It’s been a year since a group of Reddit users identified GameStop‘s struggling stock and determined they had a chance to outperform Wall Street.
Investors banded together to pile into the heavily shorted stock, compelling hedge funds betting against it to cover their losses.
The ensuing mania skyrocketed the stock from less than $20 to more than $400 per share. It even forced popular investing app Robinhood to temporarily halt trading as investors rushed to join the party.
However, investors should keep in mind that GameStop’s rally was far from certain. Your return would have been significantly different depending on the day of the week — or even the time of day — on which you invested.
GameStop shares remain five times higher than they were prior to the rally, closing Tuesday at $108.81. However, it is entirely possible that if you invested during the frenzy’s peak, you would have lost a sizable portion of your money.
That is why experts strongly advise against attempting market timing. Rather than attempting to forecast which stocks will rise and which will fall, consider investing in low-cost index funds and holding them. This type of diversified fund typically maintains a consistent level of investment and avoids the ups and downs associated with picking individual stocks.
With that in mind, here is how much money you would have earned — or lost — if you had invested $1,000 in GameStop at various points during its 2021 rally.
11 January 2021
$19.94
For months, Redditors on r/WallStreetBets encouraged one another to buy GameStop stock, but it wasn’t until GameStop appointed a trio of new directors to its board that the retailer began approaching its rally.
If you purchased $1,000 worth of GameStop stock in early January at a price of $19.94 per share, you would have earned a 446 percent return on your investment, valuing your $1,000 at $5,461.
13 January 2021
$31.40
Just two days later, a similar $1,000 investment would have yielded a respectable return, but not nearly as much as it would have if you had been among the first to purchase the stock.
A $1,000 GameStop purchase at the price of $31.40 on Jan. 13 would now be worth $3,468.47 — a 246 percent increase.
22 January 2021
$65.01
By Jan. 22, the stock had more than tripled in value since the new directors were appointed to the GameStop board, and the stock was on the verge of becoming a full-fledged frenzy.
If you invested $1,000 in GameStop at a price of $65 per share, your investment is now worth $1,675 — a 67.5 percent gain.
28 January 2021 (Intraday)
$483
On Jan. 28, the stock reached an all-time high during intraday trading, shortly after Elon Musk tweeted “Gamestonk!!” to his tens of millions of followers, along with a link to the r/WallStreetBets forum. Shares of GameStop soared as high as $483 that day before plunging below $200 at the close.
If you were unlucky enough to purchase at the peak, your investment would have lost 77.5 percent of its value by Jan. 18, 2022, and your $1,000 investment would now be worth $225.71.
28 January 2021 (Close)
$193.60
Even if you waited for the stock market to crash following the all-time high, you would have lost money. A $1,000 investment at the closing price of $193.60 on Jan. 28 would have lost just under 50% of its value and would now be worth $562.55 a year later.
11 February 2021
$51.10
A few weeks after reaching an all-time high, GameStop’s stock had settled at just over $51, more than doubling its value a month earlier.
If you invested $1,000 in GameStop on Feb. 11, it would have grown to $2,121.31 by Jan. 18, 2022 — a 113 percent return.
Read More:
Comment Template