A battle not unlike David and Goliath is raging; amateur investors versus billion-dollar hedge funds, where an investment company puts large sums of money into alternative investments to beat the market.  

The fall of GameStop stock prices started when people began buying video games online instead of in stores, which severely hurt the company. Because of this, investors on Wall Street began betting against the company months ago, believing that GameStop and related businesses were doomed.  

“I think that it is great what WallStreet Bets has done, and what they demonstrated. They saw how the hedge funds were cheating out the American people and decided to give them some of their own medicine,” Ryan Kennedy, junior, said. 

Many small investors on Reddit, a platform composed of user discussions in a bulletin-board system, saw what hedge funds were doing and began to invest in GameStop immediately.  Users believed the larger investors were mistaken, and that the company was undervalued. 

Due to this, Redditers began investing in GameStop, and the conflict between large and small investors went viral on social media, causing more more people to but the stocks.  Prices rose dramatically, which was disastrous for the original hedge fund investors who had bet against GameStop.  

“I believe that the Reddit people were in the right: buying the stocks for GameStop and basically cyber bullying billionaires. I found it funny that ordinary people came together to boost the GameStop stocks,” Alicia Isenberg, sophomore, said. 

Congress had planned a hearing regarding the current state of the market, with Representative Maxine Waters (D-California), holding one examining practices in the stock market that were highlighted by the GameStop controversy.  

“As a first step in reining in these abusive practices, I will convene a hearing to examine the recent activity around GameStop (GME) stock and over impacted stocks… and their systemic impact on our capital markets and retail investors,” Waters said. 

GameStop stocks are still on the rise as people continue to invest in the business. The GameStop ordeal has ignited a worldwide frenzy— one which is far from over.