After posting almost identical charts for weeks, the two biggest names in meme stocks are suddenly no longer twinning, and it appears that a familiar foe is behind the schism.
A stark and rare divergence was evident Thursday between the movement of shares in GameStop Corp. GME,
According to Ortex Analytics, short interest in GameStop stock fell off Thursday morning while short interest in AMC was up slightly. The data reinforces the thesis widely held by the retail crowd that short sellers are still a major factor in their trade even after January’s manic short squeeze caused panic and pain for hedge funds betting against both stocks.
“HEDGIES – REAL TALK TIME,” Reddit user PeakedInThe80s posted on r/Supertstonk midday Thursday. “The first one of you to cover your shorts MIGHT be able to scrape together enough shares to make it out alive. The later ones are f—d.”
And it’s not just the Ur-memes that are showing the causality between short interest and price surges.
Shares in plant-based food company Beyond Meat Inc. BYND,
“Wall Street Bets guys, thanks for considering Beyond Meat,” Cramer tweeted early Thursday. “You have the fire power to add a third. Heavy shorts.”
Cramer, who has a tumultuous virtual relationship with many in the retail community, kept up his funning with a second tweet that referenced the impact short interest has on meme stocks.
BeyondMeat was up by as much as 13% Thursday and Ortex data showed an almost 5% pop in short interest on the stock, a substantial rise.
