The XRT DOOM LOOP
If you want to understand the real dynamic of GameStop acquiring eBay, you have to look at the ETF basket they are both trapped in.
1. The "Basket" Paradox
For years, hedge funds and market makers have used ETFs like XRT for "operational shorting". Instead of shorting GME directly (which is expensive and risky), they exploit the ETF creation and redemption process to short the entire XRT basket and strip out the stocks they want to keep.
This allowed them to synthetically dump massive selling pressure onto GameStop while hiding the true size of their short position inside the ETF wrapper.
But here is the problem: eBay is one of the top holdings in that exact same basket.
2. The Arbitrage Nightmare
Remember the structure of GMEโs $56B proposal? 50% Cash / 50% GME Stock.
Because GME is using its own equity to buy eBay, the stock prices of GME and eBay are now mathematically linked.
3. The Forced Reconciliation
When the merger completes, anyone who is short XRT owes the lender the exact equivalent of that eBay payout ("half cash, half stock").
For the shorts they hedged: Their long eBay position converts to GME shares, which they hand over to the XRT lender. These balance out.
For the millions of synthetic/naked shorts: They don't have enough long eBay shares to cover the difference in GME shares. But they still owe the XRT lender the distribution payment.
Because they owe the lender GameStop shares to settle the eBay portion of the XRT ETF, the short sellers will be forced to go onto the open market and BUY GameStop shares to deliver them.
4. The Ultimate Bear Trap
This means the acquisition is a forced share recall disguised as a merger.
By targeting the largest, most fundamentally cash-flowing asset inside the very ETF basket used to short the company, the structure of the merger forces short sellers to fund their own demise.
They used XRT as a weapon against retail. Now, RC is using it to swallow eBay whole.
$GME $EBAY $XRT
I have enormous confidence in AMC and the 2026/2027 box office. So today, using my own money, I bought 250,000 more AMC shares personally, at market price.
I now own outright 2,437,020 AMC shares, raising the total where I have an economic interest to 12,322,429 AMC shares*
It actually can be very hard for a CEO of a public company to buy shares. You have to clear having possession of any material non public information, sort out implications of any ongoing debt and equity transactions, and not be in a quiet period before when earnings will be announced. I was finally in a position to buy even more AMC shares today, and I did.
As I said, I have great confidence in AMCโs future. So, again today, I put my money where my mouth is.
This brings my holdings up to 12.3 million shares* of AMC common stock. My understanding is that I have been, and now even more so I remain, AMCโs biggest individual retail investor.
I should probably mention that I have not sold even a single share of AMC stock since January of 2022, more than four years ago.
I RIDE WITH YOU !!!
โ-/////โ/////โ-
(*For precision: this includes AMC shares I already own, and those which previously have been granted to me as part of my annual compensation and which will vest based on length of service and at target levels of performance over the next thirty three months, on a pre-tax basis.)
You know what
Iโm restarting the $500 to $10,000 challenge.
I want everyone to have a fair shot at this.
Last time it took me about 7 days, will try to do it faster this time.
If you want to follow along, RT + comment โjoinโ below
Going to lock comments in 24 hours
You used to sell stuff on eBay.
Maybe an old camera. Maybe Beanie Babies. Maybe a coat that didn't fit.
You paid a small fee. The buyer got the thing. Everyone went home.
That eBay is gone.
The website looks the same. The logo is the same. The 135 million buyers are still there.
But the company isn't really a marketplace anymore.
It is an advertising business with a marketplace attached for distribution.
Last year, sellers paid eBay $2 billion just to make sure their own listings showed up.
Read that again.
The board calls this growth.
A Canadian who runs a video game store called it something else.
Here is what actually happened.
In 2020 the board hired a new CEO. His name is Jamie Iannone. He arrived with a strategy called focused categories.
In plain English, that means leaning into the stuff people pay extra for. Sneakers. Watches. Trading cards. Auto parts.
The everyday seller, the person with the camera and the coat, was no longer the customer.
The customer was now the seller who would pay to be seen.
In 2025 eBay did $80 billion in transactions. They kept $11 billion of that as revenue. Of that $11 billion, $2 billion came from advertising.
Sellers paid them $2 billion to promote listings on a website those sellers already pay fees to use.
That is the growth story.
