Believing they could drive the value of the stocks higher by squeezing those short positions, Gill outlined a path in an August 2020 YouTube video that could send GameStop shares from $5 each to $50 or above. Gill and activist investor Ryan Cohen were key figures in motivating a community of online traders from the WallStreetBets subreddit to buy and hold shares of GameStop, running up their price. Tesla isn’t a classic meme stock, since its value is supported by real performance. However, its passionate fan base and viral attention sometimes cause meme-like price movements, especially during social media buzz.
GameStop and AMC were perennial members of this club, supplemented by newcomers. The shares climbed relentlessly through January 2021, soaring from a low of $12.16 in mid-December to an intraday high of about $483 on Jan. 28. It closed that day at $193.60, delivering a prompt lesson that investing in stocks based on claims touted online is a mug’s game. Since the GameStop short squeeze of 2021, investors have been trying to spot the next meme stock before it starts its ascent to the moon. After its meme-driven 12,000% rally that took GameStop (GME 3.00%) from $0.64 to a record high of $120 in January 2021, things have never really been the same — for the company and for investors.
Tesla (TSLA) – The Profitable Outlier
AMC Entertainment Holdings is an American movie theatre chain which is by some distance the largest in the world, and holds the largest market share in the US ahead of Regal and Cinemark. Retail investors have grown up—less “diamond hands” mantras, more strategic thinking about entry and exit points.
- With hedge funds and institutional players still betting against fundamentally weak companies, retail traders saw an opportunity to repeat the playbook of squeezing short sellers and capitalizing on volatility.
- Any research provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it.
- Some of the more popular meme stocks, such as GameStop, continue to enjoy higher stock prices than before the short squeezes in 2021.
- Some penny stocks saw rapid spikes followed by complete collapses, leaving late entrants holding the bag.
- Most meme stocks have seen their share prices stabilize at values far below their peak and much more closely aligned with their fundamentals.
Inside the race to train AI robots how to act human in the real world
Smart traders use these tools to get ahead of the crowd, not follow it. GameStop’s stock price has gained 179% over the past two sessions, though at $48.75 it’s still well below its record of more than $85 in January 2021. Jennifer is an SEO content writer with five years of experience creating clear, engaging articles across industries like finance and cybersecurity. Jennifer makes complex topics easy to understand, helping readers stay informed and confident.
Meme Stocks Explained: Examples, Advantages, and Risks
Since 2006, she has specialized in technical, fundamental, and economic analysis of financial markets. Known for her economic reports and analyses, she covers financial assets, market news, and company evaluations. She has managed finance departments in brokerage firms, supervised master’s theses, and developed professional analysis tools. Monitoring forums and sentiment trackers helps spot early momentum.However, treat them as context, not confirmation.
More Trending Stocks
- GameStop’s stock price has gained 179% over the past two sessions, though at $48.75 it’s still well below its record of more than $85 in January 2021.
- Social media amplifies both greed and fear, making disciplined exits feel like betraying the cause.
- There’s also the reality that GameStop ended Q2 with $8.7 billion in cash and equivalents — more than double the year-ago figure — which amounts to almost 90% of the retailer’s market cap.
- It sparked interest among young investors, pushing them to learn about trading psychology factors, risk, and strategy, skills that can serve beyond the next viral trade.
- Online communities can coordinate thousands of small trades that collectively move the price.
This influx of fresh traders echoed the 2021 phenomenon where pandemic lockdowns and stimulus checks fueled speculative behavior. The rise of meme stocks shows how connected retail traders can influence prices on a global scale. This crowd-driven market behavior has become a structural factor that analysts now track seriously. Many viral rallies begin when traders notice high short interest and try to trigger a short squeeze. This dynamic shows how crowd-driven market behavior can quickly turn speculation into sharp price movements. The risks of loss from investing in CFDs can be substantial and the value of your investments may fluctuate.
Reverse Harvesting” Alert: What Hidden Positions Are Top Hedge Funds Concealing Behind Their Public Bullish Remarks?
Any research provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it. It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication. Although we are not specifically constrained from dealing ahead of our recommendations we do not seek to take advantage of them before they are provided to our clients. A key element of the meme market was an influx Acciones google of young individual investors enthralled by get-rich-quick trading come-ons. When shares of Opendoor Technologies, a little-known online real estate platform, unexpectedly started surging this month, a few other seemingly random names followed.
Most of the advice being pushed on investors today isn’t much good, and what can be gleaned from promoters on Reddit even worse. Tesla and Palantir deserve serious consideration because they’ve proven that meme appeal can coexist with legitimate growth stories. Both companies generate real profits while maintaining the cultural relevance that keeps retail investors engaged. These aren’t lottery tickets—they’re growth stocks with unusually passionate followings.
Over the last 24 hours alone, the top 100 meme stocks from Reddit generated 4307 mentions and upvotes. That’s not just noise—that’s real money with real opinions flowing through social media channels that institutional investors now monitor religiously. The smart money is watching, and some retail traders have learned to separate companies with actual potential from pure hype plays. The prices can be highly volatile, driven by sentiment rather than fundamentals. It’s crucial for investors to be aware of these risks and avoid investing money they can’t afford to lose. Vanda analysts wrote that they believe the most likely path could be that a number of hedge funds participate in a short squeeze of meme stocks, and exit their positions before the waves of retail traders sell their shares.
The future of meme stocks
But for balance, investors can now receive live information from famous accounts or bounce ideas off each other in a way that had not really existed before 2021. Despite the often-flawed analysis involved in these discussions, because of the high volume of participants, these forums have been known to influence the markets in unexpected ways. A key component of discussions includes famous imagery or video, overlayed with humorous wordplay.
New websites have also emerged that enable users to monitor activity on social media without having to access the site. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Hiltzik has written for the Los Angeles Times for more than 40 years. His business column appears in print every Sunday and Wednesday, and occasionally on other days. Hiltzik and colleague Chuck Philips shared the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for articles exposing corruption in the entertainment industry.
AMC has in the past diluted shareholders when it spikes in order to take advantage of the financial optionality created by meme volatility. L.A. Times Insights delivers AI-generated analysis on Voices content to offer all points of view. After clarifying what a meme stock is, the chatbot responded that identifying one is “more of an art than a science.” Our lessons, designed to help you learn to trade, cover everything from smart buying and selling decisions to the nuances of trends and candlestick patterns. The traders who succeed in this environment are the ones who adapt faster than the market can price in their strategies. Robinhood has turned retail trading addiction into a diversified fintech business model.
The market has learned to spot and price in retail coordination attempts. But when these four factors align with actual business catalysts, the results can still be spectacular. Did you know that stocks mentioned positively on WallStreetBets see an average 5% bump in the following 48 hours? A market analyst and member of the Research Team for the Arab region at XS.com, with diplomas in business management and market economics.
Market Lessons Learned
No, not all popular stocks discussed on social media are meme stocks. The term specifically refers to stocks that see significant price and volume movements primarily due to social media hype and not their intrinsic value. This list above is compiled from the latest trends in social media and online forums, providing real-time insights into the most talked-about meme stocks.
This broader participation has made investing more accessible and engaging. A meme stock, by contrast, follows a speculative stock movement driven by popularity rather than performance. Investors buy not because the company is strong, but because others are buying, hoping to ride the momentum. This mix of passion, humor, and speculation can lead to hype-fueled price swings that make meme stocks both fascinating and dangerous.
Follow him on Bluesky at hiltzikm.bsky.social, on X at @hiltzikm and on Facebook at facebook.com/hiltzik. Our weekly digital publication of actionable swing setups, with a horizon spanning from days to months, driven by “FunTech”, our proprietary mix of Fundamentals and Technical Analysis. The hardest part about meme trading isn’t getting in—it’s getting out.
