The meme stock pendulum has swung from โItโs So Overโ to โWeโre So Backโ as Keith Gill (AKA Roaring Kitting; u/DeepFuckingValue) instigates an impressive rally for the GameStop stock (NYSE: GME).
GMEโs latest doubling occurred after Gill resurfaced on social media three years post-initial hysteria, which brought Wall Street institutions like Melvin Capital Management and Citadel (via Ken Griffin) to their knees; eventually even becoming the subject of Craig Gillespieโs Dumb Money starring Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, and Vincent DโOnofrio.
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As momentum began to build, the retail investorโs champion and financial analyst followed up his initial caption-less meme of someone โlocking inโ with a second hype reel featuring a range of iconic filmic scenes: namely the MCUโs Thanos (Josh Brolin) proclaiming heโd โdo it himself,โ as well as Hugh Jackmanโs Wolverine breaking out of an incubation tank.
So whatโs the damage for short sellers this time around? As GME climbed from a steady cruising altitude of US$17 to just a touch under US$37, according to Fortune, US$400 million in profits as of last month have now become paper losses of approximately US$1.4 billion.
โThe amount of GameStop shares sold short as a percentage of those available for trading has stayed at roughly 24%, according to financial analytics firm S3 Partners,โ explains the prolific financial publication.
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โThatโs elevated for a typical company but nowhere near the levels of 140% that preceded the 2021 mania.โ
โThe cost to bet against the company has been trading higher over the past week as shares picked up gains, with recent borrowing costs at a greater than 10% annual financing fee range.โ
As of this articleโs publication, the GameStop stock price is sitting at US$30.45. Is the squeeze finally going to be squoze?
