Some GameStop traders think the so-called meme stock will build on this week’s surprise surge — by skyrocketing to $800 in a single day.
The most popular GameStop options contract on Thursday was a bet that the shares would climb to that price on Friday, Bloomberg data show.
More than 52,000 of those contracts were traded as the video-game retailer’s stock climbed more than 141 percent over two days to close at $108.73 on Thursday, according to the data.
The contracts are known as call options, which give buyers the right to purchase a stock at a certain price before a specific date without requiring them to ultimately take the shares.
The odds of GameStop reaching the $800 mark on Friday are pretty slim even though Reddit’s army of retail traders has started pumping up the stock again.
The Texas-based company’s shares were trading at $122.05 as of 8:05 a.m., up 12 percent from the prior day but still less than one-sixth of the price specified in those hot options contracts.
But that hasn’t stopped traders from placing other lofty wagers. The second-most-active options contract bet that GameStop would hit $200 on Friday — a mark it hasn’t reached since Feb. 1 — while Nos. 7 and 8 anticipated the stock vaulting $800 by March 5 or March 19, Bloomberg figures show.
It’s unclear from the data whether the contracts themselves were primarily being bought or sold, according to Bloomberg News.
The trades came as GameStop shares exploded for the second time in a month after about two weeks of muted trading. The initial frenzy around the stock in January — which was pushed by rookie investors on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum — drew the attention of federal regulators and Congress.
It’s unclear what sparked this week’s surge, but it appeared to start after a cryptic tweet from GameStop investor Ryan Cohen, who was reportedly behind the resignation of chief financial officer James Bell.
