“I just like the stock”: The role of Reddit sentiment in the GameStop share rally

This paper investigates the role played by social media platform Reddit in events around GameStop (GME) share rally early 2021. In particular, we analyze impact of discussions on r/WallStreetBets subreddit price dynamics American online retailer GameStop. We customize a sentiment analysis dictionary for users based Valence Aware Dictionary and Sentiment Reasoner (VADER) package perform textual 10.8 million comments. The relationships between sentiments 1-, 5-, 10-, 30-min returns contribute to growing body literature “meme stocks” investment forums intraday stock movements.