The share prices of popular meme stocks such as GameStop (GME) and AMC Entertainment (AMC) have more than doubled in the past 24 hours as the market craze returns.
Shares of GameStop and AMC are each up more than 40% in premarket trading after both stocks registered gains of more than 70% to start the trading week on May 13.
Other meme stocks are seeing their share prices rise too, with Canada’s BlackBerry (BB) up nearly 30% in premarket trading. Headphone maker Koss’ stock is up more than 20%.
Meme stocks are defined as shares of a company that have gained viral popularity due to heightened social media attention.
They tend to be stocks of once dominant companies that have fallen on hard times and whose shares are heavily shorted by professional traders on Wall Street.
The meme stocks have been reignited by news that trader Keith Gill, known online as “Roaring Kitty,” has returned to social media for the first time in three years.
Gill was largely responsible for leading a coordinated short squeeze in GameStop back in early 2021 when the meme stock craze overtook Wall Street, sending share prices of struggling businesses and heavily shorted stocks soaring.
At the end of trading on May 13, video game retailer GameStop’s share price had risen 74%, while movie theatre chain AMC’s stock increased 78%.
The big moves higher come after Gill posted a picture on X of a video gamer sitting forward in a chair — a meme used to indicate that people are paying attention and taking a game seriously.
Gill has not posted on social media since 2021, when he abruptly disappeared after making, by some estimates, $50 million U.S. on his GameStop bet as the stock’s price rose sharply due to the short squeeze he helped to coordinate.
Media reports claim that the current rise in GameStop and AMC stocks has already cost short sellers on Wall Street more than $1 billion U.S.
