The meme stock pendulum has swung from “It’s So Over” to “We’re So Back” as Keith Gill (AKA Roaring Kitting; u/DeepFuckingValue) instigates an impressive rally for the GameStop stock (NYSE: GME).
GME’s 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 Gillespie’s Dumb Money starring Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, and Vincent D’Onofrio.
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As momentum began to build, the retail investor’s champion and financial analyst followed up his initial caption-less meme of someone “locking in” with a second hype reel featuring a range of iconic filmic scenes: namely the MCU’s Thanos (Josh Brolin) proclaiming he’d “do it himself,” as well as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine breaking out of an incubation tank.
So what’s 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.
“The 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,” explains the prolific financial publication.
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“That’s elevated for a typical company but nowhere near the levels of 140% that preceded the 2021 mania.”
“The 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.”
As of this article’s publication, the GameStop stock price is sitting at US$30.45. Is the squeeze finally going to be squoze?