In the same year, the number of enthusiast buyers, eBay's own term for their best customers, was 16 million.
It was also 16 million the year before.
And the year before that.
And the year before that.
Four years. Zero growth. They mention this on every earnings call without mentioning it.
So what does a company do when growth stops?
It buys back its own stock.
In 2025, eBay returned over $3 billion to shareholders. Most of that was buybacks. In February the board authorized another $2 billion on top.
Buybacks shrink the share count. Earnings per share goes up even when earnings stay flat. The stock price follows.
The stock was $68 a year ago. It is $108 today.
The company did not improve. The denominator got smaller.
Then a man from Canada noticed.
His name is Ryan Cohen. He runs GameStop. He started his career selling pet food online and sold it to PetSmart for $3.35 billion.
He looked at eBay. 135 million buyers. $80 billion in transactions. Real margins. Real cash flow. A board harvesting the business instead of running it.
He bought 5% of the company through derivatives and stock.
Then on May 4, he offered to buy the rest. $125 per share. $56 billion total.
On May 12, the eBay board rejected the bid. They called it not credible.
The math is credible.
What the board means by not credible is we would have to explain why we sold.
Then Cohen went on Piers Morgan.
He said eBay is run by a bunch of losers with perverse financial incentives.
He pointed out that eBay's CEO has been paid $144 million over six years.
He pointed out that he personally takes no salary and has put $128 million of his own money into the company he runs.
You do not have to like Ryan Cohen to notice he is making a point that is hard to argue with.
eBay used to be a place where regular people sold things to other regular people.
Now it is a $48 billion company whose largest growth driver is charging its own sellers to advertise to a buyer base that stopped growing four years ago, while spending billions a year buying its own stock to make the chart go up.
The board calls this strategy.
A video game CEO from Canada called it what it is.
The market is now waiting to see who else agrees.
Plz fix. Thx.
Sent from my iPhone
You used to sell stuff on eBay.
Maybe an old camera. Maybe Beanie Babies. Maybe a coat that didn't fit.
You paid a small fee. The buyer got the thing. Everyone went home.
That eBay is gone.
The website looks the same. The logo is the same. The 135 million buyers are still there.
But the company isn't really a marketplace anymore.
It is an advertising business with a marketplace attached for distribution.
Last year, sellers paid eBay $2 billion just to make sure their own listings showed up.
Read that again.
The board calls this growth.
A Canadian who runs a video game store called it something else.
Here is what actually happened.
In 2020 the board hired a new CEO. His name is Jamie Iannone. He arrived with a strategy called focused categories.
In plain English, that means leaning into the stuff people pay extra for. Sneakers. Watches. Trading cards. Auto parts.
The everyday seller, the person with the camera and the coat, was no longer the customer.
The customer was now the seller who would pay to be seen.
In 2025 eBay did $80 billion in transactions. They kept $11 billion of that as revenue. Of that $11 billion, $2 billion came from advertising.
Sellers paid them $2 billion to promote listings on a website those sellers already pay fees to use.
That is the growth story.
In the same year, the number of enthusiast buyers, eBay's own term for their best customers, was 16 million.
It was also 16 million the year before.
And the year before that.
And the year before that.
Four years. Zero growth. They mention this on every earnings call without mentioning it.
So what does a company do when growth stops?
It buys back its own stock.
In 2025, eBay returned over $3 billion to shareholders. Most of that was buybacks. In February the board authorized another $2 billion on top.
Buybacks shrink the share count. Earnings per share goes up even when earnings stay flat. The stock price follows.
The stock was $68 a year ago. It is $108 today.
The company did not improve. The denominator got smaller.
Then a man from Canada noticed.
His name is Ryan Cohen. He runs GameStop. He started his career selling pet food online and sold it to PetSmart for $3.35 billion.
He looked at eBay. 135 million buyers. $80 billion in transactions. Real margins. Real cash flow. A board harvesting the business instead of running it.
He bought 5% of the company through derivatives and stock.
Then on May 4, he offered to buy the rest. $125 per share. $56 billion total.
On May 12, the eBay board rejected the bid. They called it not credible.
The math is credible.
What the board means by not credible is we would have to explain why we sold.
Then Cohen went on Piers Morgan.
He said eBay is run by a bunch of losers with perverse financial incentives.
He pointed out that eBay's CEO has been paid $144 million over six years.
