Why GameStop Is Top WallStreetBets Interest Again Today

Videogame retailer GameStop Corp. GME has emerged as the most-discussed stock on Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets forum as of early Friday.

What Happened: GameStop is seeing the highest interest on the forum with 1,189 mentions as at press time, while exchange-traded fund SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was a distant second with 502 mentions, data from Quiver Quantitative showed.

Electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. TSLA and movie theatre chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. AMC are in the third and fourth positions, having attracted 233 and 174 mentions respectively.

See Also: AMC, GameStop Could Team Up On NFTs: What Investors Should Know About 'Match Made In Heaven'

Why It Matters: Shares of GameStop surged more than 22% in Thursday’s extended trading session.

The company is launching a division to develop a marketplace for non fungible tokens (NFTs) and enter into partnerships with two companies in the cryptocurrency space, it was reported, citing the Wall Street Journal.

The move — which comes as GameStop tries to turn around its core videogame business and also confirmed earlier speculation — was cheered by retail investors, who are highly enthusiastic about Bitcoin BTC/USD and other cryptocurrencies.

AMC Entertainment, another favorite Reddit stock, entered the NFT space in 2021 with Spider-Man themed NFTs to coincide with the December release of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”

Price Action: GameStop shares closed almost 1.3% higher in Thursday’s regular trading session at $131.03 and further gained 22.5% in the after-hours session to $160.50.

Read Next: Barbie X Balmain NFTs Coming: How NFTs Could Strengthen Mattel's Plan To Be An IP-Driven Company

Photo: Courtesy of EPIC via Wikimedia