Meme stocks gain based solely on retail investors' sentiments, rather than on micro- or macroeconomic factors. Earlier this year, speculative trading on platforms like Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) caused the prices of several fundamentally weak stocks to skyrocket. However, the gains were unsustainable. Moreover, with the COVID-19 omicron variant fostering volatility in the stock market, Wall Street analysts expect meme stocks Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC), and GameStop (GME) to continue to decline in price in the near term. So, let’s discuss these names.The influence of social media on securities trading was exhibited when speculative trading by the online Reddit community r/WallStreetBets and popular trading platforms like Robinhood Markets , Inc. (HOOD) caused several short squeezes in fundamentally weak stocks earlier this year.
Meme stocks typically gain popularity through social media platform discussions and retail investors’ interest rather than on macroeconomic factors. However, the price rises are generally unsustainable due to the stocks’ weak fundamentals. The 25 most popular meme stocks are down 24% in price over the last month, which has caused the loss of about $44.50 billion by speculative investors..
With the newly identified omicron variant driving stock market volatility, meme stocks Tesla, Inc. (TSLA), AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (AMC), and GameStop Corp . (NYSE:GME) are best avoided now. Wall Street analysts expect these stocks to continue to retreat in the near term.