Everyone Thinks They’re Warren Buffett Just Before the Stock Market Bubble Pops
Every day trader feels like a genius when the stock market gets this glutted. | Source: Johannes EISELE / AFP
- A sports gambling podcaster-turned-day trader is canceling Warren Buffett.
- The millionaire internet celebrity gloated over airline stock gains Tuesday.
- But a gut-check correction to stock prices, poor decision-making by an amateur day trader, or even just bad luck could cancel Dave Portnoy’s gains.
Move over, Eminem. Day traders are killing people in their lyrics too. Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy just killed Warren Buffett while playing some strange Wall Street version of the dozens.
He said:
You know what I find funny though. The people on the internet who are debating who the better investor is right now. Myself or Warren Buffett. It’s no debate. I mean, it’s no debate. I killed him. He’s dead. He’s dead.
Portnoy gave Buffett his proper respect before continuing with the bluster:
He’s a hall of famer. One of the best ever to do it. No doubt. He’s old and he’s washed up. I’m the new breed. I’m the new generation.
Okay, cool it there, AOC.
A Celebrity Sports Betting Blogger Turned Day Trader
Bashing Warren Buffett isn’t the first time he’s made waves this year.
You may have heard of Portnoy recently after he sold Barstool Sports for $450 million to a casino company in January. The sports blog, which started in 2003, reportedly generated $90 million in revenue last year. Most of it came from podcasts, merch, and gambling deals.
Even more recently, Portnoy made a viral video going ballistic at suggestions that lockdowns should remain in place until a virus cure is found.
He earned the praise of Elon Musk , and an informal nomination for the sports podcaster to run for public office. Incidentally, Musk recently told Joe Rogan he isn’t the biggest fan of Warren Buffett .
But instead of running for mayor of Los Angeles, Dave Portnoy jumped into day trading in a stock market that hasn’t been so volatile in a decade . He was looking to stay in business with the lockdown blocking his way in sports gambling.
But he wasn’t beating his chest in April. He was down $647,000, he said at the time .
Now he’s trash-talking the indisputable all-time historical heavyweight investing champion Warren Buffett.
Just soak in that euphoria. Do you feel that woo woo energy? That’s a sign of an equities bubble right there. Every day trader feels like a genius when the stock market gets this glutted.
Portnoy went on to say:
There’s nobody who’s going to argue that Warren Buffett is better at the stock market than I am, right now.
The pause and then the qualification, “right now,” give this part a surreal, unintentional mockumentary quality, as if Portnoy is clowning on himself and other traders. That clip could age disastrously for Portnoy. We’ll see how the future unfolds.
Warren Buffett Has Seen All This Before
In another video, Portnoy makes an ironic boast during a profanity-laced rant. After listing off his gains in airline stocks, and gloating over Warren Buffett, who sold all his airline stakes this year, Dave says:
Unbelievable. All I do is make money… Literally the easiest game I’ve ever been a part of. Up, up, up, up up. I’m just printing money.
Well, that’s not exactly true, but it’s almost true. He’s not printing money, but he’s getting his face blasted with the money the Federal Reserve’s printing.
And he’s riding the wave of excitement from casual investors around a narrative of pandemic bargain stocks , which is another sign of an equities bubble nearing peak asset prices.
Warren Buffett understood the pitfalls of this mentality before Dave Portnoy was even born:
Investors behave in very human ways, which is they get very excited during bull markets. And they look in the rearview mirror. And they say, I made money last year. I’m going to make more money this year. So this time I’ll borrow. Or the neighbor says, you know I wasn’t in last year when that neighbor who was dumber than I am made a lot of money.
And described how this herd mentality leads to stock market bubbles:
And when they look in the rearview mirror, and they see a lot of money having been made in the last few years, they plow in, and they just push and push and push on prices.
Dave Portnoy and day traders are playing checkers, while Warren Buffett is playing chess. When the bubble bursts, they’ll respect the Oracle.
Disclaimer: This article represents the author’s opinion and should not be considered investment or trading advice from CCN.com. Unless otherwise noted, the author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.
