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 That lofty valuation, as well as wild swings in its stock price, have prompted some analysts to compare the business with meme stocks, or companies that trade on social media buzz instead of traditional financial yardsticks such as revenue growth and profitability. —

Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 9 Aug. 2024 Like typical meme stocks, Trump Media is overvalued compared with its peers – other social media companies – at least by conventional Wall Street standards. —

Taylor Ardrey, USA TODAY, 15 July 2024 That’s even worse than GameStop, which saw significant volatility in the past few months thanks to the Roaring Kitty meme stock rally, which sent shares up 60% in May. —

Ben Kesslen, Quartz, 10 July 2024 Other meme stocks have taken similar approaches, with mixed results. —

Justin Elliott, ProPublica, 16 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for meme stock

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.