Dave Portnoy And Steve Cohen Get Snippy Over Thursday's Trading Halts

Barstool Sports Founder Dave Portnoy and hedge fund manager Steve Cohen on Thursday argued via Twitter TWTR over the battle between retail traders and hedge funds.

What Happened: Portnoy has spent the past few days defending the retail traders who helped send shares of stocks like GameStop Corp GME and AMC Entertainment AMC massively higher.

“Why was trading halted on $AMC $GME $NOK $SNDL $NAKD?” Portnoy asked Steve Cohen, the founder of the Point72 hedge fund.

Cohen, who also owns the New York Mets, denied having anything to do with brokers halting the trade of certain stocks on Thursday.

I’m not feeling the love on this site today . Trading is a tough game . Don’t you think?

— Steven Cohen (@StevenACohen2) January 28, 2021

The accusation could come in response that Point72 has suffered large losses from a short position in GameStop. Point72 also provided funding for Melvin Capital, which suffered large losses from GameStop’s run.

“You bailed out Melvin cause he’s your boy along with Citadel. I think you had strong hand in todays criminal events,” Portnoy said.

Cohen told Portnoy he’s just trying to make a living.

“Those questions should be directed at Robin Hood etc. I’m a trader just like you are. When you find out give me a holler,” Cohen said.

Related Link: WallStreetBets Gets Shoutouts From Cuban, Portnoy, Musk, AOC: Who's Saying What

What's Next: The two did agree that an investigation is needed into Thursday’s events as Portnoy called phone records and surveillance to be turned over. The two agreed brokers should be making statements on Thursday’s event as well.

“We agree on that. And I want lie detectors everywhere,” Cohen said.

At least you are speaking and trying to answer. That is appreciated. https://t.co/AGlTx6UwI6

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) January 28, 2021

Portnoy, however, got the last word in.

By the way I don’t believe @StevenACohen2 at all. But I have no way to prove anything. But in my experience where there is smoke there is usually fire.

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) January 28, 2021