The WSB forum was thrown into chaos.

Because the purchase of Herbalife stock had suddenly been blocked.

-Is HL buyable right now? Nothing happens when I click the button…

-I can sell, but the buy function is totally down.

-Someone report the missing buy button.

Even if people wanted to buy, they couldn't.

But there was something strange about this situation.

Fidelity and Vanguard are working fine?

—Also, aren’t those VIP-only brokerages that pay taxes for hedge funds?

What was notable was that the brokers where buying was halted were all the ones commonly used by retail investors.

Major brokers used by Wall Street whales were operating just fine.

-Whoa… They really blocked all the retail brokers.

-Are brokers seriously siding with the hedgies?

-Deleting the button is crossing the line.

-My vote’s on Ackman handing out bribes behind the scenes.

Retail investors pointed the finger at Ackman as the mastermind behind the incident.

And their instincts weren’t wrong.

Because Ackman was deeply involved in the matter.

Although it was a bit different from what they imagined.

***

The day before the incident, Ackman calmly gave instructions.

"Start buying out-of-the-money and evaluated put options. Split the order quietly, $500 million worth."

He dumped a massive volume of put options into the market.

Herbalife stock was already extremely unstable due to the short squeeze.

In the midst of that, the sudden flood of massive orders pushed key indicators up by 30% in an instant.

"This should trigger a circuit breaker."

Ackman’s prediction was spot on.

Before long, emergency alarms rang out from mid- to small-sized brokers.

"The clearinghouse just demanded an additional $2 billion in collateral!"

"What? Two billion?"

The mid-sized brokers were stunned.

While stock trades appear to settle instantly on screen, in reality, it can take up to two days to actually transfer the stock and cash.

And the party responsible for bearing the risk of failed transactions during that period is the clearinghouse.

However, even the clearinghouse couldn’t shoulder unlimited risk.

So they demanded a certain amount of collateral from brokers to ensure trade stability…

Ackman had targeted this very system.

Because of the massive amount of put options he generated, the clearinghouse's required collateral from brokers skyrocketed.

That’s why the mid-sized brokers screamed.

They didn’t have the ability to cover such massive collateral.

But at the same time, they couldn’t ignore the clearinghouse’s demands either.

Because the clearinghouse is the guarantor of the market.

"Come up with $2 billion immediately… How?"

The mid-sized brokers were caught in a dilemma.

If they couldn’t come up with the collateral, the clearinghouse would withdraw its guarantee.

And that meant all trading would be suspended.

So…

They were left with only one choice.

"Restrict trades on high-volatility stocks."

Soon, announcements like these were released:

E-Trade: Immediate restriction on Herbalife trading

AmeriTrade: Temporary trading difficulty due to volatility in certain stocks…

At four brokerage firms mainly used by retail investors, trading restrictions were announced one after another.

Upon hearing the news, Ackman gave a cold smile.

"Good. Just as expected."

Though, contrary to the retail investors’ claims, the brokers hadn’t conspired with Ackman.

Ackman simply understood the financial system better than anyone.

"I’ll use every means necessary to stop this runaway train."

Herbalife’s stock price was still rampaging like a runaway locomotive.

But Ackman believed that if he could remove the locomotive’s power source, he could stop it.

He identified three power sources.

First, momentum investors betting on a rising market.

Second, retail investors hoarding the stock.

Third, forces closing out their short positions.

Since he had already cut off the retail investors’ buying power, the next target was the short-covering forces.

Ackman approached funds struggling with margin calls and made a bold offer.

"If you hold out, I’ll provide liquidity support. On the condition that we share future profits, of course."

In truth, other small and mid-sized funds that had shorted Herbalife didn’t want to give up either.

They wanted to wait out the retail frenzy, but lacked the cash to endure the margin calls.

And now Ackman was offering to fund them?

There was no reason to refuse.

They accepted the offer without hesitation.

Ackman injected capital through swap contracts and direct investment, even acquiring an entire position from one small fund.

With that, the forces that had to urgently close out positions due to margin calls were gone.

