The GameStop frenzy on Wall Street has investors, and much of the internet, enraptured — not unlike a good horror movie. Everyone knows doom is just around the corner for some key players; a lucky few will emerge stronger; and the monster might be subdued but will ultimately come back for a sequel.
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Everything you need to know about how a Reddit group blew up GameStop's stock
The GameStop frenzy on Wall Street has investors, and much of the internet, enraptured. Here's the background you need to know to understand what's happening.
The cast of characters
Why GameStop?
The popular Reddit page WallStreetBets is fond of targeting short-sellers. If you've ever played craps, these are the guys betting against the table, and their tactics, while often lucrative, have burnished their reputation as bloodsuckers and other, unpublishable, names. (More on that later.)
It's not hard to understand why someone would short GameStop, however. The company is expected to lose money this year and next. Sales growth is sluggish because gamers no longer need to go to the mall to buy games or consoles. That said, some investors have argued that GameStop was seriously undervalued, especially when video games have become staples of the stay-at-home pandemic era.
People pass a GameStop store in lower Manhattan on September 16, 2019 in New York City. GameStop has announced that they will be closing between 180 and 200 stores before the end of the fiscal year due to a drop in sales.
Not just GameStop
A similar story was playing out with shares of AMC, the movie theater chain that's been devastated by the pandemic.
Shares of the new WSB plaything were up more than 200% Wednesday after members of the Reddit board and investors on Robinhood were touting the stock. The hashtag #SaveAMC was trending on Twitter.
Why is this happening now?
The way people trade stocks has been upended by the rise of no-fee apps like Robinhood. That technology has democratized investing, giving armchair investors far removed from traditional banks free access to sophisticated trading instruments, like options.
You could pay an analyst to tell you what stocks to buy, or you could create a Reddit account and follow forums like WallStreetBets. Millions of young people are opting for the latter, which is partly why the sudden surges in GameStop and AMC have caught Wall Street veterans by surprise.
What's an option?
Options are bets investors place on a stock, allowing them to buy (a "call" option) or sell (a "put" option) at a particular price. That allows people to wager on whether a stock will rise or fall.
Investors can place relatively inexpensive options bets and sell those options as they rise in value when the stock price gets closer to their wager. Although buying and selling options isn't the same as buying and selling stocks, big options volumes can drive a stock up or down, typically because options traders buy or sell the stock itself as a hedge.
What's a short?
Short-sellers are investors who bet that a stock is going to fall. They borrow shares to sell on the market with the promise to buy back those shares at a later date. If they win the bet, they sold high and bought low, and they walk away with money in the bank.
If they lose the bet, that's called a short-squeeze, and they often hedge their losses by buying more shares of the company they bet against.
Fueling the fire
WallStreetBets, which has more than 2 million followers, is littered with posts cheering the stock gains and no small amount of righteous indignation.
"What I think is happening is that you guys are making such an impact that these fat cats are worried that they have to get up and put in work to earn a living," a moderator in the group posted this week."That fuzzy sensation you are feeling is called RESPECT and it is well earned. Wall Street no longer dismisses your presence anymore."
Isn't this a bubble?
It sure is.
There's an argument that GameStop was undervalued, but hardly anyone believes that GameStop, BlackBerry, Macy's, AMC, or any of the other companies that WSB is promoting have fundamentals to support these surging stock prices. At some point, reality has to set in.
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