Are we at peak meme right now? Unless you've been living under a rock, meme stocks like AMC Entertainment (AMC), GameStop (GME), and even Clover Health (CLOV) have become a focal point for retail traders. What initially spawned from the depths of subreddits like Wall Street Bets and r/PennyStocks has bloomed into a massive social media boost in certain stocks. Whether we're talking about stocks with high short interest, penny stocks, or new IPOs, this "meme stocks" trend has continued taking shape. 

The lasting message among the loyal hoards is "HODL." This is a saying that originated in the cryptocurrency and bitcoin community and, yes, it started out as a typo for the word "Hold". Traders wanted to hold the line, not sell, and force the hand of anyone trying to put pressure on the asset. Now it has evolved into an acronym for "Hold On for Dear Life." I guess at the end of the day it references the same thing. The HODLers used stocks like GME and AMC to set an example of hedge funds that were heavily shorting these stocks. With a base of retail traders holding, not selling, and buying more, there was little that shorts could actually do to overly pressure the stock to profitably cover their spread. But has that subsided?

Look at some of the popular meme stocks on Reddit, where they started the year, where their 2021 highs were, where they are now, and most importantly the trading volumes. First, the leader of the memes right now, AMC. It recently dethroned GME as the bellwether for the quasi sector. Earlier this year, AMC stock jumped from under $2 to over $20 then slide back down to a support level around $5.50. During the months to follow, AMC gained more appeal on social media, mainly because GME had soared so high. Earlier this month, that reached a tipping point, which took the stock to highs of $72.64. That top set the tone for meme stocks 2.0. But look what has happened since it reached those highs. Daily trading volumes are lower and the stock has fallen nearly $20 from its 2020 high. Similarly, GME has yet to regain its former levels of over $400 from earlier in the year. Meanwhile, the volume has moved to a snail's pace. 

This isn't FUD but rather a question of which will be the next meme stock to pop? Whether that's AMC 3.0, GME part deux, or a new entrant like we saw with Clover Health, time will certainly tell. However, if you look at some of the popular stocks based on social sentiment, here are a few that have begun growing in popularity:

Company                                          Today's Activity vs Week         Today's Activity vs Month
Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE)                        110%                          221%
BlackBerry Limited (BB)                                        186%                          156%
DraftKings Inc (DKNG)                                          223%                           816%
Workhorse Group, Inc. (WKHS)                             129%                           223%
Itau Unibanco Banco Holding SA (ITUB)                100%                         100%
Gogo Inc. (GOGO)                                                  100%                           447%
KKR & Co. Inc. (KKR)                                              153%                          153%
Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc (AHT)                          105%                         126%
Twitter, Inc. (TWTR)                                                  453%                        233%
Gogo Inc. (GOGO)                                                   100%                          447%

Data From SocialSentiment.io on 6-16-2021

Based on the growing popularity in some of these other "meme stocks," will we see a new crop grow heading into the end of June?