Markets
In this photo illustration, an AppLovin logo is displayed on...
AppLovin logo displayed on the screen of an iPad (Sheldon Cooper/Getty Images)
Not Lovin’ It

Short sellers’ reports sink AppLovin

The stock has erased its 2025 gains.

Luke Kawa

AppLovin is sinking in early trading on Wednesday after short-selling firms Fuzzy Panda Research and Culper Research announced short positions in the stock, alleging that its AI ad-tech breakthroughs are a farce.

The short-selling firms teamed up to investigate the company and published separate reports on their findings.

Culper summarizes its short thesis in two bullets:

  • The company’s mobile gaming results are being juiced by “the systematic exploitation of app permissions that enable advertisements themselves to force-feed silent, backdoor app installations onto users’ phones... each illicit install translates directly to profit.”

  • The company is gaming Meta’s advertising platform in a way that allows it to “take credit for the sale” and claim better results on its ad campaigns.

Fuzzy Panda’s report also alleges that AppLovin is “stealing data from Meta in their e-commerce push” and that “Apple, Google, and Meta all have a vested interest in putting a stop to it.”

AppLovin is one of the many companies felled by the rout in momentum stocks. Shares had rocketed higher after reporting earnings earlier this month, but with today’s losses they’ve given back all of that advance as well as all their 2025 gains.

More Markets

See all Markets
Toby Bochan, Luke Kawa
Market Wrap
47m
Markets end first week of November on a mixed note

While November is historically the best month for US stocks, the first week of the month in 2025 wasn’t great.

Horse Ranch In Zhangye
Luke Kawa
BEAR NECESSITIES
5h
The insanity over the Starbucks “Bearista” cups tells you everything you need to know about the US economy and markets

Upper-income consumers and megacap tech companies are both a) doing well and b) supply constrained.

Bear Roar
markets
Luke Kawa

Retail traders are “skipping the dip” this time

Here’s one noteworthy feature of the recent market downturn that has the S&P 500 poised for its worst week since reciprocal tariffs were announced in early April: retail traders seemingly aren’t eager to buy the weakness in single stocks the way they used to be.

JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain has flagged that retail traders instead appear to be “skipping the dip.”

“In contrast to the behavior observed during the post-Liberation Day selloff, retail investors did not seize the opportunity to buy-the-dip on Tuesday, with a few exceptions such as META,” he wrote of the day where the benchmark US stock index fell 1.2%. “In fact, they scaled back their ETF purchases and turned net sellers in single stocks.”

Then on Thursday, when the S&P 500 fell 1.1%, Jain projected that retail traders sold $261 million in single stocks. Through noon ET on Friday, his daily outflow estimate stands at $851 million.

With that intel, it’s little wonder why the carnage this week has been particularly intense in more speculative single stocks that had been favored by the retail community, including IREN, IonQ, Rigetti, Cipher Mining, Bloom Energy, and Oklo.

Prediction Markets Draftkings

DraftKings rebounds after Wall Street hears its prediction market plans

The company plans to launch its own predictions product in the coming months.

Matt Phillips6h
markets
Max Knoblauch

Archer Aviation plunges on $650 million share sale following its third-quarter results

Air taxi maker Archer Aviation is deep in the red on Friday morning after reporting its third-quarter results after the bell Thursday. The stock is down more than 12%.

Investors don’t appear to be thrilled about the company’s $650 million direct stock offering, announced alongside its results.

The move marks at least the third major equity raise, and dilution, for Archer this year. The company raised $300 million from a new stock sale in February, and sold $850 million worth of shares in June.

On Archer’s earnings call Thursday, interim CFO Priya Gupta said the company came to the decision after “substantial inbound interest.” According to Gupta, the company has heard from government and commercial partners that liquidity is a “key driver to their decisions of who to partner with.” With its latest share sale, Archer said its total liquidity is more than $2 billion.

Archer Aviation sinks after reporting better-than-expected Q3 loss, announces it will acquire LA’s Hawthorne Airport

Archer Aviation sinks after reporting better-than-expected Q3 loss, announces it will acquire LA’s Hawthorne Airport

The move marks at least the third major equity raise, and dilution, for Archer this year. The company raised $300 million from a new stock sale in February, and sold $850 million worth of shares in June.

On Archer’s earnings call Thursday, interim CFO Priya Gupta said the company came to the decision after “substantial inbound interest.” According to Gupta, the company has heard from government and commercial partners that liquidity is a “key driver to their decisions of who to partner with.” With its latest share sale, Archer said its total liquidity is more than $2 billion.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC.
©2025 Sherwood Media, LLC