GameStop’s shares and those of other stocks popular on forums such as Reddit’s WallStreetBets have climbed in recent weeks, a move that has come amid a broad sell-off in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, another investment popular among individual investors.
GameStop closed 46.5% above its lowest close so far for May, while Bitcoin is down about 35% so far this month and rival cryptocurrency ether is about 42% below its record, reached on May 12 in a sell-off that has come amid increasing scrutiny from regulators in the United States and China. Denizens of WallStreetBets and some Twitter users also speculated that the recent moves in GameStop and AMC may be forcing bearish investors to unwind their bets, an event known as a short squeeze.
Roughly 26% of GameStop’s float or 14.76 million shares were on loan as of May 24, according to Astec Analytics. More than 14 million shares in the company changed hands on Tuesday, marking its busiest trading day since mid-April.