Two of the runaway train’s power sources had already been eliminated.

"There’s no need to touch the momentum investors. They’ll drop out on their own. So, how’s it going?"

"For now… the immediate danger is gone. But…"

The portfolio manager's face was filled with worry.

"Herbalife currently accounts for 40% of our total assets. If this fails…"

Even Ackman’s financial resources had their limits.

This operation had put his entire portfolio up as collateral.

"If this plan fails… everything could collapse like dominoes."

If it failed, Maverick Investments would suffer irreparable damage.

However, Ackman’s eyes remained firm.

"You think I don’t know that?"

This was a battle for survival even for him.

But he had conviction.

"This madness can’t last. A bubble detached from performance will burst, without fail."

Herbalife’s current stock price had no relation to its actual value.

It was an abnormal price sustained purely by demand.

The true nature of Herbalife was that of a weak company under pyramid scheme suspicion.

There was no way such a speculative bubble could last.

"Now that I’ve taken away its fuel, it’s only a matter of time before it falls."

***

The market moved just as Ackman expected.

402.30…

374.23…

350.38…

Herbalife's stock price began to crash.

Because the two forces propping it up—retail buyers and short covering—had vanished.

But the speed of the decline was alarming.

-The chart looks like a cliff lol

-Who pressed the elevator button?

-The stock is bungee jumping… but without a cord…

There was a reason for this.

The momentum traders, who had been closely tracking Herbalife’s trend, caught the signal of its decline.

‘It’s over.’

‘Well, we’ve made enough off this anyway.’

Without hesitation, they started realizing their profits, and the flood of sell orders pushed the stock price into an endless plunge.

Even retail investors could quickly notice what was happening.

-Institutions are dumping their shares, aren’t they?

-They’re all on Ackman’s side, lol.

This came right when suspicions were already swirling that brokers had taken bribes from Ackman to block purchases.

And now, institutions seemed to be selling off in perfect coordination, as if they’d all agreed on it.

Doubt turned into anger.

-Institution: “Hello? Big bro Ackman? Of course we’ll help~”

-Did they all get the same mass text or something?

-Now we’re seeing the real face of the Wall Street cartel.

-That timing, though. Did they rehearse this or what?

-If this isn’t stock manipulation, what is?

But.

Regardless of the curses flying around, the sell-off continued.

154.34…

112.29…

105.23…

The stock was now even threatening to fall below the $100 mark.

Panic-stricken, retail investors sprang into action.

-Emergency: $100 defense battle now in progress!

-Short interest still at 40%. Squeeze potential: not dead yet.

-Here’s a list of brokers still allowing purchases.

-The first squeeze was a warm-up. The real fight starts now.

-Their weapons: money, power, brokers. Ours: diamond hands + holding. Let’s see who wins.

But the outcome was disappointing.

204.13…

205.94…

No matter how much they bought, the stock price got stuck at the $200 level.

The reason was clear.

Herbalife’s surge hadn’t been fueled by retail buying alone.

The effect had been amplified by momentum traders jumping onto the rally.

Now that the momentum had left, retail strength alone wasn’t enough to lift the price.

To make matters worse, the composition of short positions had also changed.

There were no longer any players being forced to close out in a panic due to margin calls.

Even after a day or two, the stock price remained stagnant.

Retail investors began to slowly realize the truth.

That the tide had already turned against them.

And they knew exactly what had caused it all.

The halt of buying transactions.

Is this market really being run by a single word from Ackman?

Blocking buying is just absurd. It’s like holding a royal flush in poker and being told, “Your only option is to fold.”

-Where did brokers’ conscience go? We pay the fees, but hedge funds get to make the trades?

-Lawsuit incoming, lol.

Some retail investors immediately began preparing for a class action lawsuit.

But even the brokers had their own grievances.

In truth, they hadn’t had much choice.

[We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience… The trading restrictions were an unavoidable decision due to extreme market volatility and lack of liquidity.]

Mid- and small-sized brokers simply didn’t have the capacity to handle this level of volatility.

