The stocks of the Reddit-fueled trading frenzy
Executives from Robinhood, Melvin Capital and Citadel Securities are due to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee next week following a trading frenzy that sparked wild gyrations in the shares of GameStop and other “meme stocks.”
The committee is examining how an apparent flood of retail trading drove certain stocks to extreme highs, squeezing hedge funds like Melvin that had bet against those shares.
Here are some of the stocks involved in the initial frenzy and how they have fared since, as of Friday’s close:
** Shares of GameStop – which had been heavily touted on Reddit’s WallStreetBets – rose by as much as 2,460% on the year to a high of $482.25 in January, as some institutions that had bet on declines in the stock were forced to unwind their positions amid a flood of buying. The stock pared most of that rally earlier this month but remains 178% higher on the year.
** AMC Entertainment Holdings’ stock surged after the company said bankruptcy talks were “completely off the table.” At the rally’s apex, its shares touched $20.36, an 860% jump from Dec. 31. Friday’s closing price put the stock up 164% in 2021.
** Shares of Canada’s Blackberry rallied as much as 334% but had pared that to a 97% year-to-date advance as of Friday. The company announced late last month that it was expanding its partnership with China-based search platform Baidu Inc
** At one point, home furnishings retailer Bed Bath & Beyond’s had jumped by 204% year-to-date, but its advance has since cooled to 59%** Pharmaceutical firm CEL-SCI Corp shares hit a zenith of $40.77, a 247% advance on the year, a gain that has since shrunk to 100%.
** Finland-based Nokia joined the short squeeze stampede, at one point touching a 150% year-to-date gain at $9.79 per share. That advance was recently a more modest 7%.
** Consumer electronics company Koss Corp was also caught in the mania, soaring by 3,605% at one point. The stock is now up 330% so far in 2021.
** Shares of cannabis companies – which have already notched big rallies on hopes of decriminalization under U.S. President Joe Biden – have been among the latest to experience wild fluctuations. Weekly volumes in cannabis stock options soared to an all-time high by Thursday, according to CBOE Global Markets, and U.S.-listed shares of Tilray Inc and Aphria Inc, along with Sundial Growers, were at one point up on the year by 711%, 367% and 736%, respectively. As of Friday’s close, they had gained between 144% and 339%.
