was the moment when Wall Street elites were defeated by the ‘retail rebellion.’

Of course, there were more complex stories behind it.

But for me, this event mattered for one reason.

It was a rare case where individual investors—retail traders who were always ignored—successfully thwarted hedge fund shorts.

‘I was hoping to replicate that in advance…’

In a short selling war, the most important factor is ‘forces.’

But if the battle is confined within Wall Street, the overwhelmingly famous Ackman has the upper hand.

Therefore, like the GameStop incident, I needed the power of the public.

And there was a small problem with that.

It was currently November 2014.

‘There are more practical limitations than I thought.’

Retail investors could go up against hedge funds in 2021 for two main reasons.

First, commission-free trading platforms.

With platforms like Robinhood, which had no fees and easy options trading, retail investors could jump in effortlessly.

But in 2014, Robinhood was still in its beta testing phase.

To short or trade options with traditional brokers, you had to go through tedious approval processes.

Second, a rallying point for retail investors.

In 2021, Reddit’s WallStreetBets (WSB) forum was what united retail investors.

Back then, WSB had over six million users.

Now, it barely had ten thousand.

So to properly harness retail firepower, I had to solve both of these problems.

One, make the public willing to go through the hassle of trading.

Two, turn WSB into a spotlighted space for the masses.

But—

‘Well, it’s not that hard.’

The orca itself was already drawing huge attention.

Above all… a perfect stage had just presented itself.

“Are you sure about today’s broadcast…?”

At that moment, Dobby’s worried voice interrupted my train of thought.

“You’re going head-to-head with Ackman.”

***

I had previously presented two reasons for my short position.

Revenue hit and regulatory risks.

Ackman calmly began dismantling my arguments one by one.

“The claim that a boycott would damage revenue is exaggerated.

The consumer product line Sean mentioned accounts for only 10% of Valeant’s total revenue. The remaining 90% comes from prescription drug sales, which are unaffected by boycotts.”

He backed up his point with concrete figures and moved on.

“The possibility of government regulation is also unlikely.

There’s no existing law that regulates drug prices. Valeant complies strictly with all legal procedures, so the chance of regulatory enforcement is very low.”

That part was true.

Objectively speaking, the political world only acted for show to appease the public.

The odds of actual regulations being passed were slim.

Anyway—

Ackman’s strategy became clear.

‘He’s targeting only the institutions.’

He planned to persuade institutional investors and hedge funds, who acted based on numbers and logic.

It was a rational approach.

But if I responded with the same logic and facts?

To be blunt, I would lose.

So I needed a completely different approach.

‘Emotion.’

If the battle was only within Wall Street, emotional appeals would backfire.

But the force I was trying to draw in was the public.

And the public is moved more by emotions than by logic.

All right, let’s begin.

“So in the end, you’re saying there’s no revenue loss, no legal risks, and you’ll just keep profiting? Ignoring the cries of consumers and continuing to exploit rare disease patients? Sounds like you’re proudly sticking to the 1% playbook.”

I took the moral high ground, no matter what.

Facts aside, the key was to frame it as, “You’re in the wrong.”

Then, Ackman once again began to counter with specific figures and rational arguments.

"You keep using the phrase ‘exploiting rare disease patients,' but that’s not factual. Our pricing strategy is a necessary measure to stimulate the market. Just look at the case of Cerezyme. It’s a treatment for Gaucher’s disease that was initially criticized for its high annual price of $300,000, but that profitability attracted two more pharmaceutical companies into the market, ultimately increasing the overall supply of the treatment.”

“If market activation had truly been your goal, there would have been many other ways. For example, you could’ve invested in R&D for customized medications. But Valeant has never once invested in such so-called ‘market activation.’ In the end, wasn’t the whole rare disease market activation just an excuse to monopolize treatments and make massive profits? That’s exactly the way of the 1%.”

It was quite amusing to see the irritation flicker in Ackman’s eyes every time I mentioned the "1%."

‘Hits the nerve just right.’

A typical Wall Street villain wouldn’t care, but Ackman was different.

He seemed to genuinely believe he was an ethical person.

He even had a foundation named after himself and had taken a pledge to donate.

So when I kept attacking that sense of morality, it was only natural for his nerves to fray.

After about twenty more mentions of the “1%,” I finally got the reaction I wanted.

“That’s enough.”

“What is?”

“Stop provoking the public by bringing up the 1% again and again. That’s inappropriate language.”

For the first time, he had started to speak in terms not of ‘logic’ and ‘facts’—but of ‘right and wrong.’

“I can understand you trying to sway public opinion. But Sean, you’re emphasizing the 1% to incite individuals to engage in short selling, aren’t you?”

“Me?”

I pointed to myself with the most innocent expression I could muster.

Ackman frowned and continued.

“Short selling should be handled only by investors who have the capability to analyze risk accurately. Pulling uninformed members of the public into this is extremely irresponsible.”

“I’ve never once urged individual investors to short sell.”

Yeah, I hadn’t said anything like that.

