Poll of the Day > 20 y/o Kid Commits SUICIDE after seeing -730,000 in his BANK from STOCK TRADING

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Dailymail has learned that 20 y/o Alexander E. Kearns a College Student at the University of Nebraska had horrifically committed suicide after seeing he had a NEGATIVE cash balance of 730,165 in his Robinhood stock trading app!!

He died last Friday after he JUMPED in front of an oncoming FREIGHT TRAIN near his town of Naperville, Illinois.

He was home during the break because of covid-19 and left a heartbreaking suicide note that was published online by his cousin in law, Bill Brewster

He wrote "How was a 20 y/o with no income able to get assigned almost a million dollar's worth of leverage? A painful lesson. F*** Robinhood"

Although the details of his trades were not made public, there is reason to believe that the negative cash balance that was merely a temporary glitch and he was not in fact over 730,000 in debt as believed

From the note, he appeared to have been using what's known a a "bull put spread" a strategy that limits risk for a trader by both buying and selling put options at different strike prices.

It's likely that negative balance appeared only temporarily as one half of that trade settled before the other did

Robinhood did not respond to dailymail for comment except telling Forbes "All of us at Robinhood are deeply saddened to hear this terrible news and we reached out to share our condolences with the family over the weekend"

They declined to share what he was trading for privacy concerns

Kearns just started trading recently to pass the boredom during the pandemic and was enthusiastic as he learned more about the markets and day trading and made some money but the huge 6 figure loss he saw was what caused him to panic and thought he destroyed his future in just less than a month..

Brewster said "When he saw that 730,000 number as a negative, he thought that he had blow up his entire future. I mean this is a kid that when he was younger was so conscious about savings"

He shared the painful details on his cousin's death hoping to educate the public and push Robinhood to make changes to avoid something like this again to scared young people who are trading in the stock market and don't know the risks.

Brewster said "Tragically, i don't even think he made that big of a mistake. This is an interface issue, they have slick interfaces, confetti popping everywhere whenever it shows cash is deposited into his account. They try to gamify trading and couch it as investment"

The app has exploded in popularity attracting 13 million users with a median age of 31 as it is commission free and published traditional brokerages such as Charles Schwab and Merrill Lynch

Would you have a meltdown if you saw a -700000 cash balance?

https://i.imgur.com/fbhiHsd.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/vi0RhJA.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/yu6zEaw.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/6GQFng6.jpg
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tbh, even if he was that far in debt, he could have just declared bankruptcy. While his credit would go to shit for 7 years, he's 20 so his credit would suck regardless.

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He should have waited.
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Zeus posted...

tbh, even if he was that far in debt, he could have just declared bankruptcy. While his credit would go to shit for 7 years, he's 20 so his credit would suck regardless.

This, exactly.
It's not college debt, he could actually clear himself of it all if it actually was real debt.
How does someone get so involved in stock trading and not even know that? I still have yet to ever own a stock and I've known of bankruptcy since high school.

Its pretty cliche, but I feel like this was just the tip of the iceberg. His life had barely started. He had plenty of time to set things right.

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This is pretty sad. Wish he talked to someone before he took his life.

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If I had a face like that I'd stick it in front of a moving train too.

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I use Robinhood.

This was a glitch. You can't fuck up that badly on Robinhood. It's not possible.

Or a r/s. They'll temporarily glitch out and put you in the negative.

And he could have declared bankruptcy worst case and cleared his debt.

Fucking wow.

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Lol

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I mean, yeah, seeing that you're 730K in the red literally overnight would be a hell of a shock, but you know, maybe investigate a little before you decide that killing yourself is your best option.

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It's entirely possible this was the straw that broke the camel's back, not the entire reason technically.

I feel bad for the engineer. Not only is that a massive investigation, followed by a ton of safety meetings across not one, but two countries, but he also has to live with that now.

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Revelation34 posted...

He should have waited.

DiScOrD tHe LuNaTiC posted...

I mean, yeah, seeing that you're 730K in the red literally overnight would be a hell of a shock, but you know, maybe investigate a little before you decide that killing yourself is your best option.

Yeah. I would agree... Probably wait/investigate at least a little...

ChaosAzeroth posted...

It's entirely possible this was the straw that broke the camel's back, not the entire reason technically.

But this is also true. There could be a bunch of other factors, as well...

Zeus posted...

While his credit would go to shit for 7 years, he's 20 so his credit would suck regardless.

I mean, no necessarily. Just because you're young doesn't mean you can work you credit score up to a good amount. I mean, it would suck to have a bankruptcy on your credit report at that age. He was at the age where people start to work on their score a lot more, I would think. And it could make it hard for him to get certain things. So, I do understand no wanting that on his score for any amount of time.

Also, I thought it could also be 10 or 7 years or whatever... Either way, while young people do sometimes have shit credit, it's not always true. And can definitely hurt a lot in certain situations or whatever...
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Remember guys, suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

...Unless, I guess, that problem is terminal cancer or something.

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how do you go in the hole on an investment? im no stock trader but wouldnt you just lose the money you put it in rather than going into debt?!

I would definitely panic, but my first thought wouldn't be to kill myself. There had to be more to it than this.

He kept making mistakes and he didnt even blame himself

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ChaosAzeroth posted...

It's entirely possible this was the straw that broke the camel's back, not the entire reason technically.

Exactly.
This may have big a significant factor, sure, but I doubt that it would lead to this outcome unless there were other things in his life or mind that were seriously out of joint as well.

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maybe his girlfriend cheated on him the day before and this bit of info got left out

Heh the 'Yes' votes are at 73.0...

Sad news, but the article also said he had around $12,000 in his account as well

Yellow posted...

I use Robinhood.

This was a glitch. You can't fuck up that badly on Robinhood. It's not possible.

Or a r/s. They'll temporarily glitch out and put you in the negative.

And he could have declared bankruptcy worst case and cleared his debt.

Fucking wow.

One thing I learned from the Aunt Jemima topic is that theres no such thing as bad publicity.

I expect more people to get down with Robinhood after this.

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He would need at least $2.1M invested and to be using $700K of margin, have his money invested in a single stock, and have that stock disappear overnight.

If you have that kind of money at 20 your life is absolutely not over.

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pionear posted...

Heh the 'Yes' votes are at 73.0...

Sad news, but the article also said he had around $12,000 in his account as well

I voted yes because anybody would have a panic attack at first after seeing that. The question wasn't asking if we would kill ourselves.
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Full Throttle posted...

Would you have a panic attack if you saw a -730,000 from your bank account?

Nope as that clearly would be a error that can be fixed.

Full Throttle posted...

Although the details of his trades were not made public, there is reason to believe that the negative cash balance that was merely a temporary glitch and he was not in fact over 730,000 in debt as believed

This is why his actions were not logical at all.

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