Live prices, short interest data, and the full story of how retail traders turned $53,000 into hundreds of millions — and left hedge funds bleeding.
Prices update every minute. Short interest from FINRA bi-monthly reports.
Prices via Yahoo Finance · Short interest via Fintel, Stocknear, TheOnlineInvestor
GameStop's full price history — deep-value discovery through Roaring Kitty's 2024 return.
Short selling is a legitimate market mechanism. A squeeze is what happens when it goes catastrophically wrong for the shorts.
A fund borrows shares and sells them immediately, betting the price falls. They profit by buying back cheaper later, minus a borrow fee. GameStop had over 140% of its float shorted in late 2020 — more shares short than actually existed.
r/WallStreetBets identifies the extreme short interest. Keith Gill had already been building his position publicly for over a year. The community piles in with shares and call options, pushing the price up.
Rising price forces shorts to buy to cut losses — "covering." That buying pushes the price higher, forcing more shorts to cover. The cascade is self-reinforcing. GME went from $20 to $347 in two weeks.
As retail buys call options, market makers must hedge by purchasing shares. This gamma squeeze layers additional buying pressure on top of the short squeeze — multiplying the move far beyond what short interest alone would cause.
At peak, Robinhood and other brokers restrict GME and AMC purchases, citing DTCC collateral requirements. Buying pressure evaporates. GME collapses from $483 pre-market to $193 close. Lawsuits follow within hours.
GME and AMC retain large retail communities and elevated short interest. A single Roaring Kitty post in May 2024 moved GME 75%+ overnight — three years later — proving social media is now a permanent price catalyst.
The vocabulary you need to track short squeeze dynamics.
Percentage of tradeable shares sold short. Above 20% is heavily shorted. GME hit 140%+ in Jan 2021 — extraordinarily rare.
Short shares ÷ avg daily volume. How many trading days for all shorts to exit. Higher means more sustained buying pressure.
Annual rate shorts pay to borrow shares. Normally 0.3–2%. During peak squeezes can exceed 100% APR — shorts bleed every day.
Mass call option buying forces market makers to hedge by buying shares, amplifying the squeeze. Closer to expiry, the more shares needed.
Slang for holding through violent dips without selling. Reduces tradeable float, starving short sellers of shares to cover with.
Open puts ÷ open calls. Below 1.0 means more bullish call buyers. GME sits at 0.51 — retail still leans bullish on options.
The clearing house required brokers to post more capital as GME volatility spiked. Robinhood cited this to justify halting buys.
A stock trading partly on social media sentiment rather than fundamentals. Price can detach dramatically from earnings.
A former MassMutual analyst from Massachusetts who identified GameStop as deeply undervalued in 2019 — when it traded at ~$5 and nearly every professional was betting it would go to zero.
He publicly documented his thesis on Reddit and YouTube, sharing brokerage screenshots while being mocked. His beer-in-hand, meticulous streaming style built a cult following that became the retail army of January 2021.
He testified before the US House Financial Services Committee on Feb 18, 2021, saying: "I like the stock." He was immortalised in the 2023 film Dumb Money, played by Paul Dano.
After 3 years of silence, a cryptic meme on X in May 2024 moved GME 75%+ overnight — proving he alone had become a market-moving force.
From a $53K bet nobody believed in, through congressional testimony, a hedge fund implosion, and a sequel three years later.
Buys GME call options at ~$5/share. Posts his thesis to r/WallStreetBets to near zero engagement. Mocked by professionals and retail alike.
Hedge funds pile on, certain GameStop is a dying brick-and-mortar. More shares shorted than actually exist in float — one of the most dangerous setups in recent market history.
The subreddit grows from 2M to 8M members in days. GME runs from $20 to $76. Mainstream financial media starts paying attention. Institutional shorts feel real pressure.
Melvin Capital has lost 30% year-to-date. Citadel and Point72 inject $2.75 billion to bail it out. Gill's position is worth ~$48M. Elon Musk tweets "Gamestonk!!"
Brokers halt GME and AMC purchases, citing DTCC collateral requirements. Buying pressure evaporates. GME closes at $193 after touching $483 pre-market. Class-action lawsuits filed within hours.
"I did not solicit anyone to buy or sell the stock for my own profit." And: "I like the stock." Melvin ultimately loses 53% for January. MassMutual later fined $4M for failing to supervise.
AMC surges from under $10 to $72 at peak. CEO Adam Aron calls shareholders "Apes." AMC briefly worth more than its entire pre-pandemic market cap.
A single meme of a leaning-forward gamer on X. GME surges 75%+ overnight. June 2nd: Gill reveals 5M shares + 120,000 calls worth ~$289M. Hosts a 5-hour YouTube livestream. GME peaks at $64.83.
GME trades ~$23 with ~$9B cash, exploring acquisitions. Short interest at ~16.4% of float. AMC carries ~125M shares short at a fraction of 2021 highs. Every Gill post still watched by millions.
FINRA publishes short interest bi-monthly. For real-time borrow rates and intraday short volume, use ORTEX or Fintel directly.