It was like a circuit breaker.

Just like power cuts off when there’s an overload, Ackman’s massive orders had triggered a liquidity overload that shut down their systems.

But this explanation only poured fuel on the fire.

-Lol, so liquidity issues only affect retail investors?

-A circuit breaker designed to kick out only small investors, lol.

-Broker: Our system is weak… but VIPs are still good to go.

Of course, there was a reason behind it.

Major brokers were built to withstand high volatility from the start.

They had much higher capacity thresholds.

But retail investors rarely used these big platforms.

Their interfaces were too complex, being geared toward professionals.

Only small brokers had made efforts to simplify the UI for retail users.

But no one knew that.

So no explanation could calm the fury of the retail crowd.

Their arrows of blame now turned from brokers to regulators.

-Why do regulations exist? Isn’t this exactly the kind of thing they’re supposed to stop?

-@SEC You gonna let this blatant market manipulation slide?

-We know you’re lurking right now.

-How many laws do they have to break before the SEC shows up?

But the regulators were in a bind too.

What Ackman had exploited was ultimately the ‘capability gap' of smaller brokers, and there wasn’t a clear legal basis to punish that.

Moreover, it wasn’t easy to conclusively label his put option strategy as ‘intentional market manipulation.’

Any investor with a short position would reasonably hedge with puts in anticipation of increased volatility.

So while Ackman’s tactics walked the razor’s edge between legal and illegal…

There just wasn’t enough evidence for definitive legal action.

Thus, all the SEC could offer was a vague response.

[We are closely investigating the situation and reviewing necessary measures.]

This passive stance utterly betrayed the expectations of retail investors.

-He paid off the SEC too, didn’t he?

-SEC’s workday: clock in, close eyes, check Ackman’s texts, close eyes again, clock out.

-“Free market” = Freedom for the top 1%.

-The law exists only for retail to follow, huh?

Why Wall Street always wins: because they can rewrite the rules in real time.

Now, their anger was laced with deep helplessness.

Even after witnessing a blatant case of market manipulation in broad daylight, it seemed that neither the law nor the government would act.

-So in the end, only Wall Street got richer.

-Project: drain retail investors to fatten Wall Street – complete success.

-Ackman maxed out his vampire skill tree.

At this point, the winner of the battle was clear.

Ackman and Wall Street.

During the Herbalife stock surge, Wall Street’s momentum funds reaped enormous profits.

They bought in at $45 and cashed out at $400. Even the slowest ones exited around $200.

But the retail investors?

Caught up in the fervor of the ‘Break the 1%’ movement, many had bought in at over $300, believing it would go to $1,000.

And they were still holding on to those shares.

Yes, still just holding them.

And as long as they held them, the anxiety would only grow.

-So… should we keep holding?

-If you give in to FUD, you lose. Diamond hands!

-But like… does this even look like it’s going to $1,000? Looks more like all the brokers’ servers will crash at $900.

-Before that, the SEC will “protect investors” and shut it down.

-It was a rigged game from the start. We were just suckers here to lose money.

Had their rebellion already failed?

They wanted to hold on longer, if only to land a punch on the 1%.

To prove that their conviction hadn’t been in vain.

But reality was harsh.

The enemy was too powerful, and wasn’t afraid to use tactics beyond imagination.

And even with blatant manipulation, there was no consequence.

The law and the government weren’t on their side.

‘Still… should we keep holding?’

To these retail traders, $200 or $400 was a fortune.

And the only reason they had poured that money in was to witness Wall Street’s surrender.

But that dream now felt impossibly far away.

Herbalife’s chart, narrowing in volatility, hinted that their momentum had already hit its limits.

‘So we’re going to lose in the end?’

‘Is it time to give up?’

The retail crowd needed a hero.

Someone who could lead them to victory, even if Ackman had all of Wall Street on his side.

Even if law and government stayed silent before such underhanded tricks.

Just then, watching from the sidelines, Ha Si-heon raised the corner of his lips.

“Looks like it’s finally time for me to step in.”