NYC – GameStop stock plummeted by about 35% on Wednesday as the recent surge in meme stocks began to fade. This decline comes after the video game retailer experienced a two-day short squeeze, with its shares jumping more than 180% in the preceding sessions.
Similarly, AMC saw a decline of over 25% on Wednesday following a 95% increase in its shares over the past two days. Other heavily shorted stocks, such as SunPower, Beyond Meat, and the Children’s Place, also experienced drops on Wednesday.
The resurgence of Keith Gill, also known as “Roaring Kitty,” who initially sparked the meme stock rally in 2021, led to a surge in GameStop shares on Monday. Nicholas Colas, co-founder at DataTrek Research, likened the recent trading activity to the events of early 2021 when Gill’s involvement triggered a significant short squeeze in GameStop.
Despite the significant gains seen in 2021, the short sellers persisted in betting against these companies in recent days. Data from S3 Partners revealed that GameStop’s short interest remained high, with nearly 24% of its shares being shorted.
Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of S3 Partners, noted that the continued short squeeze-related covering was a result of the revival of the meme trade. However, Wall Street strategists warned that the current enthusiasm is unlikely to reach the levels seen three years ago.
The meme stock frenzy in previous years attracted a large number of retail traders during the pandemic lockdowns. Tom Sosnoff, CEO of tastylive, expressed a different perspective on the current situation, stating that the events of 2021 were more transformative compared to the present scenario.
YouTuber Matt Kohrs highlighted the ongoing battle between “the little guy versus the big guy” as a central theme in the short squeezes of 2021, indicating a continuation of this narrative today. The symbolic significance of GameStop as a tool for the populist movement against the powerful elite was emphasized by Kohrs.
Overall, the recent fluctuations in meme stocks, including GameStop and AMC, continue to showcase the ongoing volatility and speculative nature of these investments, with various market participants closely monitoring the situation for potential developments.