IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/elmark/v33y2023i1d10.1007_s12525-023-00632-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social informedness and investor sentiment in the GameStop short squeeze

Author

Listed:
  • Kwansoo Kim

    (Copenhagen School of Business)

  • Sang-Yong Tom Lee

    (Hanyang University)

  • Robert J. Kauffman

    (Copenhagen School of Business)

Abstract

We examine investor behavior on social media platforms related to the GameStop (GME) short squeeze in early 2021. Individual investors stimulated the stock market via Reddit social posts in the presence of institutional investors who bet against GME’s success as short sellers. We analyzed r/WallStreetBets subreddit posts related to GME’s trading patterns. We performed text-based sentiment analysis and compared the social informedness of posting users for GME trading on two social media platforms. The short squeeze occurred due to coordinated trading by individual investors, who discussed trading strategies on the platforms and drove collective social informedness-based trading behavior. Our findings suggest that the valence and number of submissions influenced GME’s intraday transaction volumes and precursors for irrational trading behavior patterns to have emerged. We provide a theoretical interpretation of what occurred and call for tighter monitoring of social news platforms. We also encourage effort to create an in-depth understanding of the observed patterns and the linkages between them and the larger equity markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Kwansoo Kim & Sang-Yong Tom Lee & Robert J. Kauffman, 2023. "Social informedness and investor sentiment in the GameStop short squeeze," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-24, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:elmark:v:33:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s12525-023-00632-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s12525-023-00632-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12525-023-00632-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12525-023-00632-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Antoniou, Constantinos & Doukas, John A. & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2013. "Cognitive Dissonance, Sentiment, and Momentum," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(1), pages 245-275, February.
    2. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean & Ning Zhu, 2009. "Do Retail Trades Move Markets?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 151-186, January.
    3. Eric. W. K. See-To & Yang Yang, 2017. "Market sentiment dispersion and its effects on stock return and volatility," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 27(3), pages 283-296, August.
    4. Han, Xing & Li, Youwei, 2017. "Can investor sentiment be a momentum time-series predictor? Evidence from China," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 212-239.
    5. Stephen P. Smith & Robert B. Johnston & Steve Howard, 2011. "Putting Yourself in the Picture: An Evaluation of Virtual Model Technology as an Online Shopping Tool," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 640-659, September.
    6. De Long, J Bradford & Andrei Shleifer & Lawrence H. Summers & Robert J. Waldmann, 1990. "Noise Trader Risk in Financial Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(4), pages 703-738, August.
    7. Umar, Zaghum & Gubareva, Mariya & Yousaf, Imran & Ali, Shoaib, 2021. "A tale of company fundamentals vs sentiment driven pricing: The case of GameStop," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    8. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2000. "Trading Is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(2), pages 773-806, April.
    9. Ting Li & Robert J. Kauffman & Eric van Heck & Peter Vervest & Benedict G. C. Dellaert, 2014. "Consumer Informedness and Firm Information Strategy," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(2), pages 345-363, June.
    10. Abhijit V. Banerjee, 1992. "A Simple Model of Herd Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(3), pages 797-817.
    11. Lyócsa, Štefan & Baumöhl, Eduard & Výrost, Tomáš, 2022. "YOLO trading: Riding with the herd during the GameStop episode," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    12. Harrison Hong & Jeremy C. Stein, 1999. "A Unified Theory of Underreaction, Momentum Trading, and Overreaction in Asset Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2143-2184, December.
    13. David Hirshleifer, 2020. "Presidential Address: Social Transmission Bias in Economics and Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(4), pages 1779-1831, August.
    14. Sofie Bitter & Sonja Grabner-Kräuter, 2016. "Consequences of customer engagement behavior: when negative Facebook posts have positive effects," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 26(3), pages 219-231, August.
    15. DiPasquale, Denise & Glaeser, Edward L., 1998. "The Los Angeles Riot and the Economics of Urban Unrest," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 52-78, January.
    16. Boris Otto & Yang W. Lee & Ismael Caballero, 2011. "Information and data quality in business networking: a key concept for enterprises in its early stages of development," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 21(2), pages 83-97, June.
    17. Pedersen, Lasse Heje, 2022. "Game on: Social networks and markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(3), pages 1097-1119.
