BML 4.81 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-2.04%)
BOP 12.74 Decreased By ▼ -0.32 (-2.45%)
CNERGY 7.01 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-1.54%)
CPHL 83.34 Decreased By ▼ -1.31 (-1.55%)
DCL 13.24 Decreased By ▼ -0.48 (-3.5%)
DGKC 171.80 Decreased By ▼ -1.54 (-0.89%)
FCCL 46.05 Decreased By ▼ -0.55 (-1.18%)
FFL 15.57 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-0.83%)
GCIL 26.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-0.34%)
HUBC 148.14 Decreased By ▼ -2.25 (-1.5%)
KEL 5.31 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.76%)
KOSM 6.24 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-2.5%)
LOTCHEM 20.67 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-0.43%)
MLCF 84.02 Decreased By ▼ -1.42 (-1.66%)
NBP 124.95 Decreased By ▼ -3.90 (-3.03%)
PAEL 40.96 Decreased By ▼ -1.09 (-2.59%)
PIAHCLA 21.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.32 (-1.44%)
PIBTL 10.14 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.5%)
POWER 14.00 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.43%)
PPL 163.05 Decreased By ▼ -0.91 (-0.56%)
PREMA 41.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.54 (-1.29%)
PRL 31.98 Decreased By ▼ -0.84 (-2.56%)
PTC 22.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.76 (-3.23%)
SNGP 115.12 Decreased By ▼ -2.85 (-2.42%)
SSGC 44.06 Decreased By ▼ -1.19 (-2.63%)
TELE 7.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.25 (-3.13%)
TPLP 9.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-2.17%)
TREET 23.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-2.04%)
TRG 55.84 Decreased By ▼ -1.17 (-2.05%)
WTL 1.49 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-1.97%)
BR100 14,134 Decreased By -4.9 (-0.03%)
BR30 39,571 Decreased By -563.9 (-1.4%)
KSE100 138,597 Decreased By -68.1 (-0.05%)
KSE30 42,341 Decreased By -12.3 (-0.03%)
Business & Finance

GameStop’s Meteoric Rise, Explained

  • GameStop’s stocks skyrocketed by 160% in a matter of hours on Monday to an all-time high of $159, giving birth to the ‘Meme Stock’ bubble in the stock market.
Published January 27, 2021
Source: Reuters
Source: Reuters

GameStop, an American video game and gaming consoles retailer, has been on a slow decline for years. With high-speed internet and technological advances facilitating direct games downloads and the pandemic restricting sales volume, GameStop’s mall-based business model has become a relic of the pre-Internet era.

However, GameStop’s stocks have skyrocketed since the start of 2021. They rose by 160% in a matter of hours on Monday morning to an all-time high of $159.

The seeming inevitability of GameStop’s demise made it an obvious target for short sellers, giving birth to what can be called a ‘Meme Stock’ bubble.

This rapid rise was fuelled by small-time retail investors on Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets forums, who made a conscious collective effort to drive up stock prices by concentrated buying of GameStop stocks - making it the most-shorted stock on the US markets as per the latest filings.

While it seems like the current stock market has lost touch with reality, this GameStop fiasco is representative of a new dynamic between Redditors and Wall Street, and a remarkable testament to the internet’s ability to facilitate collective action.

Comments

Comments are closed.