GameStop shares rose as much as 240% in premarket trading and were up 210% as of 0741 GMT.
The surge comes after a couple of weeks that saw the shares move in relatively tighter ranges.
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Whatever happens resist the urge to sell. The longer we hold the higher it goes,” said @catchme1fyoucan, one user in Italy of the retail trading platform eToro, in a discussion on GameStop.
Analysts could not pinpoint one reason for the sharp move, but at least one ruled out a short squeeze that had fired the “Reddit rally” in January when amateur investors piled into stocks that hedge funds had bet against.
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Some Twitter users cited factors including options trading and the resignation of GameStop Chief Financial Officer Jim Bell, announced on Tuesday.
GameStop’s U.S.-listed shares soared nearly 104% on Wednesday and were halted several times in a rally that began after 1930 GMT. They jumped another 85% after hours.
German shares of cinema operator AMC Entertainment, another stock favoured last month by individual traders in online discussion forums such as Reddit’s WallStreetBets, jumped 41% following an 18% rise in its U.S. stock on Wednesday.
DAILY NATION