Speculative stocks including GameStop and AMC Entertainment were hit hard on Monday amid widespread market declines as investors ditched risky meme names after a dizzying year.

 

GameStop, once at the center of stock market craze, fell more than 12% during daytime trading, bringing its monthly loss to nearly 29%. AMC shares fell 17%, increasing their monthly decline by more than 32% and hitting their lowest level since June. Bed Bath & Beyond is down 6.3%

 

Other names that have been popular on the WallStreetBets Reddit chat also suffered significant losses this month amid overall lower risk and increased volatility. Clover Health and BlackBerry were down 16% and 10% in December, respectively.

 

However, Monday's selloff hasn't had much of an impact on the memes stock soaring this year. AMC shares are still up more than 970% year-over-year, with GameStop behind it growing more than 630% in 2021. The rally pushed GameStop towards the Russell 1000 large-cap stock index versus the Russell 2000 small-cap stock index.

 

Earlier this year, a group of retail traders coordinated deals on social media and managed to create huge cuts in many strong short stocks. Short positions in these stocks fell sharply after this startling episode.

 

AMC shares fell 7% on Friday after CEO Adam Aron and CFO Sean Goodman sold significant shares. Aron sold an additional $ 9.65 million in AMC shares as part of his real estate planning, following the sale of 625,000 shares of the company for approximately $ 25 million in November. It still owns approximately 96,000 shares, excluding approximately 2.9 million that may be issued in the future, based on performance targets.

 

The sale at the end of the year could also be a sign that investors are losing patience as AMC and GameStop's restructuring plans have not materialized for many. As GameStop attempts to transform itself from a regular chain of stores into a larger e-commerce retail store, it has brought in a number of new leaders, including former Amazon executives Matthew Furlong and Mike Recupero as CEO and COO, respectively.

 

However, the new GameStop leaders have provided few details on their strategy for change and have yet to share their views.