Citron Research Called GameStop Buyers "Suckers" and Said Stock Was Going to $20. It Hit $483 Nine Days Later.

When Andrew Left tweeted this, GameStop was trading around $39. He was so confident the stock would crash that he scheduled a livestream to explain why retail investors were idiots. The livestream never happened—Left claimed hackers were targeting him. Instead, WSB users targeted his short position. Over the next nine days, GME rocketed to an intraday high of $483, a 1,138% gain. Citron covered their short "in the $90s" (so he says), meaning Left was buying back shares at 4x what he said they should be worth. Ten days after calling retail investors suckers, Left announced Citron would stop publishing short reports after 20 years, pivoting to long recommendations instead. Melvin Capital, the hedge fund with the biggest GameStop short position, lost 53% in January alone—roughly $6.8 billion—and eventually shut down entirely in 2022. The "suckers" won.