What happened
And it's off to the races again with shares of GameStop (GME 2.76%), which are soaring over 23.8% higher at 10:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, one day after they added 29% to the ledger.
Although there is no company-specific news driving the shares higher, the video game retailer is the most-talked about meme stock on Reddit's WallStreetBets subreddit.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
As the original poster child for meme stocks last year, its shares often trade more on internet and social media chatter than on the fundamentals of the business. And with about a quarter of GameStop's shares still sold short, the hope for the mother of all short squeezes, or MOASS, remains alive.
With GameStop's share gains yesterday and so far today, it could certainly generate a squeeze as short-sellers rush to cover their positions. It's why it's not wise to short a stock like the video game retailer or fellow meme stock AMC Entertainment since, as economist John Maynard Keynes once noted, the market can be irrational longer than you can remain solvent.
Now what
But it's not like GameStop investors haven't been through this before. The stock has rallied sharply higher, giving hope to belief the MOASS finally arrived, only to quickly give up all the gains and more.
The stock initially jumped on the announcement that GameStop wanted to split its stock, but the euphoria quickly faded and its shares were once again trading below the level they were at before the announcement was made.
Until there is some concrete improvement in its actual business -- not like the launch of a non-fungible token and cryptocurrency wallet that it announced on Monday -- it's likely GameStop's stock will soon repeat retracing its trajectory lower.
