Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Maybe one of the strangest stories in video game industry stock and investment right now is the matter of GameStop’s shares soaring to the stars following the concentrated efforts of a group of Redditors on r/WallStreetBets. However, the stock is moving even absurdly higher today as trading was briefly halted on GME. Before the halt, GameStop’s stock price had capped at over $150 a share, around 140% over previous reporting.
The latest jump in GameStop stock prices came on January 25, 2021, as reported by CNBC. What began as an already concerning short squeeze increase just last week that saw the share price jump to over $60 a share has become exponentially more unwieldy this week. Though the stock is fluctuating around $100 at the time of this writing, it recently capped at $159.18 per share, about 140% higher. Compared to a share price of around $7 in just late August, early September 2020, the jump has been gargantuan to say the least.
There is seemingly only a little bit of natural rise to the GameStop stock, which saw some increase earlier in January 2020 on news of the addition of further board members and strong holiday sales following the recent next-gen console releases. However, the majority of this gain seems to be heavy trading related investor Reddit groups like r/WallStreetBets, other social media, and day trading, where concentrated efforts in trading have put pressure on short sellers and driven the price of the stock higher.
“The sudden, sharp surge in GameStop’s share price and valuation likely has been fueled by a short squeeze, given the high short interest,” explained Telsey analyst Joseph Feldman in note on Monday. “And, to a lesser degree, speculation by retail investors on forecasts for the new gaming cycle and the involvement of activist RC Ventures.”
"Lesser degree" seems to be an understatement as the stock was briefly halted in trade on Monday due to volatility. Where GameStop has usually seen an average of 29.8 million shares traded in the previous month, over 70 million shares changed hands in the first hour of the opening bell on Monday.
“This stock has completely disconnected from the fundamentals.” Loop Capital analyst Anthony Chukumba said to CNBC.
It will remain to be seen where the meteoric rise of GameStop’s stock truly ceases and where the market really balances itself out. But on the current course of events, the ploy popularized on WallStreetBets seems to have rocked the GME boat, flipped entirely, and revolved it 360 degrees to say the least. More on this story as further updates and information become available.