BTW., big institutional investors are often portrayed as the serious, long term players, while retail investors are in it for the quick buck and are easy to scare.
It's exactly the other way around: the majority of instituionals either have a short term horizon who try to time the market all the time, or invite in the shorts by lending out the shares. I believe
@neroden quantified this in some fashion? Retail investors on the other hand tend to have a longer term investment outlook. While they are a minority of total investors, they are the "foundation" of investor support.
This is why the short trolls are here and elsewhere on social media, attacking the "story" and slandering the man behind the story, Elon.
This is also why the influx of 6 billion dollars of capital this quarter alone should scare the shorts: over 83,000 people with enough assets to buy a $50k-$150k car, the majority of them new Tesla owners who bought their first Tesla, just started experiencing that story and are realizing that the rumors are ... all true.
Many of those new owners, like many new iPhone owners did a decade ago, will see through the FUD based on first hand experience and will see how undervalued Tesla is at current price levels.
