Investors who bet against the best-known meme stocks have lost about $2.1 billion this month after their value soared, causing a squeeze on short positions.
AMC Entertainment's 60% rally has pushed market value losses for short sellers to $868 million, data from S3 Partners shows. Similar bets against Bed Bath & Beyond and Game Stop, which were up 400% and 22%, respectively, in August, lost a combined $1.23 billion.
Recently, AMC Entertainment and GameStop have hit near five-month highs, while Bed Bath & Beyond rose for a sixth session on Wednesday.
All three stocks are likely to remain targets of short squeezes as share price gains attract new short sellers, Ihor Dusaniwski, managing director of predictive analytics at S3 Partners, said in an email. Bed Bath & Beyond has “officially” joined GameStop and AMC Entertainment “in the major short-strangling leagues.”
Bear bets against Bed Bath & Beyond have risen to 55% of the shares available for trading, according to data from S3. That compares to 23% of GameStop's shares and just under a fifth of AMC Entertainment's.
