REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
- Siebert Financial saw its share price rise as much as 395% from Thursday’s close on Friday before paring gains.
- While there was no clear reason for the move, some reports have suggested the company is yet another target of the WallStreetBets crowd.
- The company traded with a record volume on Friday of over 27 million shares.
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Shares of Siebert Financial skyrocketed some 200% on Friday as of 1:04 PM EST amid a spike to record volume. More than 27 million shares have traded hands on the day, easily surpassing the three-month daily volume average of 24,653 shares.
While som reports have pegged the move to the WallStreetBets phenomenon, there is comparatively little chatter on the forum.
Comments on another Reddit forum, /r/ Webull, mentioned the stock “going to the moon” and the “gamifying of trading,” but mostly Reddit has been quiet when it comes to the small retail stock-brokerage business.
That hasn’t stopped shares from charging higher. Share prices jumped as much as 395% from Thursday’s closing price before paring gains.
Siebert, which was founded in 1994 by Muriel Siebert, had seen shares fall 54% in the past year before Friday's jump.
Short interest in the name was also pushing 8% until today's 3.5% drop in shares shorted. That suggests one reason for the spike in prices could be that Siebert was the target of another short squeeze attempt, similar to what pushed shares of GameStop to dizzying heights in the week.
Reddit's WallStreetBetsElite forum which boasts 183,000 members noticed the move in share prices with one commenter saying "someone's making a run at Siebert financial!!!"
The historic jump from Siebert illustrates just how volatile trading has become over the past few weeks. The CBOE VIX - a measure of volatility in the markets commonly referred to as Wall Street's "fear gauge" - is sitting at 36 on Friday, well above its long-term average of just below 20.