Wall Street Bets, the Reddit forum that coordinated the massive surge in GameStop's stock, is defiant even as the price crashes
- Wall Street Bets members drove up GameStop's stock price in January, disrupting major hedge funds.
- The share price reached a high of $483 on Thursday, but since then it has crashed.
- But Redditors are standing firm, hoping the stock will bounce back.
The Wall Street Bets Reddit forum that orchestrated the massive surge in GameStop's stock last month is standing firm despite its tumbling stock price.
On January 11, members of r/WallStreetBets rallied together to buy shares in GameStop, a failing electronics company that surged back during the pandemic.
GameStop's share price reached a peak of $483 last Thursday, but since then it has crashed, falling 67% on Tuesday following a 31% decline on Monday.
On Tuesday, the Reddit user DeepFuckingValue, who helped lead the effort, posted that his holdings had depreciated by $13.6 million overnight.
The coordinated stock buy saw several hedge funds lose major capital. Melvin Capital, one of the biggest short sellers of GameStop, lost about 53% of its assets in January.
GameStop's stock is expected to plummet further when markets open at 9.30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, but as of 5 a.m. ET, almost all the top posts on r/WallStreetBets indicated that members were not ready to call time.
The most popular post with 32,000 upvotes was a meme of the assault on Minas Tirith from the 2003 film "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King," which was titled: "No matter what comes through that gate, you will stand your ground!"
"Who of my 300 brethren's [sic] are still in?" asked the second top post, displaying a graph showing GameStop's plummeting share price, in a reference to the 2006 film "300."
In the film, a small group of elite Spartan warriors - presumably a metaphor for those with shares still in GameStop - fight valiantly against an invading Persian army, but ultimately die in a brutal fashion.
The third-most popular post, with 31,000 upvotes, said: "I'm not worried about the losses these past couple days, because I know what's going to come if we stay strong ... Hang in there brothers."
Another top post, with 29,000 upvotes, shared advice from the billionaire investor Mark Cuban who recently advised GameStop investors to practice "patience" and "hold if you can afford to."
"Take it from MARK F---ING CUBAN. Don't panic sell and hold that s---," the post said.
One of the forum's most successful GameStop-related posts, with 150,000 upvotes and titled "WSB right now," shows Randy Marsh from "South Park" refusing to give up a losing fight.
"I didn't hear no bell," Marsh says.
In another case, one Redditor shared an Insider article, titled "GameStop and AMC plunge by more than 50% as Reddit short squeeze begins to fade."
"These m---------ers WISHED that we were failing to hold the line," the member said in response. "Bought 15 more shares @ 112 WHAT A SALE!"