• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for

2

'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down

3

The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow

1

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for

2

'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down

3

The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
Finance

GameStop short squeeze: Here’s what market watchers are saying

Jeff John Roberts
By
Jeff John Roberts
Jeff John Roberts
Editor, Finance and Crypto
Down Arrow Button Icon
Jeff John Roberts
By
Jeff John Roberts
Jeff John Roberts
Editor, Finance and Crypto
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 27, 2021, 12:07 PM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

It’s one of the craziest Wall Street battles in years. Retail investors, fueled by social media chatter, have been dueling with hedge funds over the price of fading video game seller GameStop.

The tussle broke out earlier this month when retail investors on a Reddit social media forum began hailing GameStop stock as a winner even though the company seemed to be going the way of Blockbuster. This caused the share price to soar, leaving hedge funds who had bet against the stock in a short squeeze—forcing them to buy GameStop shares to cover their position, and driving the price still higher.

All of this has left market watchers transfixed as GameStop shares have pinged around crazily from $60 to $300, and battered some familiar Wall Street names—including hedge fund Melvin Capital and Citron, which on Tuesday threw in the towel on their short position after massive losses. Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk added to the craziness with a tweet linking to a Reddit forum that drove GameStop shares up still higher:

Gamestonk!! https://t.co/RZtkDzAewJ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2021

The chaos has also spurred a flood of commentary from market watchers, including the influential Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine, who concluded “GameStop is just a game” and that assessing its value is pointless because “it has all the prices at once.”

Others took glee in pointing out the misery of the hedge funds, noting the irony in the masters of Wall Street getting whupped by a pack of Reddit yahoos:

Various hedge funds are still short tens of millions of shares of GME. They are having a bad day

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 27, 2021

“Wall Street Bets” on Reddit has put more fear into hedge funds than Occupy Wall Street, The Squad, @BernieSanders, and higher capital gains taxes combined. #GME

— ((( Lawrence Lewitinn, CFA))) (@lvlewitinn) January 27, 2021

The Left and Right populists are both celebrating the crushing of Hedge Funds by WallStreetBets with GME stock and I love it

— Tim Pool (@Timcast) January 27, 2021

Meanwhile, the GameStop boosters on Reddit hailed their apparent victory over the Wall Street establishment. Their ranks include a self-styled analyst figure who goes by the name Roaring Kitty, and looks like this on YouTube:

Others took a more serious view of the events, warning that those promoting GameShop on social media could be engaged in an illegal pump-and-dump scene:

https://twitter.com/prestonjbyrne/status/1354201234182438914

It’s far from clear though that there is anything illegal about using social media platforms to cheer on an irrational stock rally. The New York Times‘ DealBook summarized the potential legal issues at play as such: “If a big group of traders simply decides to buy options on a stock at the same time, out in the open, for the heck of it, proving malfeasance may be difficult.”

The Times also noted that much of the GameStop craziness has been driven by the options trade, which has forced market makers to buy shares of the company to cover their exposure. One analyst, using the Greek lingo of options traders, described the situation as a “gamma squeeze.”

The tech press, meanwhile, noted that the mad trading has resulted in even more new investors pouring in, and boosted the popularity of retail trading platforms like Robinhood.

As r/WallStreetBets causes GameStop, BlackBerry, and others to surge, online trading platforms like Robinhood and WeBull have rapidly climbed US app store ranks (@ryan_browne_ / CNBC)https://t.co/9iiyODhBrWhttps://t.co/i1RWnNAMEt

— Techmeme (@Techmeme) January 27, 2021

Others took a more philosophic view, noting that GameStop is far from the only stock that has received an irrational boost from retail investors—and suggested a possible link between these stocks:

GameStop, BlockBuster, Bed Bath & Beyond, AMC… it’s like some kids remembered their favorite places in the mall 20 years ago and decided to invest in them pic.twitter.com/QOB8vLtOKk

— Mike Murphy (@mcwm) January 27, 2021

Update: The GameStop craziness has led some brokerages to limit their clients ability to purchase some of these stocks:

Breaking 🚨 @CNBC

TD Ameritrade restricting client trading for GameStop, AMC and other securities “in the interest of mitigating risk for our company and clients”

Decisions made “out of an abundance of caution amid unprecedented market conditions and other factors”$GME $AMC

— Kate Rooney (@Kr00ney) January 27, 2021

And the situation has even drawn the attention of the White House:

Biden team is "monitoring the situation" around GameStop.

— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) January 27, 2021

About the Author
Jeff John Roberts
By Jeff John RobertsEditor, Finance and Crypto
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jeff John Roberts is the Finance and Crypto editor at Fortune, overseeing coverage of the blockchain and how technology is changing finance.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Finance

Photo of RFK Jr.
HealthFDA
RFK Jr.’s peptide push narrowly gains backing from FDA advisers despite objections from scientists
By The Associated Press and Matthew PerroneJuly 24, 2026
9 hours ago
Canada celebrates new Detroit River bridge connecting Ontario to Michigan as 50% tariff feud keeps American officials away
North AmericaTariffs
Canada celebrates new Detroit River bridge connecting Ontario to Michigan as 50% tariff feud keeps American officials away
By The Associated Press, Mike Householder and Ed WhiteJuly 24, 2026
9 hours ago
dario
AIEconomics
Anthropic’s head of economics just explained why we haven’t seen a white-collar bloodbath — yet
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 24, 2026
10 hours ago
pjm
EnergyData centers
The AI boom’s hidden electricity bill — and why you’re paying it
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 24, 2026
10 hours ago
j
AINvidia
Nvidia, Microsoft lead call for open-weight AI models after Kimi
By Michael Shepard and BloombergJuly 24, 2026
10 hours ago
Trump’s latest import taxes could set a precedent for a ‘broad tariff generator’ on anything a president wants to target, expert warns
LawTariffs
Trump’s latest import taxes could set a precedent for a ‘broad tariff generator’ on anything a president wants to target, expert warns
By Jason MaJuly 24, 2026
11 hours ago

Most Popular

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
Big Tech
Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
By Sydney LakeJuly 23, 2026
2 days ago
'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down
Economy
'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down
By Eleanor PringleJuly 24, 2026
21 hours ago
The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
Economy
The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 23, 2026
2 days ago
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
Real Estate
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 24, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 24, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 24, 2026
18 hours ago
Turns out Dead Internet Theory was right: AI agents are eating the Web, growing by nearly 8,000% and rewiring the Internet's business model
AI
Turns out Dead Internet Theory was right: AI agents are eating the Web, growing by nearly 8,000% and rewiring the Internet's business model
By Mia OsmonbekovJuly 23, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.