Paul Tudor Jones: On Meme Stock Traders & The Meme Stock Phenomenon

In his latest interview on CNBC, Paul Tudor Jones was asked what he thought about meme stock traders and the meme stock phenomenon. Here’s an excerpt from the discussion:

Host: What do you make, you mentioned earlier, the meme stock phenomenon. The social media enabled group of people on Reddit and wallstreetbets. I know you think that it’s part of this larger inflationary issue I imagine, or stimulus, does it need to be stopped if you’re Gary Gensler, if you’re the Fed?

Tudor Jones: I would have raised… if I was the fed chair, I would have raised margin requirements two years ago. I would have said we’re going to experiment with an unproven, untried, negative real rate economic program. It’s going to encourage a lot of leverage. I’m going to raise margin requirements because I want to signal you need to be prudent.

Yes, we want asset prices to rises. We want to take risks and extend duration, but you need to be prudent in how you use your leverage and what you invest in.

Host: What do you make of the meme stock traders, many of whom would argue they’re doing what the hedge fund community has long done and that they’re sticking it to the man?

Tudor Jones: Listen, people can have whatever reasons they want to invest. Again, I consider myself very, very, very conservative. I probably would not be pursuing investment thesis’ they are. I don’t really trade individual stocks that much but for me, I want to have a sound investment basis, other than just necessarily running shorts in, or necessarily doing things simply because the fact it’s extraordinary and hasn’t been done before, and it’s working for a period of time.

I don’t think I’m smart enough at this point in time to judge whether they’re right or wrong. More power to them, I hope they succeed.

You can watch the entire discussion here: