Bed, Bath and Beyond Saving
The meme stocks are dying
What do you get when you mix pandemic-forced lockdowns, stimulus checks, the Reddit sub r/WallStreetBets, access to the entire trading market in the palm of your hand, and a collective desire to disrupt the status quo and stick it to the man?
Yup, you guessed it.
Meme stocks.
This perfect cocktail of factors led to a few lucky stocks being chosen, without much rhyme or reason, for the ride of a lifetime. Like stuffed toys trapped in a fairground machine, they were grabbed by the claw and carried into the air towards a new existence — cult-like status with a cult-like following. And as the months ticked on, the cult grew bigger, more vocal, and more devoted. As more and more bought in, the price started to rise. And rise. And rise.
The two biggest winners, GameStop and AMC, experienced insane gains — especially when you consider that GameStop was a long-struggling business and cinemas were closed due to the pandemic. Or in other words, it made no fundamental sense (more on that later):
- GameStop shares rose from $3.25 in April 2020 to $347.50 in late January 2021, a rise of 10,692%.
- Between June 2020 and June 2021, AMC stock shot up 3,000%.
