a scumbag hedge fund manager shorted some gamestop stock hoping the company would go bankrupt. So he borrowed shares and sold them at a price. He then started talking shit on GameStop to lower the price. Once he lowered the price, he could then buy all the borrowed stock he sold for cheaper, give it back to whoever he borrowed from and end up making money by doing nothing basically.
reddit took offense to that because they’re a bunch of autistic nerds so they started buying up a lot of stock once they saw it shorted. This meant there was a lot of demand for GameStop stock so the price went up. Now, that hedge fund manager needs to buy all the stock he sold because he borrowed it, but this time he has to buy it for a lot more money than he sold it for.
robinhood is what people use to trade stocks but they’re also owned by the company who owns the hedge fund managers finances so they didn’t want to see the stock go up, therefore they froze trading for GameStop and other stocks that were shorted, making the price drop again. That is pretty fucked up and massive market manipulation.