GameStop soars nearly 70%, trading briefly halted amid epic short squeeze

Wall Street’s most hated stock GameStop surged again on Friday as the massive short squeeze continued to fuel its explosive rally.

The video game stock soared as much as 69.4% to a high of $72.88 on Friday, bringing its gains to more than 100% this week alone. Trading in the name was halted multiple times due to high volatility. The stock closed the day up 51.1% at $65.01.

GameStop has more than 138% of its float shares sold short, the single most shorted name in the U.S. stock market, according to FactSet citing the latest filings.

The stock initially jumped higher last week after the company announced that Chewy co-founder and former CEO Ryan Cohen is joining its board. The news triggered massive short covering where hedge funds and other players had to rush in to cover their bets against the stock.

Meanwhile, retail investors also piled in, fueling the rally further. On Friday, more than 194 million shares of GameStop have changed hands, more than eight times its 30-day trading volume average of 23.8 million.

Short seller Citron Research has been vocal about the stock, saying buyers at these elevated levels are “the suckers at this poker game,” according to a Tuesday tweet. Citron said GameStop will fall back to $20 a share “fast.”

On Friday, Citron said it would not be commenting on GameStop any longer because of attacks from the “angry mob” that owns the stock.

The shares are up 245% in 2021 after a 209% rally last year.

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