I agree. The anger seems like an ancillary phenomenon. People seem to be buying because they think it's a sure thing that the asset price will increase. Maybe anger at shorters helps justify exploiting their error, but it's not the primary motive.
Anger/vengence seems like a primary motivator. Let me put it this way: how much money do you think these folks would pay to see a hedge fund manager crap his pants?
Not much. Everyone is mainly hoping for big profits and if they manage to show they're powerful enough to bring a hedge fund to its knees in the process then that's simply an added benefit. The anger at the big guy is just an artificial banner behind which to rally the troops. The objective is profit and the motivation is greed.
I have no skin in the game so I don't care who comes out on top, but it's delusional to think there's some noble cause behind all this on either side of the game.
HODLers also use emotion and ideology to keep from selling.
It’s decentralized motivation to coordinate!! :)
Someone would do well to inspire a cult following and a viral one at that... then it will attract people who just believe in the To the Moon rocket emojis
This is some of the oldest stuff in the book in terms of human psychology: how to create group beliefs, how to punish defectors, etc. I think it might work surprisingly well, given the rise of populist movements in the past few years.
