GameStop Corp. extended its surge in premarket trading on Tuesday, albeit at a less intense pace than defined Monday’s wild ride.
The stock rose as high as $100 before paring gains to trade at $89.48 at 6:21 a.m. in New York. It closed 18% higher at $76.79 on Monday, briefly touching a record high of $159.18, and has more than quadrupled this month.
GameStop, which has turned into a battleground for short sellers and retail traders, triggered at least nine trading halts for volatility on Monday. Options trading has also surged.
The stock’s surge was in part fueled by an army of Reddit-charged day traders who used the website’s WallStreetBets forum to pump up shares and fight back against the eye-popping levels of short interest. Bets by Gabe Plotkin’s Melvin Capital and Andrew Left’s Citron Research have faced a reckoning in the battle with GameStop’s retail fans.
Hedge fund titans Ken Griffin and Steve Cohen boosted Melvin Capital, according to a statement on Monday, injecting a total of $2.75 billion into the firm after it lost about 30% this year. The capital infusion came after Melvin Capital, which started the year with about $12.5 billion in assets, saw short bets, including GameStop, go awry, people familiar with the firm said.
READ: GameStop Shorts Don’t Deserve Such Schadenfreude: John Authers
— With assistance by Janet Freund, and Divya Balji