‘Wolf of Wall Street’ JJ Gorilla Holds VIA on Stock Market
Ely Cook
JJ Gorilla, also known as the “Wolf of Wall Street,” spoke to the students at Manchester University through a Zoom call on Sept. 5, to share wisdom he obtained during his days of being a market maker.
Despite Gorilla’s inability to show up to Manchester University for an in-person interview, he was still able to share stories and insight on the stock market. He shared information to help students understand the stock market, how to make big money and also how to prevent a massive deficit in the high risk, high reward business.
Gorilla, having worked in the stock market for approximately 30 years, explained simply that, “eventually, the market just begins to make sense.” Because he understands the market, one of the biggest achievements he expressed in his interview was to “be a buyer when everyone else has to sell.”
He claimed jokingly that in his days of working, he has had a job doing “nearly everything but a waiter.” Early in his market making career, he worked in penny stocks and eventually sold for NASDAQ.
Simplified, penny stocks are businesses that are valued at very low prices in order to get consumers to buy. However, it is difficult to get consumers to buy, because they are untrustworthy companies to buy shares for. Because of the low prices of these stocks, consumers are more able to buy in comparison to higher grossing companies like Apple or Microsoft, whose stock prices are much higher.
He then spoke about what he did while he worked in the stock market. His job was to make sure that shares that were bought were turned into “liquid” equity. Gorilla also explained that while working in the stock market, it is important to know how much you can handle when it comes to stress.
Working in the stock market is a high risk, high reward business, which can make many market makers stressed and skeptical, because of how unpredictable the economy and the market can be. For example, in recent times, cryptocurrency businesses have dropped in value immensely, causing many shareholders to lose millions of dollars. One thing he said to help you prevent this from happening is to “figure out how to see things before anyone else can, because if everyone can see something (in the market), then it is too late.”
Gorilla, with little experience with cryptocurrency, explained that “cryptocurrency works similarly to the stock market in the sense of the high risk, high reward outcome.” But he added that it does not work in the same way to “liquify equity.” He also enjoys seeing young consumers making money from a new market in different ways than he did in the past.
In the short VIA interview, he provided a lot of information that might be difficult to understand. However, one massive statement he made was that he networked very well in his journey of market making. Networking and making connections with people from all different places, companies, and business interests put him at the top of market making. Besides, he noted that just like the boxer Floyd Mayweather once said, “if it makes money, it makes sense.”