Rivian sold 75 million shares during extended hours trading. The stock dropped 18%. These two facts are connected in the way that gravity connects a piano to a sidewalk.
The company chose to raise capital immediately after shares climbed 8.1% on Monday and 19.2% the week before. Perfect timing if your goal is to punish everyone who bought during the rally. The retail trader who finally felt smart for once got to watch his position evaporate in after-hours trading while eating microwaved leftovers.
Share dilution works like this: you own a percentage of a company, then the company prints more shares, then you own a smaller percentage of the same company. It's mathematical. It's inevitable. And yet somehow the stock goes down as if this is a surprise.
The technical setup was bullish before the offering. Momentum was building. Volume was increasing. RSI was in favorable territory. Then Rivian's board looked at the chart and said let's f*ck this up right now.
Extended hours trading means most retail investors couldn't even sell if they wanted to. They just had to watch the number get smaller on their phone screen. Robinhood doesn't let you panic sell at 7pm. You have to wait until morning like an adult.
Raising capital is fine. Companies need money to build factories and pay engineers and pretend they'll be profitable someday. But the announcement timing was surgical. Wait for the stock to run. Let people get excited. Then dump 75 million shares on them like a bucket of cold water.
The chart doesn't care why the dilution happened. It only knows supply increased and price decreased. The fundamentals don't matter. The story doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is someone just sold 75 million shares and you're the one holding the bag.
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