A tale of company fundamentals vs sentiment driven pricing: The case of GameStop

Zaghum Umar, Mariya Gubareva, Imran Yousaf and Shoaib Ali

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 2021, vol. 30, issue C

Abstract: By means of the wavelet coherence approach, we study the relationship between the GameStop returns and the sentiment driven pricing, as described by the following indicators: twitter publication count, news publication count excluding twitter, put–call ratio, and short-sale volume. The documented impacts of media-driven sentiment suggest that regulators and policymakers should continuously monitor the investing groups on social media platforms as they can create inefficiency in the market. The put–call ratio strongly and positively affects the GameStop returns prior to the peak of the GameStop saga, being one of the drivers of the January skyrocketing prices. Our results also reveal a positive relationship between the GameStop returns and the short sales volume during the GameStop episode, confirming the short squeeze phenomenon. We highlight the importance for the regulators to consider limiting some predatory short-selling practices, namely “naked” short selling, as excessive short selling may move the market towards inefficiency.

Keywords: Reddit investors; Wallstreetbets; GameStop; Short squeeze; Investors sentiments; Twitter publication count; News publication count; Put–call ratio (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C58 G12 G14 G28 G40 G41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (46)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:beexfi:v:30:y:2021:i:c:s2214635021000459

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbef.2021.100501

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