The stock market world is once again being shaken by the internet’s collective interest in GameStop stocks. After a tremendous shakeup just last month, GME prices are soaring once again, having risen over 100% throughout this Wednesday. Before market closing, the GME stock surge was deemed so volatile that trading was halted twice, yet shares have continued to rise during after-hours trading.
It’s so far unclear what caused the latest spike in GME prices. It could have something to do with GameStop CFO Jim Bell, who resigned from his position with the company just yesterday. Either way, the stock value rose sharply today, seeing a rise over 70 percent by the late afternoon. The spike was so sudden that trading was halted, and shortly after it resumed, it was halted again. By then, GME had risen by 104 percent.
When today’s market closed, Gamestop stocks were valued at $91.71, up from $44.97 on Tuesday. But the market closing didn’t slow the stock down, as its value soared once again during after-hours trading. At the time of writing, it’s currently holding strong around $140 per share in after hours trading.
Regardless of why, the internet is clearly going wild with GME. The recent and very sudden interest in so-called “meme stocks,” spurred by users of reddit’s r/WallStreetBets, caused equally sudden controversy. Redditors started making huge investments to offset GME short stocks, and before long countless others were rallied to the cause. By the time the furor became a frenzy, the Robinhood stock app went down, the WSB subreddit went private, and traders went on to repeat the process for other stocks like AMC and Blackberry. The fiasco caused numerous figures to criticize Robinhood, and GME stockholders would later file a class-action lawsuit against Robinhood for restricting their trading power.
No one knows just how far GME will rise, and for now, it’s not entirely clear what caused today’s shift. Either way, it seems that GameStop stockholders are gearing up for an impressive second round of trading. We’ll be sure to keep readers posted as the story develops.