    18. Paul C. Tetlock, 2007. "Giving Content to Investor Sentiment: The Role of Media in the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1139-1168, June.
    19. Clifford S. Asness & Tobias J. Moskowitz & Lasse Heje Pedersen, 2013. "Value and Momentum Everywhere," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(3), pages 929-985, June.
    20. Breusch, T S & Pagan, A R, 1979. "A Simple Test for Heteroscedasticity and Random Coefficient Variation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(5), pages 1287-1294, September.
    21. Eric K. Kelley & Paul C. Tetlock, 2013. "How Wise Are Crowds? Insights from Retail Orders and Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(3), pages 1229-1265, June.
    22. Al Guindy, Mohamed, 2021. "Corporate Twitter use and cost of equity capital," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    23. Rainer Alt & Hans-Dieter Zimmermann, 2018. "Electronic Markets on networked media," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 28(1), pages 1-6, February.
    24. Ping-Yu Hsu & Hong-Tsuen Lei & Shih-Hsiang Huang & Teng Hao Liao & Yao-Chung Lo & Chin-Chun Lo, 2019. "Effects of sentiment on recommendations in social network," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 29(2), pages 253-262, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sun, Licheng & Najand, Mohammad & Shen, Jiancheng, 2016. "Stock return predictability and investor sentiment: A high-frequency perspective," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 147-164.
    2. André Betzer & Jan Philipp Harries, 2022. "How online discussion board activity affects stock trading: the case of GameStop," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 36(4), pages 443-472, December.
    3. Ahmad, Khurshid & Han, JingGuang & Hutson, Elaine & Kearney, Colm & Liu, Sha, 2016. "Media-expressed negative tone and firm-level stock returns," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 152-172.
    4. Breitmayer, Bastian & Massari, Filippo & Pelster, Matthias, 2019. "Swarm intelligence? Stock opinions of the crowd and stock returns," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 443-464.
    5. Daniel, Kent & Hirshleifer, David & Teoh, Siew Hong, 2002. "Investor psychology in capital markets: evidence and policy implications," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 139-209, January.
    6. Gric, Zuzana & Bajzík, Josef & Badura, Ondřej, 2023. "Does sentiment affect stock returns? A meta-analysis across survey-based measures," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    7. Fung, Scott & Obaid, Khaled & Tsai, Shih-Chuan, 2024. "Information acquisition and processing skills of institutions and retail investors around information shocks," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    8. J. Daniel AromÍ, 2017. "Conventional Views and Asset Prices: What to Expect After Times of Extreme Opinions?," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 49-73, May.
    9. Zhang, Xuetong & Zhang, Weiguo, 2023. "Information asymmetry, sentiment interactions, and asset price," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    10. Xiong, Xiong & Meng, Yongqiang & Joseph, Nathan Lael & Shen, Dehua, 2020. "Stock mispricing, hard-to-value stocks and the influence of internet stock message boards," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    11. David Hirshleife, 2015. "Behavioral Finance," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 133-159, December.
    12. Baltzer, Markus & Jank, Stephan & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2019. "Who trades on momentum?," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 56-74.
    13. Cui, Yueting & Gavriilidis, Konstantinos & Gebka, Bartosz & Kallinterakis, Vasileios, 2024. "Numerological superstitions and market-wide herding: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    14. Kiran Thapa, 2013. "Stock Message Board Recommendations and Share Trading Activity," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 3-2013, January-A.
    15. Shah, Syed Faisal & Albaity, Mohamed, 2022. "The role of trust, investor sentiment, and uncertainty on bank stock return performance: Evidence from the MENA region," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    16. Xu, Shen & Yin, Bichao & Lou, Chunjie, 2022. "Minority shareholder activism and corporate social responsibility," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    17. Simarjeet Singh & Nidhi Walia, 2022. "Momentum investing: a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(1), pages 87-113, February.
    18. Zhaobo Zhu & Licheng Sun, 2024. "When Buffett Meets Bollinger: An Integrated Approach to Fundamental and Technical Analysis," Post-Print hal-04703041, HAL.
    19. Chiao Yi Chang & Hsiang-Lan Chen & Wen-Hsiu Kuo, 2017. "The Analysis of 52-Week High Investing Strategy Based on Herding Behavior," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 17(1), pages 77-106, March.
    20. Adam Zaremba & Jacob Koby Shemer, 2018. "Price-Based Investment Strategies," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-91530-2, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Collective behavior; Informedness theory; Investor sentiment; Irrational trading; Short squeeze; Social informedness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G41 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making in Financial Markets
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:elmark:v:33:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s12525-023-00632-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.