Shares of GameStop (GME.N) and AMC (AMC.N), which both open new tabs, fell on Wednesday in choppy trading after making significant gains this week after “Roaring Kitty” Keith Gill—who is believed to have started the 2021 meme stock frenzy—resurfaced on social media.
While video game retailer GameStop sank 9.8% after hitting its highest level since June 2021 on Tuesday, movie theater company AMC plummeted 14.3% after rising 135% in the previous two days.
Shortly after the market began, trading in the most actively traded NYSE stocks—the darlings of individual investors—was suspended.
According to David Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus, “a lot of the pandemic’s capital has been used, but there is a lot more liquidity and size in overall markets that could probably keep this going.”
“Meme stock investors just use momentum in their trading, neither macro or fundamental analysis. In the event that it persists, the Federal Reserve may be reluctant to lower interest rates.
On social media site X on Tuesday, Gill’s online alias, “Roaring Kitty,” posted a scene from the film “Braveheart” in which Mel Gibson, who plays William Wallace, exclaims “freedom” and the word “GameStop” flashes on the screen.
This is the first time Gill has brought up a firm name since his three-year absence from X, and it sparked a surge in heavily shorted equities reminiscent of the retail trading frenzy of 2021.
A commercial is now playing on the video player. With a mouse or keyboard, you may skip the advertisement in five seconds. His Reddit writings and YouTube livestream in 2021 helped draw a wave of retail capital into GameStop, wiping out hedge funds who had bet against the business.
