How meme stock mania is a 'sign of the times'

Yahoo

3 days ago

Retail investors are piling into high-volatility trades, from meme stocks to speculative plays.
Stocktwits editor in chief and vice president of community Tom Bruni explains what the activity says about market sentiment and how companies like GoPro (GPRO) and Krispy Kreme (DNUT) can respond.
To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend here.
Meme stocks, we're talking GoPro and Krispy Kreme. When you watch these moves, Tom, is it fun? Is it concerning? What do you make of it?
Yeah, it's a bit of both. I think the, uh, it's a sign of the environment we're in. We've had a record rally off the April lows. Most of the major indexes are up 20, 30%. Stocks like Robinhood, Coinbase, Palantir, retail favorites are up 200, 300% in this short period. We're coming off two back-to-back 25% plus years in the S&P. And so, I mean, animal spirits are alive and well. I read a stat today, 70% of the options market volume is on the call side, and 27% of year-to-date volume in trading across the board is coming in stocks under $5. That's even higher than during the pandemic.
Because I I I asked that question, Tom, because I can understand some viewers would be watching this and they would be thinking to themselves, well, all of a sudden we're talking about Josh and Tom were talking meme stocks, we're talking about spacks again. Just whether you see this sort of speculative activity and is it a side to you of froth in the market.
Yeah.
Yeah, typically we see this type of activity towards the latter end of a move. So, again, not calling a market top, but I mean, think about it. We're up 30% in the indices over three months. A lot of great news has been priced in, and I think earning season is kind of bringing the market kind of back into to focus on the fundamentals. Um, and so I think it's just a sign of the times. People, you know, when you see your portfolio going up 25% in three months, you're not really interested in making one or two percent here. You're going for multibaggers, as they like to say online. But I think it's also important to frame the conversation. People are not all in and all out. They are using a portion of their portfolio that is for fun and speculation and, you know, growth, uh, for these opportunities and not necessarily taking the excessive risk that I think a lot of people think of.
And when you're watching these moves, Tom, do we have line of sight of of who's in? I mean, is this retail traders? Is it the pros? Is it both?
Yeah, what I've been saying is that retail is starting the party and then forcing the institutions to dance. And what I mean by that is the institutions are kind of setting these stocks up for a meme type situation, heavily shorted brand names that like have some fundamental value, but you know, are not going to zero. And then we have sophisticated investors online, retail, using market mechanics against the institutions. So in the situation of calls earlier this week, the stock moved from $11 to $20 in the pre-market. It doesn't take a whole lot of volume on the retail side to be able to move a stock like that. And if you're an institution that's short, uh, or or hedged against that stock, you got to make that move at the open. And so it's kind of a situation where retail is saying, hey, this situation doesn't make sense to us. There's a fundamental case to be made here, and we're going to move the market in our direction and the institutions will have to adjust.
Let's say you're a GoPro or Krispy Kreme.
Yeah.
You see these moves, right? What should be, you think time, your reaction, your response? How should you, if at all, try and take advantage of it?
Yeah.
I mean, every company with high short interest right now should be thinking about how do we convert conversation and attention into capital and long-term shareholder conviction. The difference between this being a short-term move where the stock just pops and and moves lower is management's ability to go out there, raise capital, uh, get their balance sheets in focus, and really tell a compelling story for shareholders to say, hey, this is not just a trade. We're really turning this business around. There's a fundamental reason to be involved here. And I think it's the investor relations departments, the the executives that are using online platforms like Stocktwits, like Twitter, like Reddit, to get their messaging out there and tell a compelling story. Those are going to be the ones that stick around. Those who choose not to engage with retail are likely going to see their stock fall.
Let's have another another name I want you to take on Opendoor. Uh, we had EMJ's Eric Jackson on on YFi talking about the name. Take a listen to what he had to say.
Yeah.
Open door's not a meme stock. This is a real turnaround legitimate turnaround story. It's an opportunity for anybody who missed Carvana. And I missed it at 350. I got in at $15 on Carvana. So I think I do know what to look for in these kinds of situations, um, and I think that this is the ground floor for a move to 82.
What what do you make of Mr. Jackson's comments? He's talking Opendoor and he saying, listen, this is a real story. This is a fundamental story. What do you make of that?
Yeah.
I think individual story aside, I think that's what's kind of attracting people to these situations. They see a company that's beaten down, highly bet against, and there's some glimpse of a fundamental case to be made where somebody can say, you know what? I I kind of believe that. You know, maybe it shouldn't be trading at 82, but maybe it shouldn't be trading at a dollar. And there's a lot of room in between there. And so we're seeing people reassess situations that have otherwise been left for dead. And as retail gets into these names, institutions also have to adjust and, again, I think it's going to come down to the management team of Opendoor. What do they do with this situation? Um, how do they create a compelling narrative? Because right now it's all about the stock price. It's all about what's happening with trading, but what's actually happening with the company? What are they going to do from a strategy perspective to get this back on the right footing?
More broadly, Tom, I'm also just interested in the Stocktwits community. How do they feel right now about this market? Where do they stand on this rally after the move we've seen after that April low?
Yeah.
I mean, it's quite, uh, quite amazing. Throughout the April period, we saw kind of institutions running for the hills on on tariff concerns, but retail was in there buying the dip, and they've been quite aggressive throughout this entire rally. But that said, we're seeing some catch-up plays, uh, you know, come to fruition here. So instead of focusing on a Robinhood or Coinbase that's up, you know, hundreds of percentages already, they're looking at other opportunities. We're looking international. Japan just, uh, just signed a trade deal. Um, you know, Chinese stocks are are set to play catch up if they can get a deal. So people are looking for value. They're still bullish overall, but they're looking for opportunities where, uh, maybe the the puck is going as opposed to where it's been.
When I last spoke to you, Tom, I remember, correct me if I'm wrong, but there was a lot of interest, enthusiasm, again, the Stocktwits community on themes like nuclear, um, things like AI, crypto. Are those still front and center?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's continuing. You're just seeing, uh, money rotate within those themes. So rather than play it directly through Nvidia or directly through the same names, um, they're looking for other opportunities. So lithium stocks, uh, are a big one that I've seen pop off over the last couple of weeks. Um, solar stocks are are catching a bit again. So people are seeing these broader themes and saying, okay, instead of buying the the nuclear energy stock that's already up 400%, maybe I buy a solar stock because I know that there's going to be some energy component to this kind of broader theme. So
Last last question, Tom. What about crypto? Is that still a point of interest on the platform?
It it's, um, you know, it's kind of spread as risk appetite has, um, kind of widened here. Seeing a lot of meme coins, a lot of interest around Ethereum. There's a couple of treasury, uh, you know, Ethereum treasury companies out there. So, uh, definitely a hot area. I think the next phase for crypto and where people are looking on Crypto Twitter is, uh, stable coins. You know, we've got Circle, we've got Robin Hood making a big, uh, move into staking and stable coins. So I think that's kind of the next leg of this, uh, you know, crypto market rally.