GameStop (GME) stock rose more than 60% on Tuesday, adding to a rally that sent the video game retailer’s shares soaring 74% on Monday.
Monday’s move, in which the stock rose as much as 110% and was halted by volatility several times during the trading session, came on the heels of the resurgence of Keith Gill, also known as “Roaring Kitty,” whose bullish case on GameStop sparked the meme stock’s rally. Again in 2021.
GameStop shares had been flat year to date before Monday’s spike but have risen nearly 60% in the past month. GameStop stock is now up more than 180% over the past month, not including Tuesday’s pre-market gain.
Recent gains in GameStop were also accompanied by a rally in theater chain operator AMC (AMC).
On Tuesday, AMC stock rose more than 100% before paring its gains. And in the SEC filing, AMC also a statement It issued approximately 72.5 million new shares, raising about $250 million for the company in the process.
Other heavily shorted stocks that surged in premarket trading Tuesday include SunPower (SPWR), which is up 90%; Beyond Meat (BYND), up 25%, and The Children’s Place (PLCE), up about 6%.
In a note to clients on Tuesday, Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, wrote that this latest trading action “seems like an echo of early 2021, when this calculation helped fuel a ferocious short squeeze in GameStop.”
Colas noted that the comeback in 2021 was a little bigger than what we’ve seen so far this time around, with GameStop stock rising 1,500% in January 2021 before losing most of those gains.
However, the pain short sellers experienced during the original meme stock rally three years ago did not prevent bets against these companies. Short interest in GameStop has remained high since that rally, with 24% of shares sold short as of Monday, data from S3 Partners showed.
GameStop shorts are down more than $1.3 billion in month-to-date losses in May after Monday’s rally, Ihor Dusaniwski, managing director of S3 Partners, told Yahoo Finance on Monday.
Tuesday’s early rise will add to this tally.
In Colas’ view, a trader who sells stocks that are rising with this kind of aggression is left with only one choice: “Your only option is to close the position regardless of the price.”
“In the case of GME, you also fear that retail traders will be tempted to bring back 2021,” Colas added.
The meme craze three years ago gained national attention, attracting an army of retailers during pandemic lockdowns.
“I don’t look at this at all as much as I did in 2021 when it was almost a transformative moment, pulling, you know, tens of millions of people into the market,” said Tom Sosnoff, CEO of Tastylive, an options and solutions company. Futures trading platform.
However, YouTuber Matt Kohrs, who has held positions in GameStop and AMC in the past, says the “little guy versus big guy” pivot aspect during the 2021 short squeezes still holds true in today’s rally.
“The perception is that the entire system is set up and isolated to benefit the powerful elite. GME is a symbol of the populist movement against this concept,” Kohrs said.
He added: “The only real change I see from a psychological point of view is not turning inward anymore.”
Ince Ferry is Yahoo Finance’s chief business correspondent. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre.
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