meme stock

noun

plural meme stocks

: a stock (see stock entry 1 sense 2a) that experiences a temporary sudden surge in popularity and price due to a coordinated effort (such as a viral social media campaign) by small investors

… 'meme stock' refers to a stock that attains viral attention on social media platforms, but predominately Reddit.—

Andrew Rocco

The theory was that if enough small investors got in the game and drove the stock higher, it would force large hedge funds with short positions (bets that the stock would fall), to capitulate and sell those positions at a massive loss. … that dynamic appears to be driving the stocks of GameStop, AMC, and other so-called meme stocks.—

Michelle Chapman

Price spikes in several meme stocks appear to be linked to the amount of talk about them on r/WallStreetBets, a forum on Reddit, a discussion website whose users are known for mischief-making. From this comes the name: an internet meme being an idea or behaviour, usually a humorous one, spread via social media.—

The Economist

—often hyphenated before another noun

meme-stock investors

the meme-stock craze

Examples of meme stock in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web BlackBerry and Build-a-Bear were also considered meme stocks, along with Bed Bath & Beyond, which went out of business in 2023. —

Peter Green, Quartz, 18 May 2024 With higher education no longer a sure bet, college-age students should consider better uses of their time and money, such as meme stocks or becoming ski bums. —

Heather Wilhelm, National Review, 17 May 2024 Unlike the meme stocks, other favorite asset classes for day traders have performed well this year. —

Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 15 May 2024 Wall Street analysts have warned about the risks of investing in highly volatile meme stocks, which typically belong to money-losing companies. —

Alain Sherter, CBS News, 15 May 2024 Here’s a look at what’s going on: What’s happening? GameStop, the granddaddy of meme stocks, has soared suddenly and sharply. —

Stan Choe, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 May 2024 Blackberry and Nokia, another pair of meme stocks, saw modest gains, while AMC opened at $11.82 on Tuesday morning, up from $2.95 at Friday’s close. —

Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 14 May 2024 Other meme stocks also jumped, including AMC, which increased 22%, and Reddit, which increased 13%. —

Andrew R. Chow, TIME, 13 May 2024 The return of meme stock mania for the video game retailer effectively helped AMC ride the latest wave of retail investor interest on Wall Street. —

Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 May 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'meme stock.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.