AMC, Gamestop: Meme stocks roar back, fueled by Reddit-inspired traders
Ethan Wolff-Mann, 28 May 2021
In January 2021, the rise of retail investing and the subreddit r/WallStreetBets sparked a broader speculative movement in a few stocks that ended up disrupting trading at brokerages and culminating in a Congressional hearing.
And after a relatively quiet few months, the so-called meme stocks are back in a big way.
The movement’s mascot, GameStop (GME), ended the week up 23.6%. (Analysts from Vanda Research said that this was likely due to institutional involvement rather than a big retail push.) And the new meme stock leader is AMC (AMC), which has taken over the narrative with an enormous 108.9% gain for the week.
AMC’s stock was even up as much as 160% at certain points, with its market cap cresting an unbelievable $12 billion after almost going bankrupt earlier this year. The stock even broke call-volume records.
The latest boom in meme stocks echoes early 2021, when reddit users and a scattered group of stock-trading enthusiasts managed to drive the narrative on various stocks and drive prices significantly as the hype increased. (In the case of GameStop, Keith “Roaring Kitty” Gill, the architect of GameStop’s bull case, convinced many people.)
