Reddit’s self-organised bull runs

The shares of GameStop rallied in January after discussions on the social media site Reddit led to a wave of buying of the videogame and consumer electronics retailer’s stock. Valentina Semenova and Julian Winkler study the implication of the use of trading apps and forum discussions among retail investors and write that it is unlikely that this new `modus operandi’ will simply disappear. They say it is important for researchers and policymakers to get ahead of the curve. A delay to a critical assessment of retail investor herding threatens to destabilise markets further.