MW The meme-stock craze is getting close to its post-Liberation Day extremes, according to JPMorgan

By Nora Redmond

Shares in footwear company Allbirds jumped close to 600% in one day.

Retail investor interest in so-called meme stocks has returned to levels last seen in the stock-market recovery from the Trump administration's tariffs, according to an analysis from JPMorgan.

"Crowding in meme stocks has jumped sharply," analysts at the world's biggest bank, led by Arun Jain, U.S. equity quant strategist, wrote in a note on Wednesday.

Meme stocks are shares in companies that usually go viral online among online communities on platforms like Reddit and X. They typically have poor financials and aren't expected to become profitable any time soon.

The analysts found that the current piling in is now reaching close to the extremes seen after President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day," when he imposed tariffs on the trading partners of the U.S.

Last week, shares in footwear company Allbirds $(BIRD)$ soared almost 600% in one day after the group that has lost money every year since first floating on the Nasdaq in November 2021 said it would be shifting from selling shoes to focusing on artificial intelligence following receiving $50 million in funding from an unnamed institutional investor. Its stock is now trading at about 50% below those all-time highs reached on the news.

Shares in Avis Budget $(CAR)$ soared nearly 500% in April before declining 38% as of Wednesday's close as the car rental company's short squeeze evidently began to ease.

According to Jain, as investors have chased more volatile stocks throughout April amid hopes of a cease-fire agreement between the U.S. and Iran, meme-stock activity has surged.

Last summer there a wave of meme stocks, including Kohl's $(KSS)$, Opendoor Technologies (OPEN) and Wendy's $(WEN)$, that saw sudden growth driven by online sentiment as opposed to strong fundamentals.

-Nora Redmond

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April 23, 2026 05:55 ET (09:55 GMT)

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