They just moved on their own.

“But repeatedly bringing up the 1% and saying everyone must act to stop immoral corporations—it’s obviously inciting them, isn’t it?”

“The 1% was mentioned in a completely different context. You used insider information that only the 1% has access to, didn’t you?”

“As I’ve already explained, that wasn’t insider information. The two parties are treated as one entity under the agreement, and—”

“Yes, yes, I know. But even if it’s not legally an issue, the fact remains it’s still a privileged method only accessible to the 1%. The public isn’t joining in to support me—they’re acting out of resentment toward the 1%. So shouldn’t you be looking to yourself, Mr. Ackman, as the root of this issue?”

After shutting him up, I quickly shifted my expression and looked into the camera with concern.

“However, separate from the issue of responsibility, short selling is risky for ordinary investors. If it goes wrong, it comes with serious financial and psychological burdens. So please, even if you support me, I ask that you not recklessly jump into short selling.”

I spoke in the most serious and concerned tone I could manage.

Of course, I already knew exactly what kind of impact this kind of statement would have on the public.

Humans have a tendency to want something even more when they’re told not to do it.

So, it wouldn’t hurt to add one more taboo into the mix.

“Especially recently, the WallStreetBets forum on Reddit has seen a rapid surge in activity. This is very dangerous, and I sincerely ask you not to be swept up by such incitement. Please make wise decisions.”

***

The effect of Ha Si-heon saying “don’t do it” was more powerful than expected.

He said it was dangerous, and yet…

‘Why, though?’

When you say something like that, people naturally start wondering what exactly is so dangerous.

Countless viewers who had been watching the broadcast swarmed into Reddit out of curiosity and typed “WallStreetBets (WSB)” into the search bar.

Despite Ha Si-heon’s repeated warnings not to go there—

‘Just looking should be fine, right?’

Most of the viewers weren’t people who would normally engage in risky investing anyway.

More than half couldn’t even be bothered to go through the trouble of opening a new brokerage account, and so hadn’t joined in on this issue at all.

But what they saw in the world of WSB shocked them to their core.

The first word they encountered there was “YOLO (you only live once).”

Under the motto “you only live once,” they were welcomed into a culture of betting entire life savings.

Some of the WSB maniacs didn’t just risk everything on insane odds—they live-streamed every moment of it.

[YOLO’d entire $80K student loan on put options]

[Tried to diversify like they said, and tanked all five ways]

—Devotion to losing money every possible way… respect

—Top-tier loss porn, thank you

—Unmatched transparency. This kind of dedication is the true WSB spirit!

—Welcome to the working class now, buddy

— See you at Wendy’s

‘What the hell is this?’

Normal people couldn’t comprehend it.

Betting your entire fortune on insane odds, bragging about it, laying bare your failures, and receiving encouragement and sympathy for it—

But in WSB, this was all normal.

Daring risk was something to be respected, and losses were just part of the journey.

Even the act of losing money was turned into comedy—it was how they honored fellow adventurers.

‘This is insane.’

Of course, no ordinary person would seriously consider joining such madness.

But…

They couldn’t bring themselves to turn the screen off either.

Watching crazy people in action was just too entertaining.

‘Just watching should be fine.’

But the biggest topic of conversation in this space?

Ha Si-heon.

Many were YOLO betting on shorts, following his lead.

And this time, the bets weren’t just typical YOLOs either.

They came with a sense of “justice”—a vow of revenge against the 1%.

—Maxed out credit card to buy $VX puts. Time to stop the 1%’s greed

—Took out a secret mortgage behind my wife’s back. Going all-in. One last punch to Wall Street

—Shorting with my fiancée’s ring money. Plan A: take down the predators. Plan B: couple job at Wendy’s

These people weren’t expecting huge profits.

They had hope, but in this place where extreme-loss investing was the norm, losses happened far more often than wins.

But then something unexpected happened.

Valeant’s stock actually dropped 18%, and these insane YOLO bets started hitting the jackpot.

Trusting the orca, a Colombian family’s life savings turned into 4x in just 3 days: $25,000 → $98,000

—Sorry, professor. I shorted with my grad school tuition. But now I can even go for a PhD, lol. Sean’s opening doors to education

—A just reward taken from an evil pharma company: $45,000 → $189,000. First time beating Wall Street

— Mortgage YOLO win! +$220K. I bet the house on $VX—literally—and now I could buy a second house, lol

As post after post bragging about profits poured in, something quietly began to stir in the hearts of the onlookers.

They’d only planned to watch from the sidelines…

But now, a little thought began to creep in.

‘Wait a second, could this…?’

Could this be an opportunity?

Ha Si-heon was already famous for his incredible accuracy.

So the short position he declared… might actually be a massive opportunity.

‘A once-in-a-lifetime chance!’

And with that…

The most dangerous human emotion began to take hold.

FOMO—fear of missing out.

That intense fear of losing the chance of a lifetime.

People cautiously began convincing themselves.

‘Maybe I should try… just $500…?’