Cryptocurrency Market Mutes As Focus Turns Back To GameStop, AMC Short Squeeze

The cryptocurrency market remained muted late Thursday as the focus returned to so-called meme stocks and associated short squeezes.

What Happened: Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, traded 1.28% higher at $37,961.27 at press time over a 24-hour period. The apex coin is down 6.92% in a seven-day trailing period.

Ethereum (ETH), the number two coin in terms of market cap, was up 1.42% at $2,713.32 over a 24-hour period. In a seven-day period, ETH has fallen 2.98%.

The cryptocurrency market cap as a whole stood at $1.68 trillion at press time. Over a seven-day period, the market cap has declined 5.61% from $1.78 trillion.

On Thursday, AMC Entertainment Holding Inc AMC shares spiked 35.58% to $26.52 in the regular session. This is the fourth straight day of AMC shares moving up with the shares locking in 120% gains. 

The appreciation in AMC is making short sellers bleed and has cost them $634 million in losses, as per S3 partners.

Other meme stocks that have spiked recently include Blackberry Ltd BB, which ended the regular session 5.61% higher at $9.97 on Thursday and appreciated another 3.01% to $10.27 in after-hours trading.

GameStop Corporation GME was also in the green on Thursday rising 4.77% to $254.13 in regular trading. On the same day, another retail favorite, Nokia Oyj NOK gained 2.42% to end the regular session at $5.07.

Meme cryptocurrencies on the other hand have largely been lackluster. Dogecoin (DOGE) traded 0.16% lower at $0.33 at press time. The Shiba Inu-themed coin declined 17.2% in a seven-day trailing period.

See Also: How to Buy Dogecoin (DOGE)

On Thursday, DOGE co-creator Billy Markus in a Twitter exchange with Gokhshtein Media founder David Gokhshtein callied for AMC Entertainment to accept DOGE.

Why It Matters: Together short sellers in GameStop and AMC have lost more than $8 billion on a year-to-date basis, S3 Partners data indicates.

In GameStop alone, the YTD losses for short sellers have amounted to $6.7 billion as of Wednesday.

On r/WallStreetBets — the Reddit forum known for carrying out short squeezes in meme stocks — tickers of AMC and GameStop attracted the most mentions, as per Quiver Quantitative data.

While AMC attracted 5,793 mentions on the forum, GameStop attracted 2,201. In terms of industry baskets, Cannabis dominated the discussion, followed by EVs and cryptocurrencies. 

Read Next: Shiba Inu, Dogecoin, Other Meme-Themed Cryptos Widen Losses As NFT Plays And 'Ethereum Killers' Soar