<p><img src="https://static6.businessinsider.com/image/601ab28001504a00197fb58a-2400/AP21009751074619.jpg" border="0" alt="AP21009751074619" data-mce-source="Andrew Harnik/AP" data-mce-caption="Janet Yellen yesterday urged lawmakers to &quotact big&quot on stimulus, helping US stocks rise"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><ul><li><strong>Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with SEC, Federal Reserve, and CFTC officials regarding the Reddit-trader craze.</strong></li><li><strong>The meeting will happen this week and could take place as early as Thursday, Reuters reported.</strong></li><li><strong>Regulators haven't yet said they'll take action in the matter but indicated they're examining the phenomenon.</strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/10-things-opening-bell'utm_source=markets&utm_medium=ingest">Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell</a>.</strong></li></ul><hr><p>Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to meet with several finance-industry regulators to examine the intense market volatility spurred last week by retail investors piling into GameStop and other highly shorted stocks.</p><p>Yellen set up a meeting on Tuesday with the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-treasury-yellen-gamestop/exclusive-treasurys-yellen-calls-top-regulator-meeting-on-gamestop-volatility-consults-ethics-lawyer-idUSL1N2K906E">Reuters</a> reported, citing a statement from the Treasury. The meeting will take place this week and could come as early as Thursday, according to the report.</p><p>The news signals officials at the highest level of market regulation are at least examining the retail-trader phenomenon that roiled the finance industry throughout last month.</p><p>"Secretary Yellen believes the integrity of markets is important and has asked for a discussion of recent volatility in financial markets and whether recent activities are consistent with investor protection and fair and efficient markets," Treasury spokeswoman Alexandra LaManna told Reuters in a statement.</p><p>Yellen received authorization from ethics lawyers to look into the matter before convening the meeting, Reuters reported. The Treasury Secretary received more than $700,000 in speaking fees from market-maker Citadel. The financial firm executed many of the trades that sent GameStop and other stocks skyrocketing last month.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gamestop-wallstreetbets-reddit-trader-mania-populist-movement-occupy-wall-street-2021-1" data-analytics-position="7" data-analytics-module="">The GameStop mania driven by Reddit traders isn't simple market trolling. It's a populist movement threatening to disrupt the financial system to a degree Occupy Wall Street only dreamed of.</a></em></p><p>Casual investors gathering on forums like the Wall Street Bets subreddit sent shares of GameStop, AMC Entertainment, and other unloved companies soaring in January. Some touted the trade as a way to burn short-selling hedge funds. Others simply viewed the trend as a get-rich-quick opportunity, leaving some to wonder whether the online conversations could be viewed as market manipulation.</p><p>Calls for government oversight were amplified on January 28 after Robinhood <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/robinhood-removes-gamestop-amc-reddit-wallstreetbets-fueled-stock-rally-gme-2021-1-1030015292">restricted clients from buying shares of GameStop and other stocks</a> targeted by the retail-investor crowd. Republicans and Democrats in Congress moved for regulators to look into the policy, saying it hindered investors' access to a free market.</p><p>The House Financial Services Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the matter on February 18. Senators have indicated they too will hold a hearing on the GameStop rally.</p><p>Regulators haven't yet indicated they'll take action against either the investors or the brokerages that temporarily froze buying of the volatile stocks. The SEC's acting chair Allison Herren Lee told <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/01/962946809/sec-acting-chair-unpacks-the-gamestop-reddit-robinhood-wall-street-debacle">NPR</a> on Monday that the agency is looking into the trading phenomenon "from a number of different angles," including claims that the Reddit users were manipulating the market.</p><p>"When we see stock prices depart so widely from fundamental valuations, we know there is a chance that people are going to get hurt, if not almost a certainty," Herren Lee said. "So we want people to know that there are risks involved here."</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reddit-spacs-wallstreetbets-yolo-gamestop-cciv-ghiv-retail-trading-investing-2021-2" data-analytics-position="1" data-analytics-module="">Here's how one SPAC-focused Reddit group is trying to prevent pump and dumps as retail traders throw markets into turmoil</a></em></p><p><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/janet-yellen-meet-market-regulators-gamestop-mania-sec-fed-gme-2021-2-1030039319#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-myths-debunked-wuhan-china-2020-2">Epidemiologists debunk 13 coronavirus myths</a></p>
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