What is a Meme Stock? A Guide for the Curious Investor

what is meme stock mean

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  1. Meme stocks, however, didn’t truly emerge until the year 2020 via the Reddit forum r/wallstreetbets.
  2. The value of Bonds fluctuate and any investments sold prior to maturity may result in gain or loss of principal.
  3. This is known as a short squeeze, and it accelerates a stock’s price increases as more and more short sellers are forced to bail out to cut their losses.
  4. Our estimates are based on past market performance, and past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.

Meme Stocks: What They Are and 5 Top Stocks for September 2024

Unlike with traditional stocks you may invest in, the price performance of a meme stock is generally not based on the company’s underlying fundamentals. Treasury Accounts.Investing services in treasury accounts offering 6 month US Treasury Bills on the Public platform are through Jiko Securities, Inc. (“JSI”), a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA & SIPC. See JSI’s FINRA BrokerCheck and Form CRS for further information.JSI uses funds from your Treasury Account to purchase T-bills in increments of $100 “par value” (the T-bill’s value at maturity). The value of T-bills fluctuate and investors may receive more or less than their original investments if sold prior to maturity. T-bills are subject to price change and availability – yield is subject to change. Investments in T-bills involve a variety of risks, including credit risk, interest rate risk, and liquidity risk.

what is meme stock mean

“It’s just like wearing the trendiest clothes or knowing the latest viral challenge, people use social media as a way to connect and get views,” said Giles. “Hearing the latest stock trend is fun and makes people feel like they are ‘in the know.’ It also makes people dream about what it would be like to get rich. For privately held companies, corporate value stems from the bottom line.

The brain trust at Forbes has run the numbers, conducted the research, and done the analysis to come up with some of the best places for you to make money in 2024. should an aspiring network engineer use linux as main home os to gain exp Roaring Kitty’s real name is Keith Gill who was also on Reddit as u/deepF…Value and active on the subreddit r/wallstreetbets.

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Roundhill Investments came out with a meme stock-focused ETF in December of 2021 under the ticker symbol ‘MEME’. MEME features an equal-weighted portfolio of 25 stocks based on social media popularity and market sentiment. The top 25 such firms are included in the portfolio, which is re-examined and rebalanced twice a month. Meme stocks have been a boon to investors, day traders, and brokerage platforms but companies have also capitalized on the meme stock crypto prices charts and cryptocurrency market cap phenomenon. As a result of sky-high prices and persistent demand for shares among individual investors, AMC Theaters CEO Adam Aron took advantage of the elevated valuation and engaged in a series of secondary (follow-on) offerings in 2021.

To learn more, see our Public’s Fee Schedule, Order Flow Rebate FAQ, and Order Flow Rebate Program Terms & Conditions. The WallStreetBets subreddit has 10.2 million readers and counting. This platform fuels the masses to follow trends in rallying behind a stocksometimes to no apparent end.

Only a small number of these have been approved for trading so far, but do include some meme stocks like Tesla and NVIDIA. Stocks are sold short on margin (because they involve borrowed shares). As the price of the shorted stock rises, the short seller will begin to experience losses. These losses must be covered in a timely fashion, often prompted via margin calls, whereby the broker demands funds to make up for those paper losses. Market analysts and observers drew parallels between the 2024 rally and the original meme stock phenomenon of 2021. However, opinions were divided on whether this new surge would have the same lasting impact or if it was simply a brief revival of the speculative fervor that had characterized the earlier event.

Meme stocks FAQs

what is meme stock mean

In some ways, getting wind of a meme stock is akin to hearing about it from a friend or relative, who may or may not have investing experience. There is no guarantee that any of these stocks, or other meme stocks to come, will generate returns. Other companies that have become meme stocks to varying degrees include Plug Power (PLUG), Virgin Galactic (SPCE), Palantir (PLTR), and BlackBerry (BB). In true viral fashion, meme stocks rapidly became a thing in the early part of 2021. GameStop may have started the meme stock mania, but others have followed in its footsteps. Below are the five best-performing stocks in the Solactive Roundhill Meme Stock Index, ordered by one-year returns.

If your goal is to buy a house, save for retirement, or otherwise increase your financial security, you might consider a fundamentals-based investing strategy that isn’t guided by Reddit, TikTok, or any other media platform. One of the features of meme stocks, especially early on, has been that they tend to be heavily shorted names. This means that there is a lot of short interest in the stock, or that a large proportion of the company’s outstanding shares have been sold short. Whether you should invest in meme stocks depends on your investment experience and risk tolerance.

Regular stocks vs. meme stocks

A short squeeze is when a shorted stock’s shares rise sharply in price and buyers close out to avoid losing big. But people trade stocks for many reasons, not all of them supported by sound financial logic. A single social media post from Roaring Kitty may ignite the animal spirits that were in place during the pandemic, causing people to rush to buy shares of the same stocks to ensure they don’t miss out on potential gains.

What is a Meme Stock? (A Guide for the Curious Investor)

Bonds with higher yields or offered by issuers with lower credit ratings generally carry a higher degree of risk. All fixed income securities are subject to price change and availability, and yield is subject to change. Bond ratings, if provided, are third party opinions on the overall bond’s credit worthiness at the time the rating is assigned. Ratings are not recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell securities, and they do not address the market value of securities or their suitability for investment purposes.

Investors who can no longer maintain their positions due to growing losses and borrowing requirements may begin buying back the shares they shorted to limit the amount of money they stand to lose. However, buying these shares can increase demand and push the stock price up, effectively starting a short squeeze. But meme stocks differ from everyday stocks in their connection to social media. A meme stock typically becomes popular on social media, which may draw investors to the stock and potentially increase its value. For one, in cases like Game Stop or Bed, Bath and Beyond, the price of shares can rise tremendously based exclusively on online narratives and not on the fundamental valuation of the stock. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and 15 minute scalping strategy comparison service.