What happened
The meme stock rally largely driven by Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY +0.00%) has spread beyond the home-goods retailer, with GameStop (GME +1.64%) getting in on the action today.
Shares of the video game retailer spiked shortly after 11:00 a.m. ET thanks to high-volume call buying that seemed to carry over from the Bed Bath & Beyond rally.
As of 2:30 p.m. ET, GameStop stock was up 11%.
NYSE: GME
Key Data Points
So what
There was no fundamental news out on GameStop. Instead, traders from Reddit's WallStreetBets community and other platforms are once again focusing their efforts on driving a short squeeze on the meme stocks that soared early last year.
The bulk of the attention has been on Bed Bath & Beyond, which has jumped 700% in the past three weeks and nearly doubled at one point today, but GameStop has also benefited from the rally.
As of July 29, 22% of GameStop's float -- that is, all available shares -- was sold short, making it a less attractive squeeze target than Bed Bath & Beyond, which had 103% of float sold short as of the same date. However, meme stocks tend to move in unison, and a victory with one of them leads traders to be more aggressive with others, and that seems to have led to the high-volume buying late this morning.
Halfway through the session, GameStop's volume was higher than usual, at 14 million shares, but still much lower than Bed Bath & Beyond, which had seen more than 200 million shares change hands before noon.
Now what
Trading volume in GameStop could build into Friday, when monthly options expire. Though GameStop led the original meme stock rally last year, it seems likely to follow the lead of Bed Bath & Beyond as that stock is more heavily shorted and is trading at a much higher. Still, if shares of the home goods retailer continue to move higher, it wouldn't be surprising to see GameStop do the same in sympathy.
