Some hedge funds overplayed their bet on AMC going down.
150% of the freefloat (available shares for trading) was betted down with short term contracts.
Friday is settlement day. And it is impossible to settle so much, so all crazy settlement endprice is possible.
The stock goes up so fast because hedge funds try to get out of the short market faster than competitors.Gamers got nothing to do with the price hike over 100 dollar
After friday the stock will go down fast tho
The same happened in the oil market last summer.
But in a reversed way. That was a long squeeze. (Many betted with short term contracts that oil would go up).
When it went down fast the long contract holders wanted out of the market fast, reulting in a short term oil contract settlement price of minus 34 dollar (negative oil price)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-20/negative-prices-for-oil-here-s-what-that-means-quicktake
After the option/future contracts were settled the oil price went up fast
Get out before the end of tomorrow. Friday is settlement day for the nearest monthly contract.
After that the price will go down fast to what the market thinks it should be.
Both are short squeesed markets. The price has nothing to do with actual valuation. Just settlement of the option/future contracts.