After three years, meme stocks are in focus on Wall Street once more
With one push of the 'send' button, we're back in 2021. Earlier this morning, Reddit (RDDT) user Roaring Kitty, who ignited the meme stock retail trader craze of 2021, posted on social media platform X for the first time in three years. Even though he didn't mention any specific stocks, GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME), AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC), and even Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ:HOOD) vaulted higher in response.
GME is up 66.1% to at $30.58 and earlier traded at three-year highs of $38.20, on track for its largest single-session gain since February 2021. The video game retailer hit a three-year low of $10.01 on April 21, but are now in the black across all notable timeframes.
AMC, meanwhile is 47.8% higher to trade at $4.30, also on track for its largest pop since the meme stock craze. Despite today's gains, shares are 28.9% lower in 2024 and off 90.5% over the last 12 months.
Time is a flat circle, because both former meme stocks are once again heavily shorted. Short interest on both GME and AMC has increased in the most recent reporting period, and 24% and 18.8% of the each stock's total available float, respectively, is sold short.
HOOD, the trading vehicle the drove the meme stock craze into a intuitional phenomenon, is up 3.9% to trade at $16.86. The stock is fresh off a post-earnings drop of 3.1% last week, but is 34% higher in 2024.