He pointed out that he personally takes no salary and has put $128 million of his own money into the company he runs.
You do not have to like Ryan Cohen to notice he is making a point that is hard to argue with.
eBay used to be a place where regular people sold things to other regular people.
Now it is a $48 billion company whose largest growth driver is charging its own sellers to advertise to a buyer base that stopped growing four years ago, while spending billions a year buying its own stock to make the chart go up.
The board calls this strategy.
A video game CEO from Canada called it what it is.
The market is now waiting to see who else agrees.
Plz fix. Thx.
Sent from my iPhone
๐จ AMC JUST CHANGED THE GAME ๐ฟ
๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐+ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐ฑ
Not recordings.
Not livestreams.
REAL TIME concerts where fans across the country experience the SAME show TOGETHER. ๐คฏ
๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ญ ๐ฌ๐๐ข๐
โ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐โ ๐๐คฃ
Artists can even react to the crowd energy from AMC theaters LIVE.
Think about how insane this is:
โข No $2,000 concert tickets
โข No cross country flights
โข No terrible seats
โข Recliners + giant screens + surround sound
โข Nationwide live events inside AMC theaters
First artists include:
Bebe Rexha
Paris Hilton
Kim Petras
Maren Morris
AMC Theatres is building the future of entertainment. The shorts are not ready
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐
๐จ AMC JUST CHANGED THE GAME ๐ฟ
๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐+ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐ฑ
Not recordings.
Not livestreams.
REAL TIME concerts where fans across the country experience the SAME show TOGETHER. ๐คฏ
๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ญ ๐ฌ๐๐ข๐
โ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐โ ๐๐คฃ
Artists can even react to the crowd energy from AMC theaters LIVE.
Think about how insane this is:
โข No $2,000 concert tickets
โข No cross country flights
โข No terrible seats
โข Recliners + giant screens + surround sound
โข Nationwide live events inside AMC theaters
First artists include:
Bebe Rexha
Paris Hilton
Kim Petras
Maren Morris
AMC Theatres is building the future of entertainment. The shorts are not ready
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐
Today, AMC Entertainment announced our best first quarter results since 2019. In just 3 months, our Adjusted EBITDA was up a breathtaking $96 million year over year.
And we reaffirmed how optimistic we are about a growing industry-wide box office for the remainder of 2026.
I AM OFFICIALLY RESTARTING THE $1,000 TO $1,000,000 $SPX 2026 SUMMER CHALLENGE NEXT MONDAY! ๐ธ๐๏ธ
IโM GOING TO RESTART AND LET EVERYONE FOLLOW MY EXACT TRADES FOR COMPLETELY FREE IN A PRIVATE X GROUP CHAT! ๐ฆ โ๏ธ
LIKE, REPOST, & COMMENT โ$SPXโ TO BE ADDED! โค๏ธโ๐ฅ
YOU MUST BE FOLLOWING ME TO JOIN! โข๏ธ
At this point, its beyond a doubt that GME and AMC are heavily manipulated. Today GME Darkpool percentage was elevated. AMC's had days in the last few months where off exchange was almost 90%.
I'm not looking for an echo chamber. I know they are both rigged prices and the SEC is doing nothing. The CEO's of both companies are doing their own things and the day to day stock moves are not relevant to them.
I know all this. I will post about the day to day, doesn't mean I'm saying this is it. Just that the trading is unusual. Yesterday, AMC had high call options activity. Me posting about 7 cent price surge apparently was enough to motivate over a dozen troll attacks.
Today, not so much. Only blocked one person. But keep coming, make your pointless attacks on me. I don't lose much blocking you, since you, for the most part, are not using verified accounts.
Attacking me just because I post a graph with GME up slightly and attributing to a delayed Burry effect. I don't care. I may or may not eb right. Yes, the broader market was up as well. But don't tell me Burry doubling his position didn't impact sentiment. That's a block. Tell me something useful with your critique, I will like your reply and maybe repost it. My ego isn;t fragile. I just hate the lazy troll energy on X.
๐จBREAKING: ~90% of ALL $AMC TRADES SENT OFF-EXCHANGE TODAY
๐ฆRetail investors buy the stock
โณ๏ธMarket makers internalize the orders
โDemand never hits the lit market
Nothing about this is natural!
