GameStop Gains Slow With Redditors Switching Focus to Silver

(Bloomberg) -- GameStop Corp. and other Redditor favorites including AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. extended January’s spectacular advance as brokerages removed trading restrictions from all but the most volatile stocks, though the pace of gains slowed as speculators turned their attention to silver.

GameStop advanced 4.5% to $339.60 at 5:31 a.m. in New York, while AMC rose 22% to $16.18. The former surged 1,625% last month, propelled by day traders using Reddit forums to take on the Wall Street establishment and inflict multibillion-dollar losses on hedge funds that had taken large short positions.

Robinhood Markets Inc. is continuing to impose trading curbs on GameStop, AMC and six other stocks, but on Sunday removed restrictions on 42 others. The popular trading app put the buying limits in place last week after its clearinghouse deposit requirements for equities increased. Other brokerages including Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade also eased restrictions.

Among other stocks recently favored by the Reddit community, Blackberry Ltd. rose 5.9%, cannabis firm Sundial Growers Inc. gained 7% and headphones and loudspeakers retailer Koss climbed 14%.

The attention of the retail speculators who fueled the breathtaking gains in the most heavily shorted stocks looked to be shifting over the weekend as silver broke above $30 an ounce in a move that like GameStop can be traced back to Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum.

“So far, it is not exactly the GameStop anomaly, but it is a hint that the retail traders who just discovered the strength of their unity are out there, looking for new targets -- and apparently bigger ones,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said in written comments.

European-listed silver miners surged, with Fresnillo Plc rising as much as 21% in its biggest intraday gain since 2008, and Hochschild Mining Plc climbing 18%. U.S.-listed peers also skyrocketed in premarket trading, with First Majestic Silver Corp. up 30% and McEwen Mining Inc. rising 24%.

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