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

Some investors have enjoyed similarly spectacular gains in altcoins, meme stocks and more mainstream assets, such as large-company stocks benefitting from the artificial intelligence revolution. —Ryan Ermey, CNBC, 16 Jan. 2025

The company's shares have been likened to meme stocks like AMC Entertainment and GameStop because the stock's success has been based on sentiment rather than hard numbers like revenue and cash flow. —Bailey Schulz, USA TODAY, 14 Jan. 2025

Stock market - The meme stock games that began in 2021 are stretched, the artificial intelligence bubble is bumping into realities, and the hundreds of walking dead companies are stumbling towards oblivion. —John S. Tobey, Forbes, 21 Dec. 2024

Both stocks trade like GameStop did a few years ago during the meme stock frenzy. —Jim Cramer, CNBC, 15 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

2019, in the meaning defined above