AMC Entertainment's No-Win Scenario

Whereas the coronavirus pandemic whipsawed equities last year, retail investors are one of the primary causes of equity vacillations in 2021. Beginning in mid-January, retail investors on Reddit's WallStreetBets (WSB) chatroom began allying with each other to buy shares and call options in stocks with very high levels of short interest. Since institutional investors and hedge funds hold a majority of the short-sold positions in the stocks targeted by the WSB community, this has been construed as a battle between retail investors and the so-called "big money."