When tweets cause stock market prices to crash
No time right now?
One tweet from Elon Musk is enough to make stock prices shoot up or down. He’s not the only Twitter user with such power over the stock market. These tweets caused significant losses.
“I kinda love Etsy”: Somebody like Elon Musk doesn’t have to tweet much more to get a lot of movement on the stock market. The Etsy share has meanwhile given Musk a double-digit increase. In a financial world that is spinning ever faster, social media posts that are unceremoniously are often the trigger for profits – or losses. How fast it can go is shown by the recent hoax about the death of Elon Musk. This means that the Tesla boss has once again become the focus of twitter-related price fluctuations, albeit this time unintentionally. Another example on a growing list.
Contents
- 1 Did Kylie Jenner shoot down Snapchat?
- 2 When Donald Trump was still tweeting
- 3 Hillary Clinton against the pharmaceutical industry
- 4 Tweets with a signal effect
- 5 Fake news as a danger for investors
- 6 “Send me your bitcoins! Best regards Elon Musk “
- 7 Twitter remains an important source of information for shareholders
Did Kylie Jenner shoot down Snapchat?
Over 200 million followers on Instagram and 38 million on Twitter: what influencer Kylie Jenner posts reaches more people worldwide than the public statements made by most politicians. It’s easy to imagine the reactions it triggered in the Snapchat headquarters when Jenner asked in a tweet whether anyone would still use Snapchat at all.
sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me … ugh this is so sad.
– Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) February 21, 2018
When Jenner decided to send another tweet afterwards with the message that she actually still thinks Snapchat is good, it was too late. $ 1.7 billion late to be exact. Although it was later revealed that it was still enough other reasons for the crash of the Snapchat share and the user numbers had not changed relevantly after the tweet – a debate about the great influence of celebrities on the stock market was triggered.
When Donald Trump was still tweeting
Donald Trump and Twitter: It was a love affair that ended in disaster. On the way there, Trump also repeatedly influenced the world’s stock exchanges with his short messages. After Trump temporarily ended the negotiations for further corona aid with a (no longer available) tweet, Dow Jones and Nasdaq responded immediately.
The Dow after the President’s tweet saying no COVID relief talks until after the election pic.twitter.com/Ypnzyc52Vs
– Michael Del Moro (@MikeDelMoro) October 6, 2020
For the purposes of classification, however, it must be noted that a press release by the President in the traditional way would have produced a similar reaction with a high degree of probability. Trump’s Twitter channel also had a major impact on the stock market, regardless of whether his team’s messages were believed or not. For example, his son Erik Trump tweeted in 2020 what a great time it was to buy stocks only to delete the tweet some time later. Because if his tweet had an impact on the markets, then a very negative one.
Hillary Clinton against the pharmaceutical industry
The Democrats have long been using Twitter as a tool for political announcements of great significance. Hillary Clinton announces on the platform, for example, that he wants to take action against overpriced drug prices.
Price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous. Tomorrow I’ll lay out a plan to take it on. -H https://t.co/9Z0Aw7aI6h
– Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 21, 2015
Although at that point nothing was fired at, Clinton’s plan wasn’t even in place, the biggest losers were on the Nasdaq the next day all biotech companiesthat could have been affected by possible policy measures.
Tweets with a signal effect
Of course, tweets can also have a very positive impact on stock prices. However, this upswing can be short-lived if it turns out that a completely different company was actually meant in the corresponding tweet. This happened in January of this year, when investors sent the fake Signal stock soaring. Elon Musk is a real influencer for share prices – if you follow his recommendations, you should make sure that you read his tips correctly.
Fake news as a danger for investors
Was Barack Obama injured in a White House explosion? This hoax upset the world in 2013. Although the report turned out to be a fake by hackers within a very short time, share prices plummeted anyway. American stocks lost momentarily 136.5 billion euros in value. The courses then recovered; however, the example shows how quickly the markets react to tweets and other social media posts. Hacking official channels and sending false reports can also be an instrument for deliberately triggering desired price movements in order to damage companies or to earn money directly from them. A similar theory is currently in the room with the hoax about Elon Musk.
“Send me your bitcoins! Best regards Elon Musk “
In general, hacks and fake news now play a role that should not be underestimated in the financial market. One of the biggest cases occurred in July 2020 when fraudulent tweets were posted on the Twitter accounts of Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and other big business figures. Twitter followers were asked to transfer bitcoins to the criminals’ accounts. Even if this approach wasn’t much more difficult to expose as a fraud than a phishing email with the subject “Please send me your Bitcoins!” And the sender “Elon Musk”, the economic damage was not insignificant.
Despite the dangers of hacks, fake news and rash reactions, Twitter is an extremely important source of information for investors of all sizes. Today’s short messages may determine tomorrow’s prices, whether they are correct or not.
