More than 63,000 Robinhood traders piled into Kodak shares during its 2,100% rally

• The number of Robinhood investors holding Kodak stock spiked as the company's shares soared as much as 2,189% over two days this week.
• Shares of the camera company tore higher on Tuesday and Wednesday after it said it received a $765 million government loan to make drug ingredients.
• Before the loan was announced, about 9,300 Robinhood investors held Kodak shares, according to Robintrack.net. By Wednesday at noon, that number had surged above 72,000.
• Watch Kodak trade live here.

The number of Robinhood investors holding Kodak stock grew nearly eightfold from Tuesday morning to Wednesday afternoon amid the company's extraordinary rally.

The stock leaped to as high as $59.98 on Wednesday, bringing its two-day surge to 2,189% at its peak. Kodak shares began tearing higher on Tuesday afternoon after the company said it received a $765 million government loan to make drug ingredients during the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement drove an influx of investor cash to the stock.

Much of the new interest came from Robinhood investors. Retail trading has represented a larger share of stock-market activity in recent months as casual traders look to capitalize on virus-fueled volatility.

Kodak is the latest stock to benefit from the wave of new investors. Before the Tuesday announcement of Kodak's loan, roughly 9,300 Robinhood traders held the stock, according to Robintrack.net. By noon on Wednesday, that number was above 72,000. Roughly half of the increase happened over just two hours on Wednesday.

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No other stock came close to garnering the same attention on Robinhood through morning trading. The next-most-bought stock over the past 24 hours, Heat Biologics, saw just 6% of the activity that Kodak enjoyed over the same period.

Similar buying sprees have taken place on Robinhood this year. After Hertz announced its bankruptcy in late May, retail traders flooded the stock with cash in hopes that it would miraculously avoid insolvency. The car-rental company rallied more than 900% over nine days, and the share of Robinhood investors holding Hertz shares nearly tripled.

Kodak traded at $37.79 per share as of 1:15 p.m. ET, up 808% year-to-date.

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