GameStop Stocks Rise Because of a…. Meme?

I know nothing about the stock market—but I did watch “Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga” which helped clarify the stock fiasco of 2021 a little bit. The documentary details how a bunch of average joes manipulated the market to screw over large hedge funds. It’s a well-done documentary, and better yet, it’s in plain English, which is nice if you’re like me and have zero clue how investing works.

I thought the GameStop saga was over with—BUT SHE’S BACK. And all because of a meme.

BBC reports:

Shares in GameStop, the video game retailer whose popularity among pandemic-era traders helped coin the idea of a meme stock, are surging again.

Their rise follows the online reappearance of Keith Gill, known as “Roaring Kitty”, who was credited with helping the struggling firm’s shares explode in January 2021, contrary to the bets of many professional Wall Street firms.

GameStop shares jumped more than 70% in morning trade on Monday, to more than $30, as investors piled into the stock.

Though the price later fell a bit, it marked their highest level since 2022.

The meme in question that caused the jump?

Apparently in gamer speak, that means things are getting serious…or so I’m told by the youths.

I find all of this very entertaining. From what I can gather, nothing the independent traders did back in 2021 was different than what the hedge funds like to do themselves. The key difference in that scenario was the little man was winning instead of the hedge funds, so feathers got ruffled and the fun ended.

I doubt things will get as extreme this time around as they did in 2021, but I hope some hedge fund managers are at least sweating a little right now.