BUYING ON "COMMISSION FREE" BROKERS IS NOT FREE, ALLOWS MM'S TO INTERALIZE ORDERS, AND TRADE-AHEAD OF YOU!
โก๏ธ@LITXCHANGEAPP FIXES THIS
STOP WHINING AND INVEST IN A BROKERAGE STARTUP THAT WILL ROUTE YOUR TRADES TO LIT MARKETS, AVOID PFOF, AVOID DARKPOOLS, AVOID WHOLESALERS LIKE CITADEL/VIRTU
REMOVE THEIR ABILITY TO NAKED SHORT IN THE NAME OF "LIQUIDITY"
REMOVE THEIR ABILITY TO MINIMIZE YOUR GAINS AND MAXIMIZE THEIR PROFITS
REMOVE THEIR ABILITY TO CREATE PHANTOM SYNTHETIC SHARES THAT DILUTE THE FLOAT
OR QUIT FUCKING WHINING ABOUT ITโผ๏ธ
ONLY YOU CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE - YOU ARE THE HERO OF THIS STORY!
YOU.
BECOME A FOUNDER OF๐ฅ@LITXCHANGEAPP IF YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO HELP FIX THESE PROBLEMS
Read this again and
really let it
๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ค ๐ข๐ง.
Almost 90% of AMCโs trading didnโt even happen on the public market.
On Friday 3/6/26
๐๐.๐๐% ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐โ๐ฌ ๐๐.๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ
were routed through dark pools and offexchange venues at one point nearly hitting 89.5%.
๐๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ค ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ.
That means only about 1/10 shares was actually allowed to influence the real price on the lit exchange.
How is a stock supposed to discover its true value when the overwhelming majority of trading is happening in the dark? ๐๐๐๐
Itโs been immediately compared it to Cinemark where offexchange trading was only ๐๐.๐๐%.
So ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ง this:
๐๐ก๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ค ๐ฉ๐จ๐จ๐ฅ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ซ?
Retail investors are tagging, demanding answers from @PaulAtkinsOG and AMC @CEOAdam Aron.
Because this doesnโt look like normal trading.
It looks like price discovery being buried.
๐๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐๐ค ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐๐ญ $๐.๐๐, ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐%, ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ yet almost all of that action happened ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ญ ๐๐๐งโ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ.
Dark pools were created for large institutional trades.
But when nearly 90% of a heavily retail owned stock trades in the shadows, people start asking the obvious question:
Is the price realโฆ
And weโre supposed to believe this is a fair market?
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐๐งโ๐ญ ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ค.
Have you sold your shares of @AMCTheatres stock?
Ran this poll on YT and found that majority of people held and bought more, while many just held.
Very few people sold. Interesting.
Bookmark and Repost for better data and circulation!
This is real news. Announced yesterday. AMC AND NETFLIX
โNetflix, the worldโs largest streaming service, and AMC Entertainment, the worldโs largest theatre chain, have jointly decided to work together.
ย
This new cooperation will start this Halloween weekend. AMC will show Netflix's most-popular movie in its history, KPop Demon Hunters. It will play on approximately 400 AMC screens across its theatres in the U.S. and Europe.
ย
While the two companies have not had a commercial relationship in recent years, both Netflix and AMC are intrigued by the mutually beneficial opportunities that could arise from this and future collaboration.ย
ย
Discussions are underway as to what that may entail, but no further details are being shared at this time.โ
๐จ This is why AMCโs price wonโt move!
๐ 81.7% of AMC trades are happening OFF-EXCHANGE = Darkpools where Wall Street hides buying pressure from public markets
When retail investors buy, those trades donโt hit the open exchange - so the price barely moves even when demand is huge.
These hidden venues let big firms control the price and delay true market movement
The result?
๐คArtificial prices that donโt reflect real supply and demand
๐ฅ https://t.co/vGgHLowg1u is changing that.
Every trade hits a lit exchange automatically = transparent, visible, and fair.
๐ก When trades happen in the light, prices move right.
๐ซ No Dark Pools
๐ซ No Payment for Order Flow
๐ซ No Bullshit
Thatโs how we fix the market for the 99% ๐๐
@LitXchangeApp๐ฅ - The world's 1st and only stock & crypto brokerage startup made for retail, owned by retail
AMC stock = 10/27/2025