The beef between Citadel and the AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC) apes is bananas.
What To Know: A year ago, the retail trading crowd created an unprecedented market frenzy around AMC and GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME).
Groups of traders flooded social media platforms urging others to buy and hold shares of the companies in an effort to induce a short squeeze as a result of the high short interest in the stocks. The craziest part of this story is that it worked ... at least for a while.
Today, AMC shares have nearly come full circle, returning to prices seen before the stock squeezed higher. The apes initially pointed their fingers at Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ:HOOD) for implementing trading restrictions. However, the blame quickly shifted to "the suits" or big hedge funds with short positions in the stocks.
Citadel Securities and Melvin Capital became the main targets of the retail crowd as traders alleged the hedge funds were pressuring Robinhood to put trading restrictions in place. Other allegations include stock price manipulation and naked short-selling practices, which Citadel has denied.
See Also: Here's What To Watch As AMC Entertainment's Stock Counters Rallies
Why It Matters Now: Almost exactly one year after the squeeze occurred, Citadel posted a tweet on Thursday thanking AMC for a viewing of the recently released "Doctor Strange."
Thank you @AMCTheatres! Our teams in New York and Chicago had a great time watching the new #DoctorStrange movie on the big screen last week. pic.twitter.com/AXcRRclOkK
— Citadel Securities (@citsecurities) May 12, 2022
The apes seemed to view this as more of a slight and indicated Citadel intended to troll the retail crowd.
One ape suggested the hedge fund may have edited the photos. "This is nothing more than their low level mind-games," one user said in a tweet. "F*** them!"
Another suggested Citadel is still short AMC and may be planning to cover said short position soon, while one AMC investor noted the apes will likely just buy more AMC stock following the tweet.
"You don’t get it still. Every time you try to anger us into selling, it just makes us buy more. You are done. We know it and you know it," the user said in a tweet.
AMC Price Action: AMC Entertainment shares nearly touched 52-week lows Thursday morning, before surging higher.
The stock was up 6.4% at $11.04 at press time, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
