AMC’s wild week continued on Thursday morning, with the nation’s largest cinema chain dropping 61% an hour into trading. The drop comes after AMC’s share price rocketed higher a day earlier, moving from about $5 per share to nearly $20, and also after Robinhood and TD Ameritrade, the popular trading platforms, restricted users’ ability to trade the company and GameStop, another company that’s seen its share price zoom higher in the last week, on Thursday.
The Thursday morning decline for AMC pushed shares from $19.90 at the end of Wednesday trading to $7.74 per share soon after the market opened on Thursday. AMC’s rebound was likely curbed by Robinood’s and TD Ameritrade’s decisions on Thursday to block users from buying new shares of AMC, GameStop and other companies that have been pushed higher thanks in large part to the Wall Street Bets forum on Reddit, which has been championing the stock in recent days.
“We continuously monitor the markets and make changes where necessary,” Robinhood said in a statement on its website. “In light of recent volatility, we are restricting transactions for certain securities to position closing only.”
Robinhood also raised its margin requirements to trade the companies, forcing investors to put down more collateral, and blocked users from making certain options trades.
The app’s decision infuriated many users, with many taking to Twitter and Reddit to rip Robinhood. Here’s a taste of their complaints, including Ja Rule blasting Robinhood’s “f—— crime.” California congressman Ted Lieu weighed in and sought an explanation from the investing app.
Yo this is a fucking CRIME what @RobinhoodApp is doing DO NOT SELL!!! HOLD THE LINE… WTF 🤬
— Ja Rule (@jarule) January 28, 2021
Why are brokerage firms like Robin Hood restricting trading in GameStop? Looks to me like a fear of too much profit going to ordinary investors. Can you explain @RobinhoodApp? https://t.co/682yG7ZiqX
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 28, 2021
Robinhood is no longer letting people buy GameStop or AMC. Hedge funds are literally when rich people pool their money and then make moves, together. Apparently only rich people are allowed to work together on the stock market.
— Read No Shortcuts (@JoshuaPHilll) January 28, 2021
robinhood decided this morning to suspend buying of AMC and GME stock because regular people were making too much money, proving once again that any time the poors find a way to get any sort of financial foothold in this world the billionaire class will move swiftly to crush them
— the hype (@TheHyyyype) January 28, 2021
Robinhood likely planned beforehand to block people from buying the stocks they wanted this morning.
If so, instead of informing users of their plan, they let their app climb to #1 in the App Store this morning, signed up 100,000+ users, & hours later blocked $GME $NOK $AMC etc.
— Michael Sayman (@michaelsayman) January 28, 2021
Me and the homies pulling up to Wall Street to buy the stocks ourselves since Robinhood won’t let us. $GME $NOK $AMC pic.twitter.com/WQRCc29ktX
— Spencer (@SpencerGoodnow) January 28, 2021
#Robinhood sent out an email yesterday saying “it’s important to know what you’re doing” and now they shut down the Free market for people to trade! Keep buying and holding to help short squeeze the hedge funds! $GME $AMC $BB $NAKD pic.twitter.com/MK9eJiQOC8
— Brando (@BlackBeltBrando) January 28, 2021
AMC caught the eye of many Wall Street Bets-inspired investors earlier this week when the company raised $917 million, helping it avoid bankruptcy. Soon after, retail investors piled into AMC and were using the #SaveAMC hashtag as a rallying cry to keep the company’s shares pushing higher.
GameStop, meanwhile, which has seen its share price run from about $40 per share last week to north of $340 on Wednesday, was down about 24% in early trading to $264 per share.