GameStop (GME) and AMC (AMC) climbed into green territory on Tuesday after opening lower, as the overall 'meme' stock group has slumped recently. GameStop shares closed 8% higher while AMC gained more than 5%.
"We call them meme stocks but in essence there's another name for them and that's story stocks," Market Strategist Michael Antonelli told Yahoo Finance Live.,
"Story stocks are usually high fast growers, high flyers, that benefit from flows and cheap money," he said. "These story stocks [have] seen the apex of their interest."
Antonelli goes on to note the liquidity from past stimulus and Federal Reserve moves is winding down, affecting meme stocks, popular among retail traders.
"They need the story to be active and they need cheap money and both of those stories are being challenged," said Antonelli.
GameStop shares are down more than 30% over the last month, while AMC's stock is down around 42% over the same period amid a recent sell-off in speculative or risky assets. AMC's short interest currently sits at just above 18% of the float.
The theater chain company's CEO Adam Aron sold some of his shares recently, a move telegraphed during the company's quarterly earnings call. AMC's CFO Sean Goodman also sold shares recently, putting added pressure on the stock.
GameStop shares came under pressure, falling as much as 10% intraday after its quarterly results earlier this month. A lack of details over the company's digital strategy could have been weighing on investors.
Still, year to date, GameStop is up more than 600%, while AMC is up over 1000%.
Some retail investors are buying the dip. Orders by retail customers on Fidelity show AMC and GME as two of the top 5 trades, with more Buy than Sell orders.
#AMCNOTLEAVING and #GMESQUEEZE were trending on Twitter during Tuesday's session.
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