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Leave it to GameStop (GME) to drag meme stocks back into the conversation.
The meme-stock poster child is back in the spotlight after chasing eBay (EBAY) with an eye-catching takeover bid. But the broader group had already been moving since the March 30 market reset low.
Even GameStop’s own stock reaction had a tired feel. GameStop could not take out Friday’s high on the eBay news, suggesting the headline may have arrived after the easiest part of the meme-stock trade had already played out.
That April rally began fast and furious, with liquidity chasing everything from quality stocks to fringe names. The sea of green in the heat map since the March 30 low shows how broad the move was — but it also masks very different paths underneath.
Some of the biggest boxes in this group are former retail-crowd favorites that have grown into more mature trading stories. Palantir (PLTR), Carvana (CVNA), Robinhood (HOOD), and Coinbase (COIN) can still catch meme-style momentum, but they now trade much more on fundamentals than on message-board heat alone.
Beyond Meat (BYND) traced out a classic meme-stock chart pattern: a huge parabolic rip, then a fast giveback. The stock jumped about 145% from its April low to peak, then crashed more than 40% in a matter of days.
Contrast that vertical move with Kodak (KODK). The stock started firming in mid-March, shrugged off the Iran war headline shock better than most, and has rallied strongly with only mild pullbacks since then, up over 70% on the year.
Meme-stock rallies often start as broad risk-on trades, but they do not all mature the same way. Many turn into squeeze charts, where the move depends on momentum feeding on itself. A few hold trends because the business story, earnings setup, or industry backdrop gives buyers something more durable to lean on.
Avis Budget (CAR) is the extreme warning. Avis surged to nearly $850 intraday on April 22, briefly hijacking the Dow transports scoreboard, before collapsing roughly 80% from that peak.
That brings the focus back to the Roundhill Meme Stock ETF (MEME), which resumed trading last October and gives investors a tradable proxy for the group.
If MEME takes out its April highs, meme bulls can argue the trade has another leg. If the late-April swing lows break, the spring rally starts to look more like another quick burst of speculation.
Jared Blikre is the global markets and data editor for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X at @SPYJared or email him at jaredblikre@yahooinc.com.
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