WallStreetBets Redditors Celebrate as GameStop Shares Shoot Up

Members of the r/WallStreetBets Reddit community were celebrating on Thursday as GameStop's stock enjoyed a fresh price surge. The video game retailer's stock shot up by more than 80 percent to reach $170.01 in New York on Thursday as the markets opened. It had closed at $91.71 on Wednesday following an active day of trading that saw prices rise by over 100 percent. Shares were halted multiple times after the opening bell today and the price leveled off to just over $112. Fluctuations suggested a volatile trading day awaited. At the time of writing, the price had again increased to $133.18, up 41 percent.

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While the exact reasons for fresh frenzy were not immediately obvious, a flurry of new posts swept onto the r/WallStreetBets subreddit as users braced for a potential repeat of the massive January short squeeze that sent GameStop stock skyrocketing. At the time, retail investors—those who use their personal money to buy shares—poured funds into so-called "meme stocks" such as GameStop (GME), AMC, Nokia, BlackBerry and more, in an attempt to disrupt hedge funds and corporate short sellers. Today, r/WallStreetBets members excitedly shared memes, wished each other luck and urged those who were purchasing the stock to avoid selling it off if the prices continued to rise. To some, it was another opportunity to target hedge fund short sellers. "Good job boys. We're holding the line against their attacks. They'll run out of ammo and we'll be refueled for the moon!" one user wrote on Thursday. "GME To the moon 🚀 🚀 🚀 buy buy buy. still going up. now is the right time," another user said. And new threads poured in, with titles including "WAR CONTINUES. GME AND AMC ARE BACK," "The GME Redemption," "Looks like a short squeeze back on the menu boys! Buy and HOLD," "THE COMEBACK!!!!!" and "ROUND 2 HERE WE GO." Others hoped for support from billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk, who previously posted a link to the subreddit on his Twitter page. "If papa Elon can give us a shoutout I think we may be able to break over 300 eod [end of day]" one Redditor wrote Thursday. The r/WallStreetBets forum has more than 9 million members. Two "megathreads" containing active discussions for the day collectively amassed over 70,000 comments. In one of the threads, one of the top comments on Thursday said: "Am I really about to jump into this sh** again and lose sleep, ignore everything at work, and put myself through extreme anxiety that I don't need right now? Yes. The answer is yes." A second person wrote: "What are you talking about, of course I'm gonna freak when it dips. Freaking buy more." Another pledged: "Round 2 lads I'm going all in GME."