Markets
What GameStop’s 70% Rise Means for Crypto – DL News
- GameStop rose more than 70% on Monday.
- Some crypto traders believe it is a sign that retail participants are ready to enter the markets again.
- Others, however, fear the focus could shift from crypto to stocks.
It’s happening again. GameStop shares rose 73% on Monday, trading at prices not seen since November 2022.
The stock soared because of a meme posted by Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, the trader-turned-folk-hero who sparked the previous GameStop trading craze in the early months of 2021.
And the video game company is not alone. Shares of movie theater chain AMC rose 48%.
Which begs the question: Are meme stocks back? GameStop’s new rise is a sign that retail participants are paying attention to the markets again – and that they could soon switch to crypto.
“The last time GameStop outperformed after its giga rally, Dogecoin hit 100x in three months,” crypto trader Zion Thomas wrote on X.
Better known as Ansem, Thomas is responsible for flagging smart calls to 400,000 followers. He notably praised Solana during its low points in 2022, as well as dogwifhat during its early days. Both have soared since then.
“Crypto has been lacking new retail entrants this entire time,” said Quinn Thompson, founder of crypto hedge fund Lekker Capital. DL News.
The trauma caused by the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the “general brutality” of the previous crisis are generally blamed for the lack of retail participation, Thompson said.
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“It makes sense that crypto memes would capitalize on hopes” that retail is returning, Thompson added, though he cautioned that it’s too early to say whether that attention will last.
But not everyone is optimistic. Evgeny Gaevoy, founder and CEO of crypto market maker Wintermute, wrote that crypto could actually suffer from the rise of GameStop.
“Roaring Kitty coming back is bearish for crypto (attention shift), no?” he posted.
Whether retail players return to crypto in the long term or not, memecoin traders are riding the hype. At least five memecoins named after GameStop, AMC and Gill have been launched since Gill posted his meme 18 hours ago.
Tom Carreras is markets correspondent for DL News. Have any tips on GameStop and crypto? Contact tcarreras@dlnews.com